Washington According to Hamas leaders, Qatar’s prime minister, and President Joe Biden, a ceasefire agreement was reached Wednesday to put an end to 15 months of fighting in the Gaza Strip.
The hard-won deal will also release Palestinians detained in Israeli jails and dozens of hostages held in Gaza, marking the first significant lull in conflict since a week-long truce ended on December 1, 2023.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, the prime minister and foreign minister of Qatar, who hosted weeks of rigorous negotiations, announced that the agreement will go into force on Sunday.
Israeli soldiers would withdraw to the Gaza border as part of the gradual arrangement, allowing Palestinians who have been displaced to return to their homes and facilitating the transfer of hostages and prisoners. He promised to rebuild hospitals and health care facilities and send large quantities of humanitarian aid to the enclave.
Meanwhile, a part of the agreement disclosed by Hamas calls for the release of 33 hostages in return for 100 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences. In addition, the statement states that Israel will free 1,000 Palestinian inmates who were not part of the Oct. 7 attacks and release an unidentified number of Palestinian prisoners in Gaza or overseas.
Biden praised months of intense diplomatic efforts by the United States, Egypt, and Qatar in a statement. In part, the departing president stated, “My diplomacy never ceased in their efforts to get this done.”
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In his later on-camera statements, Biden expressed his tremendous satisfaction that this day had finally arrived, both for the sake of the innocent people in Gaza who endured unspeakable destruction as a result of the conflict and for the benefit of the Israeli people and the families who were waiting in pain.
The following news comes amid a difficult winter for Gaza’s civilian population, as well as significant events throughout the Middle East that have hurt Israel’s adversary, Iran.
Senior Hamas leader Basem Naim told NBC News, “We are very happy to reach a deal today to stop the aggression against our people, but unfortunately we were unable to reach the same deal last May.”
Netanyahu’s administration praised what it saw as a compromise from Hamas in a statement.
The Israeli designation for the short strip of land between Gaza and Egypt is the Philadelphi Corridor. “Hamas has backed down on its demand at the last minute to change the deployment of forces on” the corridor due to Prime Minister Netanyahu’s uncompromising attitude.
The prime minister’s office also stated, “But there are still a number of unresolved clauses in the outline, and we hope that the details will be finalized tonight.”
“It s also really sad to know that Carmel could have and should have been among them, but a deal didn t come in time and she was murdered in captivity,” he stated.
Earlier, NBC News was informed by a diplomatic source in Washington that Netanyahu was getting ready to meet with his security cabinet, where a speedy acceptance of the agreement was anticipated. He would next present the agreement to the entire Cabinet, which is also anticipated to provide its approval.
According to the source, a ceasefire could start as early as Friday because Israel’s Supreme Court would have 24 hours to allow an appeal. The source said that the first batch of hostages would be released on Sunday.
Israel began its military campaign in the Palestinian enclave following the October 7 terrorist attack by Hamas, which resulted in the deaths of 1,200 Palestinians and the capture of 250 more. In return for 240 Palestinian captives, just over 100 were freed at a ceasefire in late November 2023.
Gaza’s infrastructure has been destroyed by the conflict, and the majority of its people have been forced to flee. According to enclave health officials, Israeli forces have murdered around 46,000 Palestinians, the majority of whom were civilians.
After several false dawns in recent months, the likelihood of a ceasefire appeared to be dwindling.
Trump’s inauguration Monday was seen by many in the area and in Washington as an unofficial deadline by the Biden administration, which had called for a last-ditch attempt before the president leaves office.