The ceasefire between Israel and the Islamist movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip still holds on Tuesday, three days after it came into force, although US President Donald Trump expressed doubts about its solidity.
“It’s not our war, it’s theirs. But I’m not confident,” Mr. Trump responded to a journalist who asked him if he thought that the guns would fall silent for a long time between the two belligerents in the devastated Palestinian territory.
Donald Trump has put intense pressure on both camps to reach a deal before his inauguration.
Barely arriving at the White House on Monday, the Republican revoked a decree from his predecessor Joe Biden which had made it possible to sanction Israeli settlers accused of violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had previously congratulated him, promising “the happiest days” in relations between the two countries in the years to come.
“I think that working together again will take the United States-Israel alliance to even greater heights,” he added.
“Never again”
Mr Netanyahu also said on Monday he wanted to ensure that the Gaza Strip “never poses a threat to Israel again”, after previously saying he reserved the right to resume war against Hamas.
| © AFP Relatives of Hamas hostages and supporters show their gratitude to US President Donald Trump, January 20, 2025 in Tel Aviv |
A first exchange of three Israeli hostages, prisoners of Hamas in Gaza for 471 days, for 90 Palestinian detainees marked on Sunday and Monday the start of a long process intended to put an end to 15 months of war.
As soon as the guns fell silent, humanitarian aid began flowing into the Gaza Strip, while thousands of residents rushed to return to their homes.
A total of 915 humanitarian aid trucks entered the Palestinian territory on Monday, more than the number set by the ceasefire agreement, the UN announced.
The initial 42-day truce between Israel and Hamas is supposed to allow an influx of humanitarian aid into the Palestinian territory and provides for the entry of 600 trucks per day.
The next releases will take place on Saturday, according to a Hamas official. According to the Israeli army, “three or four kidnapped women” will be released every week.
“Only ruins”
During the first phase, 33 hostages held in Gaza must be released in exchange for around 1,900 Palestinians held by Israel, and the Israeli army must withdraw from part of the territory.
 | © AFP -Palestinians in the ruins of Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip, January 20, 2025 |
But the rest of the schedule remains uncertain. The terms of the second phase, which should see a definitive end to the war and the release of all hostages, must be negotiated over the next six weeks.
In the meantime, thousands of displaced Palestinians have taken to the roads since Sunday, in the middle of an apocalyptic landscape of dusty ruins and gutted buildings.
“We are finally home. There is no more house, only ruins. But it is our house,” testified Rana Mohsen, a 43-year-old woman who returned to Jabalia, in the north of the territory.
Same scene in Rafah, all the way to the south. “We couldn’t even find the exact location of our houses,” said Maria Gad El Haq, also displaced by the war like almost all of Gaza’s 2.4 million residents.
| | © AFP A Palestinian detainee released by Israel reunites with her family in Beitunia, West Bank, January 20, 2025 |
Despite the uncertainties, the agreement concluded on January 15 through Qatar, the United States and Egypt nourishes the hope of a lasting peace in the Palestinian territory, where the war was launched on October 7 2023 by the bloody Hamas attack in southern Israel.
If the first two stages go as planned, the third and final will focus on the reconstruction of Gaza and the return of the bodies of dead hostages.
The Palestinian movement affirmed that the truce depended on “respect for commitments” by Israel. On Monday, he deployed his security forces in the Gaza Strip, in military gear or black uniforms, according to AFP journalists.
In Israel, after the emotion aroused by the first releases of hostages, the newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth fears a less happy outcome.
“Some will arrive on stretchers and wheelchairs. Others will arrive in coffins…” wrote columnist Sima Kadmon.
The attack of October 7, 2023 resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people on the Israeli side, the majority of them civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data.
Of 251 people kidnapped, 91 remain hostages in Gaza, 34 of whom died according to the Israeli army.
At least 46,913 people, mostly civilians, were killed in the Israeli retaliatory offensive in Gaza, according to data from the Hamas government’s Health Ministry, deemed reliable by the UN.
