Qatar’s prime minister announced that Israel and Hamas had agreed to a ceasefire and the release of hostages in Gaza on Wednesday, expressing hope that the agreement would pave the way for a permanent end to the fighting.
While mediators had earlier said an agreement had been reached, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office cautioned that some issues in the framework remained “unresolved”, although he expected “the details to be finalized tonight”.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who plays a largely ceremonial role, said the deal was the “right step” in repatriating hostages captured during Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack that sparked the war.
Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani told a news conference that the ceasefire would take effect on Sunday.
“The two belligerents in the Gaza Strip have reached an agreement on a prisoner and hostage exchange, and (mediators) have declared a ceasefire in the hope of reaching a permanent ceasefire between the two sides,” he said.
In the first phase of the deal, he said, Hamas would release 33 detainees, including “civilian women and female recruits as well as children (and) elderly people… in exchange for a number of prisoners held in Israeli prisons.” “.
Protesters in Tel Aviv demanded the release of hostages as news of the deal spread, while thousands across Gaza celebrated the agreement to end hostilities that have devastated much of the Palestinian territory.
“I can’t believe that this nightmare of more than a year is finally ending. We have lost so many people, we have lost everything,” said Randa Sameh, 45, displaced from Gaza City. Nusirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.
Hamas said the ceasefire was “the result of the great perseverance of our great Palestinian people and our brave resistance in the Gaza Strip for more than 15 months”.
Pressure to end the fighting had increased in recent days, as mediators Qatar, Egypt and the United States stepped up efforts to strengthen the agreement.
On Wednesday, Qatar’s Sheikh Mohammed said the three countries would monitor the implementation of the ceasefire through a Cairo-based body.
– Trump praised ‘EPIC’ deal –
US President Joe Biden said he was “thrilled” by the development, saying the agreement would “stop the fighting in Gaza, provide much-needed humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians, and reunite hostages with their families”.
The agreement came after months of failed efforts to end the deadliest war in Gaza’s history and just days before the inauguration of Biden’s successor Donald Trump, who hailed the deal even before it was officially announced by the White House. Was done.
Trump warned Hamas that there would be “hell to pay” if it did not free remaining detainees before taking office, and envoys from both his incoming administration and Biden’s outgoing administration were present at the latest talks. .
“This EPIC ceasefire agreement could only have resulted from our historic victory in November,” Trump said on social media.
The president-elect said his White House would “continue to work closely with Israel and our allies to ensure that Gaza never again becomes a safe haven for terrorists”.
Hamas launched the war in Gaza on October 7, 2023, with its deadliest attack on Israel to date, resulting in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.
Palestinian militants also took 251 hostages during the attack, 94 of whom are still being held in Gaza, including 34 who the Israeli military says have been killed.
Israel’s counter-offensive in Gaza has killed 46,707 people, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, which the United Nations considers reliable.
– need help –
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi welcomed news of the agreement, pointing to “the importance of urgently accelerating the entry of humanitarian aid” into Gaza.
Egypt’s state-linked Al-Qahera news outlet, citing a security source, said coordination was “underway” to reopen the Rafah crossing on Gaza’s border with Egypt to allow the entry of international aid. .
The state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper also reported that talks were underway to open the crossing.
Among the issues stuck in successive rounds of talks were disagreements over the sustainability of any ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli troops and the scale of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian territories.
The UN Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA, which faces an Israeli ban on its activities set to take effect at the end of this month, said it would continue to provide much-needed aid.
Netanyahu, who vowed to crush Hamas in retaliation for the October 7 attack, has opposed any post-war role for the militant group in the region.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday that Israel must eventually accept the reunification of Gaza and the West Bank under the leadership of a “reformed” Palestinian Authority, and pursue “a path toward creating an independent Palestinian state.”
He said the “best incentive” to achieve Israeli-Palestinian peace is the possibility of normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa, speaking in Oslo, said the latest effort for a Gaza ceasefire shows that international pressure on Israel “will bear fruit”.
The October 7 attack on communities in southern Israel caused outrage around the world, with the retaliatory war increasing the level of suffering in Gaza.
World powers and international organizations have been pushing for a ceasefire for months, which until Wednesday had remained elusive.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
