After 15 months of a deadly war, an agreement on a truce in Gaza and releases of hostages is due to come into force on Sunday. A hope of peace for a devastated territory, but the political future remains uncertain. What does this long-awaited truce have in store for us?
On this Sunday morning, a wind of hope is blowing across the Gaza Strip. After 15 months of a devastating war that has left tens of thousands dead and left the Palestinian territory in ruins, a hard-negotiated truce agreement must finally come into force. A glimmer of hope for a battered population, but also many questions about the future of this conflict which has continued for decades.
A ceasefire and expected releases
It is at 8:30 a.m. local time that the ceasefire must officially begin, after long months of international mediation led by Qatar, Egypt and the United States. The agreement initially provides for a cessation of hostilities and an exchange of prisoners: 33 hostages held in Gaza against 737 Palestinian detainees on the Israeli side.
Among the hostages whose release is hoped for this Sunday, there are three Israeli women as well as two Franco-Israelis, Ofer Kalderon and Ohad Yahalomi, kidnapped in October 2023 during the unprecedented attack by Hamas against Israel which sparked this war . “This is the moment we have been waiting for. I really hope that we will see my grandfather come home, standing, alive,” confides with emotion Daniel Lifshitz, grandson of Oded Lifshitz, 84 years old, also held hostage.
Bruised Gaza hopes to rebuild
For the 2.4 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, the vast majority of whom have been displaced by the fighting, the time has come for an uncertain return home. “I’m going to remove the rubble from the house and place my tent there,” says Oum Khalil Bakr, a refugee in Nousseirat. Many “will find their entire neighborhood destroyed” without any essential services, warns Mohamed Khatib of the NGO Medical Aid for Palestine.
According to the UN, this war has caused an “unprecedented” level of destruction in Gaza, already undermined by poverty, unemployment and an Israeli blockade since 2007. The human losses are immense: more than 46,000 Palestinians killed, the majority civilians, and 1200 on the Israeli side. “The suffering will continue but at least there is hope,” summarizes Mohamed Khatib.
A three-phase peace process
Beyond the immediate ceasefire, the truce agreement is divided into three stages. The first, spread over six weeks, includes in addition to the exchange of prisoners an Israeli withdrawal from densely populated areas of Gaza and an increase in humanitarian aid. The second phase should allow the release of the last hostages, before a final stage devoted to the reconstruction of Gaza and the restitution of the bodies of deceased captives.
-But many challenges remain. The agreement notably leaves unanswered the crucial question of the political future of Gaza, where the Islamist Hamas took power in 2007. The Palestinian Authority of Mahmoud Abbas says it is ready to “fully assume its responsibilities” there, but the balance of power remains uncertain.
What future for the peace process?
Another unknown: the involvement of the new American administration of Donald Trump, which takes office on Monday. His predecessor Joe Biden, the architect of this agreement, sees it as “a total ceasefire” and an important step towards a “definitive end to the conflict”. But the road will be long to transform this precarious truce into lasting peace.
Because if the objective declared by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of annihilating Hamas is not achieved, the Islamist movement has emerged considerably weakened from this conflict, without having said its last word. The reconstruction of Gaza, the persistent tensions and the Palestinian question as a whole remain challenges to be met for the future.
Broken lives, fragile hope
In the meantime, for the families of the hostages and for the inhabitants of Gaza, it is a time of relief mixed with apprehension. After so much death and destruction, everyone hopes to return to some semblance of normal life. But in this never-ending conflict, how long will this lull last? The truce agreement alone will not erase the scars of a war that has ravaged so many lives.
“I know that my son Ahmed will not come back,” confides Samira, wiping her tears. He died under the bombs with his wife and their three children. But if this truce can prevent others from experiencing such a tragedy, then perhaps their sacrifice will not have been in vain. » A hope shared by thousands of broken families, for whom peace, even fragile, is priceless.
The next few days will be decisive in judging the solidity of this agreement. But beyond the truce, it is a real peace process that will have to be built to finally escape this infernal cycle of violence. An immense challenge, commensurate with the suffering endured by the populations. The hope remains intact: that one day, Israelis and Palestinians will be able to live side by side in peace, with mutual respect for their rights and their dignity. A dream that is still distant, but which this fragile agreement allows us to glimpse.
