Gaza: Truce agreement approved by Hamas and Islamic Jihad

Hamas approved this Wednesday the agreement on a truce in Gaza, announced sources close to the accelerating discussions in Qatar, with the aim of ending 15 months of a deadly war with Israel.

The Palestinian Islamist movement and its ally Islamic Jihad approved the agreement on a ceasefire as well as an exchange of prisoners for Israeli hostages, according to two sources close to the negotiators meeting in Doha.

Intensification of discussions

A few days before Donald Trump’s return to the White House, indirect discussions intensified with a view to a truce associated with the release of hostages held in the Palestinian territory since the bloody Hamas attack against Israel on October 7 2023.

This attack sparked a war that left tens of thousands dead and reduced much of the territory to ruins.

An agreement “very soon”

“The resistance groups reached an agreement between themselves” and “informed the mediators,” said one of the sources contacted by telephone by AFP from Cairo on Wednesday. Another Palestinian source close to the discussions confirmed these comments.

Qatar, the main mediating country with the United States and Egypt, declared on Tuesday that the negotiations were “at the final stage” and that the “main problems” had been resolved, hoping for an agreement “very soon”.

Around thirty hostages released

According to two sources close to Hamas, 33 hostages should be released during a first phase, in exchange for a thousand Palestinians detained by Israel. The hostages would be released “in groups, starting with children and women.”

The Israeli government confirmed on Tuesday that it was seeking the release of “33 hostages” during the first stage and was prepared to release “hundreds” of Palestinian prisoners.

The strikes continue

While an agreement could be imminent, Israel is increasing deadly strikes on the Gaza Strip, claiming to target Hamas fighters.

During the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, 24 people were killed, according to emergency services, notably in Deir el-Balah, in the center of the territory, and in Gaza City, in the north, where a strike hit a school sheltering displaced people.

A vital truce for Gaza

In Deir el-Balah, Nadia Madi, a displaced person, prayed for “a truce to be declared.” “I am ready to rebuild my life in the middle of the rubble,” assured this woman who fled her home like almost all of the 2.4 million inhabitants of the besieged territory, and has not seen her family “since more than a year.

A single one-week truce was observed at the end of November 2023 and negotiations since have been met with intransigence from both camps. But the talks intensified in the run-up to Donald Trump’s return to the presidency of the United States on January 20, in a climate of increased international pressure on the different parties. Donald Trump recently promised “hell” to the region if the hostages were not released before his return.

“We must act now”

“Time is running out, the living hostages will eventually die. Dead hostages risk being lost. We must act now,” said Gil Dickman, cousin of hostage Carmel Gat, during a rally Tuesday evening in Jerusalem.

Of 251 people kidnapped during the attack on October 7, 2023, 94 are still held hostage in Gaza, 34 of whom died according to the Israeli army. The attack resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people on the Israeli side, the majority civilians, according to an AFP count based on official data.

At least 46,707 people, mostly civilians, were killed in the Israeli military campaign of reprisals in the Gaza Strip, including 62 in 24 hours, according to data from the Hamas government’s Ministry of Health, deemed reliable by the United Nations.

Second phase of negotiations

An Israeli official said Tuesday that negotiations for the second phase of the deal would begin on the 16th day after the start of the first phase.

This second phase will concern the release of the last hostages, “i.e. the soldiers and men of age to be mobilized”, as well as the return of the bodies of the dead hostages, according to the “Times of Israel”.

But an Israeli official said Tuesday that Israel would “not leave Gaza until all the hostages have returned, the living and the dead.” According to Israeli media, Israel will be able to maintain a “buffer zone” from the north to the south of the Gaza Strip during the first phase.

Sending an international force?

Outgoing US Secretary of State Antony Blinken proposed on Tuesday sending an international security force to Gaza and placing the territory under the responsibility of the UN.

He said the Palestinian Authority, which has partial administrative authority in the occupied West Bank, should regain control of Gaza in the future.

Creation of a Palestinian state

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa said on Wednesday that the international community must maintain pressure on Israel so that it accepts the creation of a Palestinian state after a truce.

Israel “must understand what is just and what is unjust, and that the power to veto peace and the Palestinian state will no longer be accepted or tolerated,” he said.

AFP

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