After more than 730 hellish days of all-out offensive, the cease-fire reigns again in Gaza. The Israeli Army has given The truce began at 11:00 a.m. this Friday in Spain after the agreement announced the day before between Israel and Hamas to implement the first phase of the Donald Trump to end the longest and most devastating war in the region’s modern history. The cessation of hostilities is also the beginning of the countdown to release of the 48 hostages who remain in the Strip, only 20 of them alive, a milestone that must be completed within 72 hours after the ceasefire comes into effect. Trump will arrive in Israel on Monday, according to Israeli Channel 12, where he is expected to be received as a hero, both for being the architect of the agreement and for the unconditional help he has given the Jewish State all these months.
At the same time, the military Binyamine Netanyahu have completed their first withdrawal up to the demarcation contemplated in the pact. A partial withdrawal that will allow them, however, to continue controlling just over half of the enclave’s territory and “continue operating to eliminate any imminent threat.”
With the silence of the bombs, Tens of thousands of Palestinians have headed north to try to locate what were their homes. There is very little left standing, after Israel has dropped more bombs in these two years than fell on London, Dresden y Hamburg in combination during the Second World Waraccording to an investigation by the British Channel 4. From the Palestinian point of view, the immediate objective is to alleviate hunger and thirst. According to Israeli Army Radio, the Jewish State will allow entry of 600 trucks daily in Gaza with humanitarian aid y reconstruction material for basic services.
About a hundred more trucks than it allowed before the brutal Hamas incursion two years ago into southern Israel launched the Israeli response, defined as a genocide by the main human rights organizations. In addition, Palestinians will also be allowed to enter and leave Gaza through the Rafah border, which connects the Strip with Egypt.
Sending US troops
To monitor that the ceasefire is fulfilled, USA will send to the region some 200 soldiers, according to official sources cited by the Associated Press, apparently on an observation mission and without a mandate to open fire. “His role will be to supervise, observe and ensure that there are no violations,” one of those sources told the US agency. It is also unclear whether they will end up entering Gaza. Embedded in the contingent there will also be security officers Egypt, Qatar y Türkiyethe three countries that have led the mediation efforts together with the US.
As the hostages return, Israel to release 2,050 Palestinians from prisonsa figure that includes 250 prisoners sentenced to one or more life sentences for terrorism crimes. The names have already been agreed upon, although the list has not yet been made public in its entirety.
If the first phase is completed, the most difficult part will come later: disarmament of Hamasdeployment of a international stabilization forceadditional withdrawals of the Israeli military and the government of the Strip. As Trump’s plan has been conceived, Gaza would become a kind of protectorate, run from Washington and other Western capitals, which would make decisions about its reconstruction. A committee of Palestinian technocrats would be in charge of running the day-to-day operations.
Despite the many doubts about Gaza’s immediate future, Hamas seems convinced that the war will not resume. “We have received guarantees of mediators and the US Administration. “Everyone has confirmed that the war is permanently over,” he said the day before. Khalil Al-Hayyaone of the political leaders of the party-militia, designated as a terrorist organization by Western countries. Its disarmament is one of the obstacles that loom on the horizon. Whatever the Islamists say, Netanyahu assured that there will be no going back in that regard. “They will disarm by hook or by crook”, he said this Friday.
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