On Wednesday, negotiators announced that they had reached an agreement on a ceasefire for the war in the Gaza Strip, 15 months later. Hamas's devastating assault on Israeli soil launched a brutal military campaign with few parallels in recent history.
In the attack that set things in motion, an October 7, 2023 raid on southern Israel led by Hamas fighters killed nearly 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and stunned Israelis. In the months that followed, an estimated 45,000 Palestinians, many of them civilians, were killed in Gaza, and entire cities were razed to the ground.
On Wednesday, Gazans gave hope that months of hunger, destruction and fear would end, while Israelis anxiously prepared to welcome home dozens of men and women held hostage by Hamas during the 2023 offensive.
under its terms temporary contractGained in the waning days of the Biden administration, Israel will begin withdrawing its military forces and Hamas will begin releasing some of the hostages taken in the bloody raid that started the war. If approved by the Israeli Cabinet, the ceasefire will take effect on Sunday.
“The whole country is holding its breath tonight,” said Yair Lapid, Israel's centrist opposition leader, whose cabinet is expected to vote on the deal on Thursday.
“This is a historic moment in the confrontation with our enemy,” Hamas said in its statement. The “legendary resilience” of Gazans in the face of the war, which has led to a humanitarian crisis, has been praised. One of the group's leaders praised the attack by Hamas, which led to the war, despite the bitter price paid by the Palestinians.
Even amid warnings that some details of the deal have yet to be worked out, celebrations broke out in both Gaza and Israel on Wednesday.
“Thank God, this tragedy is over,” said Mohammed Fares, 24, a resident of Gaza City, as festive whistles and gunfire rang out in the background.
But in devastated Gaza, which resembles the enclave that existed before Israel launched a sweeping offensive aimed at destroying Hamas once and for all, sadness and anxiety, rather than joy, remained the dominant emotions among Palestinians.
“How can we rebuild?” asked Suzanne Abu Dakka, who lives in a settlement near the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis. “Where do we start?”
In Israel, the families of the hostages released a statement saying they were “overjoyed and relieved” by the deal, but expressed “deep concern and concern” that some of the hostages may be left behind. Of the approximately 250 captured in Israel on October 7, 2023, about 100 are still in Gaza; about a third are believed to have died in captivity.
Even as the initial ceasefire was celebrated, some were careful not to exaggerate what could be achieved. Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani spoke of “sustained calm” when announcing the deal.
However, the agreement was a major breakthrough after months of negotiations that often appeared close to a solution, only to fall apart. President Biden's administration has been pressing for a truce as his term in office expires.
“Too many innocent people have died, too many communities have been destroyed,” a devastated Mr Biden told reporters at a news conference.
His successor was President-elect Donald J. Trump threatened with dire consequences Unless Israel and Hamas reach a deal before the January 20 inauguration, and Mr. Biden suggests The White House consulted with the Trump team about negotiations.
“We are giving the next team a real opportunity for a brighter future in the Middle East,” he said. “I hope they take it.”
After months of impasse, talks have been accelerated in recent days by Mr Trump's impending inauguration in the Qatari capital, Doha. American officials from both the outgoing and incoming administrations drove last efforts to reach an agreementQatar and Egypt act as mediators between Hamas and Israel.
The ceasefire will consist of several phases, the first of which will last for six weeks. During that time, Mr. al-Thani said, Israeli forces in Gaza would move east, away from the populated areas, and about 33 hostages would be released. In return, Palestinian prisoners held in Israel will be released.
Among the 33 hostages to be released in the first phase are women and children, men over 50 years old, sick or injured. It was not yet clear how many of that group were alive, but Israeli officials estimated that most were.
In the first phase, 600 trucks carrying needed humanitarian aid would enter Gaza daily. Gazans who were forced to leave their homes will be able to return to the north, where the Israeli occupation began.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in southern Gaza have been living in tents, temporary shelters, rented houses and relatives' apartments for more than a year. Many who plan to return to the north will likely find their homes and neighborhoods destroyed.
By the 16th, talks will begin on the second phase of the six-week deal, which will focus on further exchanges of hostages and Palestinian prisoners.
The cease-fire deal must still go through Israel's cabinet, where some hard-right lawmakers, on whom Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu depends to stay in power, are openly opposed to the deal.
Itamar Ben-Gvir, a far-right member of the coalition, has released information amid reports that a ceasefire agreement may be imminent. video statement calls on others to join forces and derail any deal by resigning from the Netanyahu government.
Another far-right cabinet member, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, called the deal “bad and dangerous for Israel's national security” and expressed his strong opposition to it. But he did not publicly threaten to leave the government.
Mr. Netanyahu's critics, including many of the hostage families, accuse him of sabotaging past efforts to reach a deal to protect his coalition, the most right-wing and religiously conservative in Israel's history.
On Wednesday, Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said he believed a majority would sign the deal in a cabinet vote. “Leadership is deciding between a bad decision and a very bad decision,” Mr. Saar said, adding of the hostages, “If we postpone the decision, we don't know how many of them will survive.”
Israeli President Isaac Herzog called on the government to approve the agreement. “There is no greater moral, human, Jewish or Israeli obligation than to return our sons and daughters to us – whether they are healed at home or buried,” he said.
On Wednesday, in the absence of a ceasefire, the Gaza Civil Defense said Israel continued to attack a residential building across the enclave, including in northern Gaza City, killing two people.
The fighting in Gaza in the last year and the lawlessness that spread after the occupation created major obstacles to the distribution of aid. On Wednesday, as aid groups prepared to flood the stricken enclave, they made it clear that it still won't be easy – even with a ceasefire.
“This is a moment of hope and opportunity,” said UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Tom Fletcher. “But we should be under no illusions about how difficult it will be to get support for survivors.”
Participated in the report Wrong Yazbek, Abu Bakr Bashir, Jonathan Reiss, Ravan Sheikh Ahmed, Ismail To and Efrat Livni.