After fifteen months of war, devastation and suffering, an agreement was finally reached between Israel and Hamas to stop – at least for six weeks – the bombings on Gaza and schedule the gradual release of Israeli hostages. Many points remain to be resolved and this hope could still be torpedoed at any time as the extremists on both camps are reluctant to stop the fighting. But the political window is exceptional: to conclude this agreement, it took the persuasion of no less than two American presidents: the outgoing, Joe Biden, and the incoming, Donald Trump.
Each of them had set the objective of obtaining a ceasefire before January 20, the first to complete its assessment, the second to show that its threats were effective. The president-elect had in fact promised “hell” in Gaza if the hostages were not released before Monday, as if the Palestinians did not already know hell. This agreement may just mark a respite in the standoff between Hamas and the Israeli government, but each day spent without the sound of guns in Gaza and each Israeli hostage recovered alive are already enormous victories.
In nearly fifteen months, at least 46,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli bombs and the conditions of survival in the enclave, at the height of winter, are increasingly appalling. As for the hostages, more than 30 are said to have died and we dare not imagine the state of the survivors. This agreement, if implemented well, is therefore a huge relief.
But once the few weeks of truce have passed, nothing says that the fighting will not resume as was the case in November 2023 after a week of ceasefire. And above all the future of Gaza is in no way settled. What will the next day look like? Who will administer the enclave? Donald Trump’s first reactions are worrying in this regard. The elected president only welcomed the release of the hostages and only mentioned the Palestinians to assert that he will not let Gaza become “a refuge for terrorists”.
Belgium
