 "Palestinians celebrate at their camp for people displaced by conflict at Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, on January 15, 2025. AFP")
After 15 months in intense conflict and more than 46,000 deaths, Israel and Hamas reached a ceasefire deal to end the Gaza war, assuring complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from the besieged enclave and the release of all the hostages captured by the Iran-backed terrorist group when it launched the unprecedented attack on October 7, 2023 against the Jewish nation.
The landmark agreement comes barely days ahead of US President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20.
The negotiations were backed by Egyptian mediators, with the support of the United States.
Ceasefire deal reached after months of diplomacy
“Today, after many months of intensive diplomacy by the United States, along with Egypt and Qatar, Israel and Hamas have reached a ceasefire and hostage deal. This deal will halt the fighting in Gaza, surge much-needed humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians, and reunite the hostages with their families after more than 15 months in captivity,” outgoing US President Joe Biden told reporters at the Oval Office late Wednesday.
When will Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal come into effect?
The initial agreement of six weeks will come into effect on January 19 with the gradual withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza as well as release of the hostages, held captive by Hamas, in exchange for Palestinian prisoners taken into custody by Israel.
Biden further informed that the truce deal between Israel and Hamas has been structured in three phases.
Permanent end to Israel-Hamas war anytime soon?
As per Biden, during the next six weeks, starting from January 19, “Israel will negotiate the necessary arrangements to get (to) phase two, which is a permanent end to the war.”
What if second phase is not agreed upon in six weeks?
Biden confirmed that the ceasefire will continue even if negotiations for the second phase extend beyond the initial six weeks.
If conditions are met then in the second phase, Hamas will release all remaining hostages, primarily male soldiers, in exchange for the release of more Palestinian prisoners. Israel would also initiate a complete withdrawal from Gaza.
In the third phase, Hamas would return the bodies of remaining captives and in exchange, a reconstruction plan of three-to-five-year for Gaza, managed under international supervision, would be implemented.
Meanwhile, Israel has agreed to let injured Palestinians to leave Gaza for medical treatment and to open the Rafah crossing with Egypt seven days after the first phase of the deal commences.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsIsrael-Hamas deal a ‘remarkable’ Biden-Trump partnership
A report by AFP quoted US officials as saying that in the final four days of ceasefire talks, Biden’s Mideast envoy Brett McGurk was joined in the region by Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, to get the deal over the line.
As they were engaged in negotiations, Israeli and Hamas negotiators were huddling on separate floors of the same building in the Qatari capital Doha, while moderators from Qatar and Egypt shuttled between them with their proposals.
McGurk and Witkoff were talking “multiple times a day, and Mr Witkoff actually helped clinch down some of the details. There was great coordination,” National Security Council (NSA) spokesman John Kirby told CNN.
“Four days ago, Steve Witkoff came out to join Brett in his final push, which I think is, historically, almost unprecedented. And it was a highly constructive, very fruitful partnership,” the AFP report a senior Biden administration official as saying on condition of anonymity.
Interestingly, the cooperation between the two US administrations didn’t stop them from fighting over who should claim credit for a deal that had seemed out of reach for several months.
Trump said the “epic” win would never have happened without his election putting pressure for a deal, while Biden said “is that a joke?” when a reporter asked which of them should get credit.
Netanyahu thanks Trump
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Trump to thank him after reaching deal with Hamas in Gaza.
“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke this evening with US President-elect Donald Trump and thanked him for his assistance in advancing the release of the hostages and for helping Israel bring an end to the suffering of dozens of hostages and their families,” Netanyahu’s office posted on X.
A look at Gaza war timeline
October 7, 2023: Armed Hamas members storm into southern Israel from Gaza and rampage through communities. Retaliatory airstrikes on Gaza begin, along with a total siege.
October 8: Lebanon’s Hezbollah fires on Israel, saying its attacks aim to support Palestinians in Gaza, leading to sustained hostilities.
October 13: Israel tells residents of Gaza City, where more than one million people live, to move south, beginning a process that will uproot nearly the entire population of the Gaza Strip.
October 19: A US Navy warship intercepts missiles and drones launched from Yemen towards Israel. Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis continue attacks on Israel and against Red Sea shipping.
October 21: Aid trucks are allowed through the Rafah border crossing from Egypt into Gaza, where food, water, medicines and fuel are running out. Over coming months, the humanitarian crisis worsens with aid groups and Western governments saying Israel must do more to let in aid.
October 27: Israel launches its ground offensive in Gaza.
November 15: Israeli troops enter Gaza’s biggest hospital, Al Shifa, after a siege of several days. Within a few weeks, all hospitals serving northern Gaza will cease to function.
November 21: Israel and Hamas announce a seven-day truce and release of around half the hostages, but war resumes on December 1.
December 4: Israeli forces launch their first big ground assault in southern Gaza, towards the main southern city, Khan Younis.
January 1, 2024: Israel signals it will start withdrawing from northern parts of Gaza, but months later it is again fighting militants in the same areas.
January 26: The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, also known as the World Court, orders Israel to prevent genocide.
February 29: More than 100 Gazans are killed queuing for aid in the presence of Israeli troops who opened fire, in one of the deadliest incidents of the war.
March 7: Facing political pressure over hunger in Gaza, U.S. President Joe Biden announces work on a floating pier to deliver aid. It will be installed in May but last only until July with supplies remaining very constricted.
April 1: Iran’s embassy compound in Damascus is hit by a suspected Israeli airstrike that kills several military officers including a top general. Tehran responds two weeks later by firing hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel.
May 6: Hamas says it has accepted a proposal for a ceasefire, but Israel said it had not agreed to that text.
Israel tells Palestinians to evacuate parts of Rafah after its forces take control of a buffer zone along the border between Gaza and Egypt, giving Israel effective authority over the Palestinian territory’s entire land border.
June 23: Netanyahu says the phase of intense fighting against Hamas in Gaza is coming to an end but that the war will not finish until Hamas no longer controls the enclave. However, heavy bouts of fighting continue across Gaza for months more.
June 25: The Global hunger monitor, the IPC, says Gaza remains at high risk of famine.
July 2: Israel announces new evacuation orders for the southern cities of Khan Younis and Rafah, which the United Nations called the largest edict of its kind since the beginning of the war.
July 27: A Hezbollah rocket kills a group of 12 children and teenagers in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, prompting Israel to vow retaliation.
August 1: Israel’s military says it killed Mohammed Deif, Hamas’ military chief, in an airstrike on July 13. Hamas neither confirmed nor denied Deif’s death. Palestinian officials said the strike killed 90 people.
August 23: World Health Organization (WHO) says a first confirmed case of type 2 polio in Gaza for 25 years has paralysed a baby.
September 17: Israel detonates thousands of booby-trapped pager communications devices used by Hezbollah in Lebanon, injuring hundreds of its members.
September 28: An Israeli airstrike in Beirut kills Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, one of many strikes against the group’s senior leadership.
October 5: Israeli forces launch major anti-Hamas operation in northern Gaza focused on Jabalia refugee camp near Gaza City and Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya towns. The push continues into 2025. Much of the surrounding area is cleared of people and razed.
October 16: Israel kills Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in a shootout in Rafah.
November 21: International Criminal Court (ICC) issues arrest warrants for Netanyahu, former defence chief Yoav Gallant, and Hamas’ Ibrahim Al-Masri – also known as Mohammed Deif – for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza war.
November 27: Israel and Hezbollah agree a ceasefire in Lebanon. On the same day rebels in Syria launch an offensive that will quickly topple President Bashar al-Assad, a major ally of Hezbollah and its Iranian backer.
December 2: US President-elect Donald Trump says there will be “hell to pay” in the Middle East if hostages in Gaza are not freed before his Jan. 20 inauguration. Using similar language, he reiterates the demand on Dec. 16 and Jan. 7.
January 15, 2025: Negotiators reach a deal for a ceasefire in the Gaza war between Israel and Hamas, after 15 months of conflict that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and inflamed West Asia.
With inputs from Reuters and AFP