A senior Palestinian official told the BBC that Hamas would release three female soldiers on the first day of the ceasefire. Mediators in Doha are seeking an earlier start to the ceasefire, on Thursday evening instead of Sunday.
Until the cease-fire is in effect, the war that began after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023 will continue. At least 12 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks on northern Gaza when the ceasefire was announced.
During the sometimes hour-long ritual over the past 15 months, a video has emerged from northern Gaza showing their bodies being carried from ambulances in sheets and lined up outside a hospital. is
The ceasefire is a remarkable diplomatic achievement. This is long overdue. Versions of the deal have been on the table since US President Joe Biden announced it in May last year. Hamas and Israel have blamed each other for the delay.
In Khan Yunis, Gaza, journalists working for the BBC filmed Palestinians dancing and chanting as it became clear that a ceasefire had been agreed.
Israel does not allow international journalists to enter Gaza for independent reporting, so the BBC and other news outlets rely on brave Palestinian journalists to gather the news for us. Without them reporting on the last 15 months of war would have been impossible. Israel has killed more than 200 Palestinian journalists in Gaza.
An elderly Palestinian woman, Umm Muhammad, told one of our journalists that she was feeling happy and relieved.
“The pain has abated a little, though it is still there. Hope it will be overcome by joy. Let our prisoners be released and the wounded attended to. The people are tired.”
There is not much to celebrate for the Palestinians in Gaza other than survival. Israel has killed at least 50,000 people. More than 2 million people have been displaced from their homes by the Israeli military operation.
On October 7, 2023, Israel’s response to the Hamas attacks that killed nearly 1,200 people, mostly Israeli citizens, in Gaza. Ruined. According to the Hamas-run Health Ministry, Israeli attacks have killed nearly 50,000 people, both fighters and civilians. A recent study in the Lancet Medical Journal says this may be a huge underestimate.
In Tel Aviv, it was also a bittersweet moment for the families and supporters of the living and dead Israeli hostages. In the first phase of the ceasefire, 33 women, elderly men and the sick and injured are to be released over the next six weeks in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and prisoners. – But the future of the remaining hostages depends on further negotiations. .
Negotiations on the second phase of the agreement, the release of the remaining Israeli hostages in exchange for the imprisoned Palestinians and the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, are scheduled to begin sixteen days after the agreement.
The first major challenge is to ensure a ceasefire. Senior Western diplomats fear that fighting could resume after the 42-day first phase.
The Gaza war has had far-reaching consequences throughout the Middle East. It has not, as many feared, led to a general war in the region — the Biden administration has taken credit for that — but it has sparked geostrategic upheaval.
Hamas is still capable of fighting but it is a shadow of what it was. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister have been indicted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes. The International Court of Justice is investigating South Africa’s case accusing Israel of genocide.
After Hezbollah intervened in the war in Lebanon, it was eventually crushed by an Israeli offensive. This was the factor that led to the fall of the Assad regime in Syria. Iran and Israel exchange direct attacks – weakening Iran. Its network of allies and proxies, which Tehran called the axis of resistance, has become dysfunctional.
The Houthis in Yemen have blocked most shipping between Europe and Asia through the Red Sea. Now reports say that he himself has declared a ceasefire. Since they began attacking shipping early in the war, they said only a cease-fire in Gaza would stop them.
With luck, political determination and strong diplomatic efforts, the ceasefire will hold despite the inevitable violations. With luck, it could stop the killing and return Israeli hostages and Palestinians and prisoners to their families.
But after the 15-month war in Gaza, the conflict, which has lasted more than a century, remains as bitter and complex as ever.
A ceasefire does not end the conflict. The consequences of such destruction and death will be felt for at least a generation.