Gaza peace in sight as Hamas, Israel sign ceasefire deal

Listen to article

DOHA/WASHINGTON:

Qatar and the United States announced on Wednesday the agreement on a ceasefire deal to pause the 15-month devastating war in the Gaza enclave from Sunday after Hamas and Israel agreed to a hostage and prisoner exchange.

Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani, Hamas acting Gaza chief Khalil al-Hayya, US President Joe Biden as well as the president elect, Donald Trump confirmed the ceasefire deal following intensive talks in the Qatari capital.

However, confirmation of the deal was still awaited from the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Israeli officials said that the final details were still being sorted out, while President Isaac Herzog made an appeal to Netanyahu approve the deal when it was brought before him.

Announcing the deal, US President Joe Biden said that a six-week ceasefire would allow for negotiations to bring about a permanent end to the war, adding that it would halt the fighting in Gaza, surge much-needed humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians, and reunite the hostages with their families.

Speaking at the White House, US President Joe Biden said that the deal had been reached after 15 months of suffering and would be followed by a surge of humanitarian aid in Gaza. "Fighting in Gaza will stop, and soon the hostages return home to their families," Biden said.

The deal was reached after months of negotiations by the Biden administration, Biden noted. However, the deal terms will be mostly implemented by the incoming Trump administration, Biden said. "In these past few days, we have been speaking as one team," he added.

Trump, in a statement on social media that this "EPIC ceasefire agreement" could have only happened as a result of his election in November. "It signalled to the entire World that my Administration would seek Peace and negotiate deals to ensure the safety of all Americans, and our Allies.

"The two belligerents in the Gaza Strip have reached a deal on the prisoner and the hostage swap, and (the mediators) announce a ceasefire in the hopes of reaching a permanent ceasefire between the two sides," Qatari Prime Minister Al-Thani told a press conference in Doha.

Shortly after the ceasefire deal was announced, Hamas' acting Gaza chief Khalil al-Hayya said in a televised address that Israel failed to achieve its goals in Gaza. He also vowed the Palestinian group would neither forgive or forget.

Biden also indicated that he thought it could set the stage for an independent Palestinian state. "For the Palestinian people, a credible, credible pathway to a state of their own, and for the region, a future of normalisation, integration of Israel and all its Arab neighbours," he said.

The deal was struck after many months of intensive diplomacy by the United States, Egypt and Qatar. This deal will halt the fighting in Gaza, surge much-needed humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians, and reunite the hostages with their families after more than 15 months in captivity.

The ceasefire was brokered by senior officials from Egypt, Hamas, Israel, Qatar, and the US. The top negotiators included head of Mossad David Barnea; Biden's top Middle East adviser Ronen Bar; Trump's special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff; Qatari Prime Minister Al Thani; Hamas Political Bureau Acting chief al-Hayya; and Egypt's Intelligence chief Hassan Rashad.

Prime Minister Al Thani laid out the terms of the agreement at a news conference in Doha, which would be implemented in three phases.

The first phase of the agreement, he said would last for 42 days and include a ceasefire, the withdrawal of the Israeli forces from densely populated areas, the exchange of hostages and prisoners, the exchange of bodies and the return of displaced Gazans to their homes, he said.

Hamas will release 33 hostages in the first phase, including civilian and female soldiers, children, the elderly and the sick in exchange for an undisclosed number of Palestinian prisoners, he said.

He added that Gaza's wounded would be allowed to leave the enclave to receive treatment, while aid will be allowed into the Strip with hospitals and bakeries undergoing repairs. Details for the potential second and third phases will be agreed upon during the first phase, he said.

Meanwhile, a wave of Israeli strikes hit Gaza on Wednesday evening. Israeli strikes hit Nuseirat in central Gaza and the Khan Younis area in the south, killing at least 11 people, according to hospital officials and the Gaza civil defence.

Another three people were killed when a family home in the Al-Daraj neighborhood east of Gaza City was hit, according to the civil defence. Earlier, the health ministry said that 62 people were killed in the Palestinian enclave in the past 24 hours, taking the overall war death toll to 46,707.