The emirate of Qatar and the emirate finally announced yesterday Wednesday the conclusion of an agreement which also provides for the release of dozens of Israeli hostages, after more than 15 months of war between its armed forces and with tens of thousands of dead in the Palestinian enclave.
Twenty Palestinian deaths after the agreement
Hours after the announcement, civil protection said 20 more people had been killed in Israeli airstrikes, as the ceasefire was expected to take effect on Sunday.
Eighteen people were killed in three airstrikes in Gaza City, Mahmoud Bassal, a spokesman for the agency responsible for rescue operations, told AFP. Two others were killed in an airstrike in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, he added.
At 47 yesterday the dead
As the negotiations progressed, the Israeli military stepped up its deadly raids on the Gaza Strip, where on Wednesday first responders said a total of 47 people had died.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced that “the final details” of the deal were still being “sorted out” in a laconic press release around midnight.
Celebrations in the Gaza Strip
Still, the announcement of the deal, which was welcomed by many foreign capitals and international organizations, sparked celebrations in the Gaza Strip, the besieged enclave that has suffered massive destruction in the war that sparked Hamas’ unprecedented incursion into southern sectors of the Israeli territory. on October 7, 2023.
“We lost a lot of people, we lost everything”
“I can’t believe that this nightmare of over a year is coming to an end,” said Rada Sami, a 45-year-old Palestinian refugee in Nuseirat, in the central Gaza Strip. “We lost a lot of people, we lost everything,” he added.
“I’m very happy, but I’m worried”
“On the one hand, of course, I’m very happy, but on the other hand, I’m worried because I want to see the agreement implemented and continue until the last hostage has returned home, whether alive or dead,” Ornit Barak said on the other hand. , 59, present at a rally in Tel Aviv.
Release of hostages
Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdelrahman al-Thani, whose country is among the mediators in the indirect talks between Israel and Hamas, said the first phase of the deal would take effect on Sunday and would see the release of 33 hostages.
The truce is in effect from Sunday
“The agreement will enter into force on Sunday January 19 (…) The first phase will last 42 days and will include the withdrawal of Israeli forces in an eastern direction, away from populated areas. These forces will take up positions along the Gaza border,” he said in Doha.
According to Qatar’s prime minister, “Hamas will release 33 Israeli hostages, including civilians, children, elderly, sick and wounded citizens, in exchange for many prisoners” in Israel.
Ceasefire Agreement Monitoring Mechanism
“A monitoring mechanism for the implementation of the agreement will be established in Cairo and managed by Egypt, Qatar and the US,” he added.
Biden: “Complete and absolute ceasefire”
Outgoing American President Joe Biden, for his part, assured that the agreement will translate, in its first phase, into a “complete and absolute” ceasefire, clarifying that his team collaborated with that of Donald Trump’s successor in drawing up the text.
Mr. Biden confirmed that the first phase would last six weeks and include a ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli troops from populated areas and the release of some hostages, particularly “women, the elderly and the wounded”. In return, Israel will release “hundreds” of Palestinian prisoners, he said.
Increase in humanitarian aid
Humanitarian aid deliveries are expected to increase during the first phase, while negotiations for the second phase, “the definitive end of the war,” will be held in parallel, he added.
Complete Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip
During the second phase, the last hostages will be released and there will be a complete Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, continued Mr. Biden.
Reconstruction of the Gaza Strip
The third and final phase concerns the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip and the handover of the bodies of hostages killed while in captivity.
The Donald Trump attitude
“We secured a deal for the hostages in. They will be released soon”, said Mr. Trump, who recently said the region would turn into “hell” if the hostages were not released before he returns to the White House on January 20.
Netanyahu thanks Biden and Trump
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s office said he thanked Donald Trump and Joe Biden in phone conversations for their help in trying to close the deal to “release the hostages.”
Israel’s finance minister: “We will vote against the dangerous agreement”
While the deal was described as the “right choice” by Israeli President Isaac Herzog, whose role is largely ceremonial, far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich condemned the “dangerous” deal, stressing that ministers from his faction would vote against it.
After more than a year of deadlock over a one-week-long ceasefire deal struck in November 2023, indirect negotiations have picked up speed in recent days.
October 7, 2023
The October 7, 2023, Hamas raid killed 1,210 people on the Israeli side, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli data. Of the 251 people abducted that day, 94 remain in the Gaza Strip, but 34 of them have been declared dead by the army.
At least 46,707 people, most of them civilians, have died in large-scale Israeli military operations since then in the enclave, where the humanitarian situation is described as catastrophic, according to data from the Health Ministry of the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip, which is considered reliable by UN.
Already under Israeli blockade since 2007, with poverty and unemployment soaring, the Gaza Strip has suffered untold devastation from the war and the vast majority of its 2.4 million people. of its inhabitants were forced to relocate and live in extremely harsh conditions.
Antonio Guterres: Humanitarian aid to Gaza is imperative
For UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, it is imperative that the agreement leads to the removal of “obstacles” and the distribution of “humanitarian aid to Gaza,” as he emphasized in a statement.
Emmanuel Macron: A political solution is necessary
For his part, French President Emmanuel Macron stressed that the agreement must be “respected” and that a “political solution” must “emerge” from it as soon as possible.
Even if the guns do fall silent, the deal leaves hanging the political future of the enclave, where Hamas, which is seen as weakened by now, took power in 2007.
Sources: APE-MPE, AFP, ertnews.gr
