Israel and Hamas reached an agreement yesterday for a ceasefire in Gaza for at least four days, for the entry of aid and the release of at least 50 hostages held by Hamas in exchange for at least 150 Palestinian women and children imprisoned in Israel.
The first truce in the brutal war brokered by Qatar was hailed around the world as a sign of progress that could ease the suffering of Gaza's civilians and bring home more Israeli hostages. Israel said the ceasefire could be further extended as long as the hostages are released.
Hamas and its affiliated groups took about 240 hostages when the attackers rampaged through southern Israeli communities on October 7. Hamas has released only four people so far.
Israel has been under siege and intense bombardment of Gaza since the Hamas attack, which has killed 1.200 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli figures. Since then, more than 14.000 Gazans have been killed, about 40 percent of them children, according to health officials in the Hamas-ruled territory.
Qatar's chief negotiator, Minister of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Muhammad al-Kulaifi, told Reuters he hoped the truce deal "will be the seed of a larger agreement and a permanent ceasefire." And that is our intention".
Both Israel and Hamas have said the ceasefire will not stop their broader missions.
"We are at war and we will continue the war until we achieve all our goals. To destroy Hamas, return all our hostages and ensure that no entity in Gaza can threaten Israel," said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Hamas said in a statement: "As we announce the achievement of a ceasefire agreement, we confirm that our fingers are still on the trigger and that our victorious fighters will remain alert to defend our people and defeat the occupation."
The Guardian estimates that the temporary nature of the pause in the Israeli offensive, combined with the number of prisoners held by Hamas, means that any hopes of a final end to hostilities remain very slim.
Most of northern Gaza is uninhabitable after the Israeli bombardment, and 1,7 million people have been displaced. They are now huddled in the south of the enclave, without adequate food, fuel, clean water, shelter and much more.
Any cessation of hostilities and promises of increased aid will bring only partial relief to the enclave's distressed residents, according to Reuters.
"What kind of truce can there be after what happened to us? We are all dead people," said Mona, a Gaza resident whose nieces and nephews were among the victims of the Israeli airstrike on the Sejam family home. "It won't bring back what we've lost, it won't heal our hearts, or make up for the tears we've shed."
A United Nations official who lived with his family for six weeks in a complex near Khan Younis, told The Guardian yesterday: "I would like the ceasefire to pave the way for a political solution, but that is not yet clear... What will we do when war over? Where to go when most people, and I am one of them, have lost their home? Where to live, when there is no infrastructure, no schools, no hospitals? It will take years just to remove the rubble”.
Still, there is some hope that the agreement is a step toward a broader peace.
"We hope that there will be a truce and that there will be good solutions, and we hope that people will live peacefully, return to their homes and workplaces in a stable environment," said Abu Jihad Shameha, who sought refuge from northern Gaza. in Khan Yunis in the south.
The agreement will also bring only partial relief to the families of the hostages. Even for those whose relatives are not immediately freed, the deal offers hope. But for the families and friends of the captured military personnel, who may have numbered around 100, it is deeply disturbing to know that they are the most valuable to Hamas and that they will be the last to be freed, writes "The Guardian".
Kamelia Hoter Ishaj, whose 13-year-old granddaughter Gali Tarashanski is believed to be detained in Gaza, said she did not believe reports of a deal until she heard that the girl had been freed.
"And then I'll know it's really over and I'll be able to breathe," she told Reuters.
Ofri Bibas Levi, whose brother, daughter-in-law and two nephews - aged four years and 10 months - are among the prisoners, said that the agreement puts families in an "inhumane" situation. Her brother, 34, is not expected to be among the first group released.
"Who will be released, who will not? Will the children be freed? Will they be released with their mothers or not?” she told The Guardian shortly before the deal was announced. "No matter how it happens, there will still be families who will be left worried, sad and angry."
A bitter pill for Israel
Although right-wing parties have largely backed the deal, averting an immediate political crisis, many in Israel oppose the ceasefire. Israel's military and intelligence services reportedly supported the agreement with Hamas even though it was a propaganda success for their enemy, but they are determined, like most of the public, to continue efforts to "crush" Hamas, according to the Guardian.
A military official told the paper last month that he and his colleagues always knew Israel would have to pay a "painful price" for the return of the hostages, but the heroic status Hamas will gain by forcing the release of young men and women from Israeli prisons is nonetheless a bitter pill.
Israel claims that Hamas has killed thousands of Hamas fighters, although it has not produced evidence, and that it has destroyed parts of the group's tunnel system. It also controls large swaths of former Hamas strongholds in northern Gaza, but much of the group's infrastructure remains intact and the truce will allow it to regroup.
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