New Delhi: Israel and Hamas have agreed to a phased ceasefire and hostage-release deal following months of negotiations, US President Joe Biden announced on Wednesday (January 15).
The Hamas-affiliated Shehab news agency has cited the Gazan group as affirming the deal. The prime minister of Qatar, which along with the US and Egypt has brokered negotiations between Israel and Hamas, also said in a presser that a deal has been reached.
“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,” Biden said in the statement.
The most recent draft of the deal would feature a six-week initial ceasefire and include the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from central Gaza. It would also allow the return of displaced Palestinians to the north of the coastal strip.
According to Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, the deal will kick in on Sunday (January 19). “The exact timing will be identified later,” he said through a translator.
Hamas was quoted as saying by Shehab that the ceasefire agreement “is the fruit of the legendary steadfastness of our great Palestinian people and our valiant resistance in the Gaza Strip over more than 15 months,” as per a machine translation.
Before Biden issued his statement, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was cited as saying by the Associated Press that a ceasefire agreement was not yet reached but that it hoped the “details will be finalised tonight”.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog urged Netanyahu’s government to approve the deal, the news agency also reported.
The country’s leader of opposition Yair Lapid acknowledged the deal on X. “An entire country is breathless tonight. We’re all waiting and praying like in Bereshit, “I’m seeking my brothers.”,” he wrote.
Lapid added: “We can’t stop now and this deal cannot end with its first stage. I promise as I have in the past a safety net until the very last moment, until the final hostage is home. Everyone needs to come home.”
A copy of the draft deal seen by Reuters ahead of the latest announcement said the agreement requires Hamas to release 33 Israeli hostages, along with other steps.
Included in the draft is a stipulation that negotiations over a second phase of the agreement should begin by the 16th day of phase one. The second phase includes the release of all remaining hostages, a permanent ceasefire and a total withdrawal of Israeli soldiers.
UN secretary general Antonio Guterres welcomed the announcement of the deal and called on all parties to uphold their ends of the bargain.
“From the outset of the violence, I have called for an immediate ceasefire & the immediate & unconditional release of all hostages. Our priority must be to ease the tremendous suffering caused by this conflict,” he said on X.
Incoming US President Donald Trump had also announced the deal on his Truth Social platform.
“This EPIC ceasefire agreement could have only happened as a result of our Historic Victory in November, as it signaled to the entire World that my Administration would seek Peace and negotiate deals to ensure the safety of all Americans, and our Allies,” Trump claimed.
Biden in his statement said he had “laid out the precise contours” of the deal on May 31 last year, following which it was “endorsed unanimously by the UN Security Council”.
If implemented, the deal will bring a much-needed pause to the 15-month-long war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, in which the coastal strip’s health authorities say more than 46,000 people have been killed.
The trigger for the war was an attack by Hamas in Israel on October 7, 2023, in which it killed around 1,200 Israelis and took around 250 others hostage. Over 100 of these hostages were released during an initial, week-long ceasefire in November 2023.
With inputs from DW.
