Joy and hope, but also fears, reign in the Middle East after US President Donald Trump announced an agreement between Israel and Hamas for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of all 48 hostages still held captive in the Strip (in reality only twenty are still alive). The agreement was signed by all parties and the government chaired by Benjamin Netanyahu will meet in the evening for approval, after a meeting of the security cabinet.
The first phase of the agreement provides for Israel and Hamas to announce the cessation of hostilities, the release of hostages and the release of Palestinian prisoners, the withdrawal of the Israeli army to the so-called “yellow line”, the first of the three lines proposed in Trump’s original plan, and the entry into Gaza of a greater quantity of humanitarian aid under the auspices of the UN and other international organizations.
Based on the details known so far, within 24 hours of the Israeli government’s green light, IDF troops will begin to withdraw from the front line to allow Hamas to track down all the hostages. These will be released within the next 72 hours. The hope is to free them all together but according to a high-level Israeli source, there is the possibility that it will happen in several phases. The army said that, following government instructions, it had started “operational preparations” for the withdrawal.
In exchange for the abductees, almost 2 thousand Palestinians held in Israeli prisons will be released. The mediators are still working on the final clauses, a Hamas source reported, according to whom the list includes 250 Palestinians sentenced to life imprisonment and another 1,700 arrested by Israel since the start of the war after the attack on 7 October 2023. Among the ‘desired by the Islamist group is Marwan Barghouti but the spokeswoman for the Tel Aviv government, Shosh Bedrosian, said that the well-known Fatah exponent, imprisoned for over twenty years in Israeli prisons, “will not be involved in this release”.
In the first five days of the ceasefire, at least 400 aid trucks per day will enter the Strip, and then this will increase in the following days, a Hamas source added. UNRWA celebrated the agreement as a “huge relief” and said it was ready to take action to feed the civilian population devastated by two years of war. The World Health Organization is prepared to “intensify its work to meet the urgent health needs of patients in Gaza and to support the rehabilitation of the destroyed health system”, underlined the director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sàar, in an interview with Fox News, reiterated that Israel is committed to Trump’s plan for a ceasefire and has no intention of restarting the war once the agreement is implemented.
Satisfaction and anticipation for the implementation of the agreement was expressed by international leaders, from the Arab countries, with Jordan, Egypt, the Emirates and Saudi Arabia in the lead, together with Turkey, the Europeans, up to China and Russia. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called for the release of all hostages to take place “in a dignified manner” and for the fighting to stop “once and for all”, urging the immediate and unhindered entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
For his part, the president of the Palestinian National Authority Abu Mazen expressed the hope that the agreement “is a prelude to reaching a permanent political solution”, which will lead to the creation of a Palestinian state.
Thousands of people have spontaneously gathered in “Hostage Square” in Tel Aviv as they await the government meeting. Meanwhile, the special envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, involved in the negotiations in Sharm el-Sheikh, have arrived in Israel. Trump is expected to arrive in Jerusalem on Sunday, as announced by the Israeli presidential office. The head of the White House said that he will then “try” to go to Egypt, following the invitation extended to him by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, for the signing ceremony of the agreement.
The 20-point plan presented by Trump at the end of September also provides for the disarmament of Hamas and the governance of Gaza entrusted to an international transition authority but these points have not yet been addressed.