Until the last moment, Israelis, Palestinians and the rest of the world held their breath. The truce in Gaza, scheduled for Sunday morning, was called into question for a few hours, while Hamas was unable to transmit the list of the three hostages supposed to be released. But at the end of the day, the IDF announced that it had repatriated Romi Gonen, Emily Damari and Doron Steinbrecher to Israel, three women detained by the Palestinian group since the October 7 attacks. The end of more than fifteen months of captivity.
In Israel and Gaza, hopes for peace are timidly reborn. For 42 days, 30 other hostages out of the approximately 100 remaining will have to be released by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. Humanitarian aid is also to be delivered to the enclave during this period, while Israeli forces are ordered to withdraw to a buffer zone. Questions nevertheless remain regarding the second phase of the agreement, during which Hamas and the Jewish state will have to negotiate the conditions of a permanent ceasefire.
The delayed entry into force of the truce this Sunday testifies tothe fragility of the agreement. The day before, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had recalled that Israel’s mission was to “bring back all the hostages” and retained the “right to resume the war” with the support of the Americans, and in particular its ally Donald Trump. But the president-elect, who will be responsible for maintaining the agreement from Monday when he returns to power, has signaled his desire to see the war end from the start of his mandate. He, who congratulated himself on the conclusion of the agreement on Wednesday, is keen to build an image as a peacemaker, while he must also begin official negotiations with Ukraine and Russia. Especially since he hopes, finally, to get his hands on the Nobel Prize.
Swiss
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