Cairo/Tel Aviv, Jan 16, (dpa/GNA) – Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, have agreed to a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the release of more hostages, in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, mediator Qatar announced on Wednesday evening.
The ceasefire is set to begin on Sunday and last for 42 days initially, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani announced following talks in Doha.
After more than 15 months of intense fighting, this is the first agreement of this kind since a pause in the conflict more than a year ago. This development also brings hope of an alleviation of the hardship for the civilian population of the extensively devastated coastal strip.
“We call for calm until implementation,” said Al Thani.
Efforts from the United States, Egypt and Qatar have been ongoing for months to persuade Israel to agree to a ceasefire and Hamas to release its hostages through indirect negotiations. However, the talks had stalled for months.
According to observers, the temporary end of the fighting in the extensively devastated coastal area was also made possible by the setbacks for Iran’s proxies, in its “Axis of Resistance” in Lebanon and Syria and threats from the US President-elect Donald Trump, who had vehemently demanded an agreement for the release of the hostages.
Outgoing US President Joe Biden, however, stressed that the agreement was a result of “dogged and painstaking American diplomacy.”
He noted that his diplomatic efforts had not waned at any point. Biden shared that the deal was based on a plan he had already presented in May.
Initially, 33 hostages set to be freed
During the initial period of the ceasefire, 33 of the hostages held by Hamas are to be released. In return, as in a previous ceasefire, Palestinian prisoners are to be freed from Israeli prisons. Al Thani did not initially specify a number in this regard.
According to Israeli sources, a total of 98 abducted individuals are still being held in the Gaza Strip, with at least 34 presumed dead.
Parallel to the exchange of hostages for prisoners, the Israeli army is to begin withdrawing from the Gaza Strip.
According to Al Thani, three phases are planned, of which the current agreement only covers the first phase. Details of the following phases are to be announced once the ceasefire is in effect.
In phase two, about which negotiations are reportedly due to begin on the 16th day after the ceasefire comes into effect, discussions will likely focus on the release of the remaining live hostages and the further withdrawal of the Israeli army.
Hundreds of lorries to deliver aid supplies
At the important Rafah border crossing to the Gaza Strip, Egypt had already prepared for a possible opening and new aid deliveries.
Israel’s army had occupied the Rafah border crossing on the Palestinian side in May last year. Shortly thereafter, aid deliveries from Egypt via Rafah ceased.
Withdrawal of the Israeli army
According to media reports, Israel’s army is to gradually withdraw from inhabited areas of the Gaza Strip but initially not from the Philadelphi Corridor along the border with Egypt. Israel fears that Hamas could again smuggle weapons into the Gaza Strip there.
Residents who have fled to the south of the coastal strip should be allowed to move freely in the Gaza Strip again and return to their residential areas in the north, under international supervision.
Complete withdrawal only after return of all hostages
Israeli government officials have emphasized that the army will not leave the Gaza Strip until all hostages are home. Even after the start of the ceasefire, soldiers are to remain in a buffer zone at the edge of the Gaza Strip and other areas.
GNA