A decisive first step. The Israeli government gave, on the night of Friday January 17 to Saturday January 18, the final green light to the ceasefire agreement with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, paving the way for it to come into force on Sunday. of a truce accompanied by the release of the first Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian detainees.
Announced on Wednesday by Qatar and the United States, this agreement aims to ultimately lead to “a definitive end to the war” which has caused tens of thousands of deaths in the devastated Palestinian territory in more than 15 months, according to the Prime Minister of Qatar, Mohammed ben Abdelrahmane Al-Thani. The definitive end of hostilities will be negotiated during this first phase which should last six weeks. Franceinfo details it for you.
The ceasefire comes into force on Sunday morning
The ceasefire will come into effect on Sunday at 8:30 a.m. (7:30 a.m. Paris time), the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Qatar, the mediating country, announced on Saturday. “We advise residents to take precautions, exercise extreme caution and wait for instructions from official sources”wrote the spokesperson for the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Majed al-Ansari, on his X account.
The ceasefire also goes hand in hand with an Israeli withdrawal from densely populated areas and an increase in humanitarian aid. The agreement concluded provides in particular for bringing 500 trucks per day into the Gaza Strip. “There are a lot of projects to be restarted, whether in terms of health, housing, access to water and food,” underlined on franceinfo Jean-François Corty, president of Médecins du monde.
The release of 33 Israeli hostages spread over six weeks
The agreement provides for the release of 33 hostages held in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023. According to The Times of Israëlthe established schedule provides for the release of three hostages on the first day of the ceasefire, then four hostages on the seventh day. Then, three hostages will be released each week for a period of four weeks, before the release of fourteen hostages, the sixth and final week. Two Franco-Israelis, Ofer Kalderon, 54, and Ohad Yahalomi, 50, appear on the list of the first 33 hostages to be released, announced Emmanuel Macron on X. Both were kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz with several of their children, released during the first truce in November 2023.
-The Israeli army has prepared a reception system called “Wings of Freedom”. The hostages will first be taken to one of three complexes set up for their return in Kerem Shalom and Reim, not far from the south of the Gaza Strip, and in Erez, in the north. They will be directed to one of these three sites according to their release route. Once there, they will be welcomed by representatives of the army, doctors and psychologists. They will take a shower, change clothes and be examined. Some injured hostages will receive emergency medical treatment before being transported to one of the six Israeli hospitals mobilized. They will meet their families there for the first time. “We expect all aspects of their physical and mental health to be affected,” warned Doctor Hagai Levine, who represents the families of the hostages and the missing.
In exchange, 737 Palestinian prisoners will regain their freedom
In exchange for the release of the hostages, Israel will release 737 Palestinian prisoners. Israeli authorities published Friday the names of 95 Palestinian detainees, the majority of whom are women and minors, who could be released on Sunday, but not before 4 p.m. (3 p.m. in Paris), according to the Ministry of Justice. The list includes 70 women, including one minor, and 25 men, including nine under the age of 18. According to the ministry, the youngest is 16 years old. On the list, only seven prisoners were arrested before October 7, 2023.
Among the detainees is Khalida Jarrar, a figure in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a classified Marxist movement. “terrorist organization” by Israel, the United States and the European Union. Arrested at the end of December 2023 in the West Bank, a Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967, this sixty-year-old has been detained since then without charge against her. In September 2021, she was released after serving a two-year sentence in an Israeli prison for participating in PFLP activities.
Among the prisoners expected to be released soon is also Zakaria Zubeidi, responsible for several attacks against Israeli civilians and former leader of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, the armed wing of the Fatah party, who escaped from an Israeli prison in 2021.
