Sunset over the ruins of Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip, January 20, 2025 (AFP / BASHAR TALEB)
Four Israeli women must be released on Saturday during the next exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners, Hamas announced Tuesday on the third day of a fragile ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
US President Donald Trump expressed doubts about the strength of the truce, whose entry into force on Sunday for six weeks marked the start of a still uncertain process aimed at putting an end to 15 months of war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement.
Qatar, which led the negotiations with the United States and Egypt, on the other hand said it was “confident” on Tuesday that the agreement would be implemented.
From the early hours of the truce on Sunday, hundreds of trucks loaded with humanitarian aid began entering the ruined territory, while thousands of Gaza residents displaced by the war rushed to return to their land.
After the release of three Israeli hostages and 90 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, Hamas must release four Israeli women held in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, during the second exchange provided for by the truce agreement, Taher al- announced to AFP Nanny, a senior leader of the movement.
According to the Israeli army, “three or four kidnapped women” will be released each week.
Of 251 people kidnapped during Hamas’ bloody attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which sparked the war, 91 are still held hostage in Gaza, 34 of whom died according to the Israeli army.
Relatives of Hamas hostages and supporters show their gratitude to US President Donald Trump, January 20, 2025 in Tel Aviv (AFP / Menahem Kahana)
“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 the guns would fall silent for a long time in the Gaza Strip. .
Donald Trump exerted intense pressure on Israel, an ally of the United States, to reach an agreement before his inauguration and also threatened Hamas with “hell” if the hostages were not released.
Barely arriving at the White House on Monday, the Republican president revoked a decree from his predecessor, Joe Biden, which had made it possible to sanction Israeli settlers accused of violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
The Palestinian Authority denounced on Tuesday this lifting of sanctions against “extremist settlers”, saying that it would encourage the commission of more “crimes”.
– “No more threats” –
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulated Donald Trump on Monday, promising him “the happiest days” in relations between the two countries in the years to come.
Palestinians in the ruins of Jabalia, in the north of the Gaza Strip, January 20, 2025 (AFP / Omar AL-QATTAA)
Mr Netanyahu also said he wanted to ensure that the Gaza Strip “never poses a threat to Israel again”, having previously said he reserved the right to resume the war against Hamas.
During the first phase of the truce, 33 hostages held in Gaza are to be released in exchange for around 1,900 Palestinians held by Israel, and the Israeli army is to withdraw from part of the territory.
-This initial 42-day truce is supposed to allow an influx of humanitarian aid into the Palestinian territory, besieged by Israel since the start of the war, and provides for the entry of 600 trucks per day.
On Monday, 915 trucks loaded with aid entered Gaza, the UN announced.
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.
– “Only ruins” –
In the meantime, thousands of Palestinians, displaced like almost all of the territory’s 2.4 million inhabitants, have taken to the road since Sunday, in the middle of an apocalyptic landscape of dusty ruins and gutted buildings.
A Palestinian detainee released by Israel reunites with her family in Beitunia, in the West Bank, on January 20, 2025 (AFP / Zain JAAFAR)
“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.
The same scenes are repeated from north to south.
“The destruction targeted educational and health establishments, civil installations, municipal installations, water reservoirs, water and sewer networks,” Ahmed Al-Soufi told AFP, the mayor of Rafah. “But we will rebuild Rafah once again,” he assured.
According to the UN, the reconstruction of the territory, where almost 70% of buildings have been damaged or destroyed, will take up to 15 years and cost more than 50 billion euros.
Despite the uncertainties, the agreement concluded on January 15 nourishes the hope of lasting peace in the Palestinian territory.
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.
Age of the 251 hostages and bodies taken to Gaza during the attack of October 7, 2023, and situation as of January 20, 2025 depending on whether they are still detained, released or deceased (AFP / Paz PIZARRO)
Hamas said the truce depended on Israel “compliance with commitments.” On Monday, he deployed his security forces in the Gaza Strip, in military gear or black uniforms, according to AFP journalists.
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.
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.
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