Gaza Strip | Israel accuses Hamas of backtracking on truce deal

(Jerusalem) Israel on Thursday accused Hamas of backing down on the agreement announced the day before for a truce in Gaza and the release of hostages, and carried out new strikes on Palestinian territory, before a government meeting to approve this outcome of a war over 15 months.

In the final stretch, the Israeli authorities said Thursday morning that they were waiting for guarantees from the mediating countries that Hamas “has accepted all the elements of the agreement”.

The agreement provides in a first phase for a truce from Sunday, the release of 33 Israeli hostages in exchange for a thousand Palestinian prisoners, and an increase in humanitarian aid.

According to the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Palestinian Islamist movement returned “on certain points” to “extort last minute concessions”. A senior Hamas leader, Sami Abou Zouhri, rejected the accusations, assuring that the movement was sticking to the agreement.

At the same time, Israel continued its strikes on the Gaza Strip, according to the territory’s Civil Defense, which reported 73 people killed since the announcement of the agreement on Wednesday evening, in a “strong intensification” of bombings. .

“We were waiting for the truce and we were happy”, but “suddenly we received the news of the martyrdom of 40 people”, testifies in Jabalia, in the north of the Palestinian territory, a relative of the victims, Saeed Alloush.

“We are a little afraid […] that the agreement falls through, but we remain positive,” reacts Yulia Kedem in Tel Aviv, where street lamps and public benches are covered with stickers saluting the memory of killed soldiers or hostages.

The announcement of the agreement by Qatar and the United States – mediator countries with Egypt – was made possible by an acceleration of negotiations, which had been stalling for a year, as the departure of the White House approached. of Joe Biden, replaced Monday by Donald Trump.

The news was welcomed by many capitals and international organizations. And thousands of Palestinians exulted across the besieged and war-devastated Gaza Strip triggered by Hamas’ unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

Hamas saw in the agreement the fruit of the “tenacity” of the Palestinian people and their “valiant resistance”. The Iranian supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whose country, a supporter of Hamas, judged that the Palestinian “resistance” had “defeated” Israel.

“Good choice”

Mr. Netanyahu’s office indicated during the night that “final details” remained to be finalized, but thanked MM. Biden and Trump, whose teams worked closely, for an agreement on “the release of the hostages”.

If Israeli President Isaac Herzog welcomed a “good choice”, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, of the far right, denounced a “dangerous” agreement and specified that his party’s ministers would vote against it.

The October 7 attack 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 data. Of 251 people kidnapped on the day of the attack, 94 are still being held in Gaza, of whom 34 are dead according to the army.

At least 46,788 people, mostly civilians, were killed in the Israeli military campaign of retaliation in the Gaza Strip which also caused a humanitarian disaster, according to data from the Hamas Health Ministry deemed reliable by the UN .

The main elements of the agreement were made public by the Prime Minister of Qatar, Mohammed bin Abdelrahmane Al-Thani and Joe Biden.

It is due to come into force on Sunday for a first phase of six weeks including a ceasefire, the release of 33 hostages – out of a total of 94 still held in Gaza, including 34 declared dead by the army – and an Israeli withdrawal densely populated areas.

The second phase should allow the release of the last hostages and a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, Mr. Biden said. The third and final stage must be devoted to the reconstruction of Gaza and the return of the bodies of hostages who died in captivity.

“A monitoring mechanism […] will be set up in Cairo managed by Egypt, Qatar and the United States,” according to the Prime Minister of Qatar.

Joe Biden assured that the agreement would allow, from its first phase, a “complete and total” ceasefire.

Humanitarian aid must increase during the first phase, during which the modalities of the second phase, namely “a definitive end to the war”, will be negotiated, he added.

The post-war in suspense

Already undermined by an Israeli blockade imposed since 2007, poverty and unemployment, the besieged Gaza Strip has been ravaged by war and the vast majority of its 2.4 million inhabitants have been displaced and live in particularly harsh conditions. .

“I can’t believe this nightmare […] is starting to come to an end,” Randa Samih, a 45-year-old displaced person in the Nousseirat camp (Center), told AFP.

The European Union announced on Thursday the granting of humanitarian aid of 120 million euros to deal with the “catastrophic situation” in the Palestinian territory.

If it succeeds in silencing the weapons, the ceasefire leaves in suspense the political future of the territory where Hamas, now very weakened, took power in 2007.