 "Israel-Hamas ceasefire to begin on Sunday: What does it entail?")
After 15 months of intense fighting, which saw the deaths of over 46,000 people, Israel and Hamas have agreed to a ceasefire deal, which could eventually lead to the end of the war that began after the October 2023 attacks.
Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani announced the ceasefire deal on Wednesday (January 15), saying that “the two belligerents in the Gaza Strip have reached a deal”. He further added that the ceasefire deal would come into effect on Sunday (January 19). “We hope that this will be the last page of the war, and we hope that all parties will commit to implementing all the terms of this agreement,” he said.
US President Joe Biden, who has also been pressing for the ceasefire deal, said he was “deeply satisfied this day has come”, calling the negotiations some of the “toughest” of his career.
Shortly after the much-anticipated ceasefire was announced, emotions of elation and relief exploded across the Strip and Israel. While Palestinians chanted and embraced the end of the “nightmare”, families of hostages in Israel wept tears of joy.
As we await Sunday for the ceasefire to come into effect, here’s a closer look at the details of what the agreement — which has been split into three phases, each lasting six weeks — entails.
Phase I of Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal
Phase 1 of the deal negotiated by the US and Qatar and signed off by Israel and Hamas will start this Sunday (January 19) and continue for six weeks — 42 days. This will include a swap of hostages and prisoners, a “full and complete ceasefire” as US President Joe Biden said, partial withdrawal of Israeli troops in Gaza and a surge of aid into the enclave.
When it comes to the hostage -prisoner swap, the deal entails the release of 33 Israeli captives, including women, children and civilians over the age of 50 – taken during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023. In exchange, Israel will release a larger number of Palestinian prisoners during this phase, including prisoners serving life sentences. Among the Palestinians being released are around 1,000 who were detained after October 7.
According to one report, at least three hostages will be released each week. According to a Sky News report, Israel will release 30 Palestinian detainees for every civilian hostage and 50 Palestinian detainees for every female Israeli soldier that Hamas releases.
As per a Reuters report, two Americans held in Gaza are on the list of hostages to be released in this phase of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal. The two are Keith Siegel and Sagui Dekel-Chen, said a source on condition of anonymity. They were among more than 250 hostages taken to Gaza by Hamas operatives, according to Israeli tallies.
The first phase will also allow Palestinians to return to their homes in all the areas of Gaza. Moreover, Israeli forces will withdraw from Gaza’s densely populated areas to “allow for the swap of prisoners, as well as the swap of remains and the return of the displaced people”.
Israeli forces were expected to remain up to “800 metres inside Gaza stretching from Rafah in the south to Beit Hanun in the north”, according to a source close to Hamas. Israeli forces would not fully withdraw from Gaza until “all hostages are returned”, the Israeli official said.
The first phase would also see Israeli forces reduce their presence in the Philadelphi Corridor , the border area between Egypt and Gaza.
The deal also includes a surge in humanitarian aid in the very first phase. The deal struck on Wednesday calls for 600 trucks of aid to be allowed daily into Gaza. This includes food, medicine and fuel to alleviate the crisis unfolding in the Strip. Since the fighting began between Israel and Hamas, Palestinians have been suffering greatly — malnutrition, disease, lack of clean water and medical treatments.
However, some note that this comes with its own set of problems. Even before the war, Israel restricted entry of some equipment, arguing it could be used for military purposes by Hamas. Another Israeli official said arrangements are still being worked out over aid distribution and clean-up, but the plan is to prevent Hamas from having any role. Furthermore, Israel’s government is still committed to its plan to ban UNRWA from operating and to cut all ties between the agency and the Israeli government.
Phase 2 of the Gaza deal
If all goes as planned on the 16th day of phase one, all parties involved will begin negotiations and hammer out the final details of the following stage.
An Israeli official said there’s no guarantee that the ceasefire will hold beyond the first phase. However, the official told CNN Israel is eager to “bring all our hostages back home,” and will enter negotiations for the second phase in good faith, which could lead to the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
According to Biden, the second phase will include the release of further hostages and the beginning of Gaza’s rebuild. “When phase two begins, there will be an exchange for the release of the remaining living hostages, including male soldiers, and all remaining Israeli forces will be withdrawn from Gaza, and the temporary ceasefire will become permanent,” he said.
What will come in phase 3
The third phase of the Gaza deal is supposed to include the return of the bodies of the remaining hostages. Also, a three to five-year reconstruction plan will begin to be implemented in Gaza under international supervision.
Implementation of the ceasefire deal
When asked who will ensure the implementation of this truce between Israel and Hamas, Qatar PM Al Thani said the US, Egypt and Qatar have put a mechanism in place to ensure neither side breaks the ceasefire. “It will be placed in Cairo, and this follow-up actually will be a joint team from the three countries that will monitor the implementation of the agreement,” he said. “Everything has been agreed upon and will be in place, hopefully, on the day of the execution.”
Notably, this is the second ceasefire Israel and Hamas will see in their 15 months of fighting — the first was in November 2023. It lasted only one week but saw the release of 105 hostages being held by Hamas. On the other hand, Israel released about 240 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.
Celebrations, relief and some hesitation
The announcement of the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas led to an outpour of reactions from the world over. While world leaders hailed the efforts to bring peace to the West Asian region, families of the hostages and Palestinians celebrated the news.
For many whose loved ones were still being held captive by Hamas, it was mixed emotions of worry and happiness. As Yosi Shnaider, a cousin of Shiri Bibas who was taken with her husband Yarden and children Ariel and Kfir, who were four years and 10 months old during the Hamas-led attack, told Reuters, “We don’t know if they’re on the list, if they’re going to come back in the first phase, if they’re alive, if not. We actually don’t know anything. It’s scary.”
Ifat Kalderon, the cousin of the hostage Ofer Kalderon, also held similar concerns. Speaking to AFP, she said, “I have mixed feelings. On one hand, it’s joy, (but) mixed with terrible anxiety that it will, actually, happen.”
“If the deal does happen, I don’t know how Ofer will return — whether he is alive or not — but I do believe he is alive,” she said, hoping her relative is among those released. “I truly, truly hope it won’t end with just the 33 hostages returning home, but that everyone will return.”
In Gaza, the mood was celebratory. Chants and the sounds of drums rang out loud as people celebrated the news of the ceasefire. “I can’t believe that this nightmare of more than a year is finally coming to an end. We have lost so many people, we’ve lost everything,” Randa Sameeh, a 45-year-old who was displaced from Gaza City to the Nuseirat Camp in the centre of the territory, told AFP.
“We need a lot of rest. As soon as the truce begins, I will go to the cemetery to visit my brother and family members. We buried them in Deir el-Balah cemetery without proper graves. We will build them new graves and write their names on them.”
With inputs from agencies
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