India welcomes Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal, says it will lead to ‘safe, sustained’ humanitarian aid

India on Thursday welcomed the deal between Israel and Hamas for ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and release of hostages held by terrorists.

Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that the agreement between Israel and Hamas should lead to a safe and sustained supply of humanitarian assistance to Gazans.

“We welcome the announcement of the agreement for the release of hostages and a ceasefire in Gaza. We hope this will lead to a safe and sustained supply of humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza. We have consistently called for release of all hostages, ceasefire, and return to a path of dialogue and diplomacy,” said Jaiswal in the brief statement.

After more than a year of negotiations mediated by Egypt and Qatar and facilitated by the United States, Israel and Hamas have reached a deal to end the war in Gaza in three stages, said Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani on Wednesday.

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The deal is nearly identical to the one floated by outgoing US President Joe Bide in May 2024. The deal was endorsed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the time but he added new demands to the deal a few months later and those demands tanked the negotiations for months.

Al Thani said that Israel and Hamas have reached a three-phase deal that would come into effect on January 19 (Sunday).

The ceasefire would start with Hamas releasing 33 hostages comprising civilian women, female soldiers, children, the elderly, and sick and wounded civilians in exchange for an unspecified number Palestinians held in Israeli prisons and detention centers, according to Al Thani.

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The first phase of the deal would last for 42 days and would be utilised to negotiate the specifics of phase two and three.

Last year, Biden had outlined that the war would permanently end in phase two and would include the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. He had said that phase three would start the reconstruction of Gaza that has been devasted by more than a year of Israeli bombardment.