All parties announce Gaza ceasefire except Israel

A year and three months after operation Al-Aqsa Flood flung the region into a war that has changed everything, Hamas and the three mediating countries announced on Wednesday that they had reached a truce agreement to put an end to hostilities. Israel is yet to announce that it has agreed to the deal. 

It took mediators and the parties 15 months, the killing of 46,707 Palestinians, the injury of over 110,000, and the comprehensive flattening of the Gaza Strip to conclude a truce deal.

Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani announced that a deal was being finalized shortly before 9 pm on Wednesday evening in a press conference from Doha, where intense negotiations played out over the course of the day. Speaking from the podium, Abdulrahman said that the first 42-day phase of the truce would begin on Sunday, January 19.

The first phase would see Palestinians who have been displaced from their homes across the strip — around 90 percent of Gaza’s residents by June 2024, according to the United Nations — be allowed to return and would allow for substantial amounts of aid to enter the strip, including provisions for hospitals to work, said the prime minister.

It would also see Hamas release 33 prisoners initially, including women, women soldiers, and children, said Abdulrahman.

A monitoring mechanism based in Cairo and including Qatari, Egyptian, and US representatives would monitor and mediate if any violations of the ceasefire occur, according to the Qatari PM.

A Hamas source speaking to Mada Masr on condition of anonymity on Wednesday night said that, at that moment, parties were back in the negotiation room to discuss mechanisms for rolling out the terms of the agreement on the ground. The source said that the guarantees that the agreement would represent an end to the war were being provided by the mediators, and not by the Occupation itself.

When asked by a journalist in attendance if the agreement would ensure a lasting end to the war, Abdulrahman said that the implementation would depend on the involved parties’ commitment to the ceasefire and that the mediators would provide guarantees amid ongoing negotiations for the second phase of the agreement.

Until Sunday — when the agreement is set to begin — Abdulrahman said, “We hope that things will be calm” and that there will be no further fighting.

The Hamas source told Mada Masr that the remaining details were small issues regarding the implementation of the talks and would not prevent the deal’s completion and that it was decided that the truce would take effect starting Sunday.

Details of the second and third phases of the agreement would be negotiated by the end of the first phase, he continued.

According to an earlier draft of the deal acquired by Mada Masr, phase two of the deal should see Israeli forces completely withdraw from Gaza, with a total cessation of hostilities announced, to be followed by an exchange of all remaining Israeli men in Gaza, including soldiers, for an agreed upon number of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons and detention centers. Phase three should then see the border crossings open, allowing freedom of movement for individuals and goods from Gaza.

Speaking shortly after the Qatari prime minister concluded his remarks, Joe Biden held his own press conference, saying that, during the next six weeks, Israel will negotiate terms for a "permanent end of the war” in phase two of the deal. If the two sides are unable to reach the terms for the agreement, “the ceasefire will continue as long as the negotiations continue,” he said.

Biden said that the agreement was thanks to pressure exerted on Hamas by Israel, backed by the United States.

He cited the end of the war in Lebanon and the election of a new president, saying that the shifts in the region broke the “terrorist network” that supported Hamas.

“I am deeply satisfied that this day has finally come for the people of Israel, the families of the captives, and the people of Gaza. The families of Gaza have gone through hell. They can look to a future without Hamas in power.”

The deal would offer the Palestinian people a credible path toward establishing their own state, Biden said, while providing the region with a viable path toward "normalization and integration," referencing the ongoing normalization talks between Saudi Arabia and Israel.

Speaking of the diplomatic efforts that his administration has been criticized for, Biden said: “It is 700 days of failure and one day of success.”

Shortly after the Qatari prime minister’s comments, Hamas released a statement  via its Telegram channel welcoming the agreement.

“The ceasefire agreement is the fruit of the legendary steadfastness of our great Palestinian people and our valiant resistance in the Gaza Strip over the course of more than 15 months,” the statement read.

In the Gaza Strip, Palestinians gathered around television screens to watch the Qatari prime minister’s statement, celebrating the moment of long-awaited relief. Crowds rushed through the street and gathered in open spaces. At some sites, masked militants wearing the Qassam Brigades flag leaned out of vehicles moving slowly among hundreds of people, many of whom cheered or chanted, “We will return home.” 

In a brief statement, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi welcomed the ceasefire deal, which came “after strenuous efforts over more than a year, mediated by Egypt, Qatar and the United States,” he said, commending Egypt as a “dedicated partner” in promoting peace and championing Palestinian rights. Sisi also urged the quick entry of humanitarian aid to Gaza without obstacles. 

Israeli President Issac Herzog spoke on Wednesday night, saying that he urged the members of the Israeli cabinet “to approve this agreement to bring back our children.”

Earlier on Wednesday evening, before the Qatari prime minister’s press conference and as reports began to build of an agreement between the parties, the office of Israeli Prime Minister released a statement saying that no deal has yet been reached after “Hamas has backed down on its demand at the last minute to change the deployment of forces on the Philadelphi axis.”

Throughout the course of the war that began on October 7, 2023, Hamas and other Palestinian resistance factions, Israel, and mediators from the United States, Egypt and Qatar have failed to reach a viable deal.

At multiple moments, they have seemed on the brink of a truce agreement, most notably in July 2024, only for the fleeting chance of respite for Palestinians in the strip to be snatched away at the last minute.

But talks have hastened over recent weeks amid a set of regional and international political changes. 

Trump published a characteristic statement on Truth Social on Wednesday evening claiming, “WE HAVE A DEAL FOR THE HOSTAGES IN THE MIDDLE EAST. THEY WILL BE RELEASED SHORTLY.”

Trump’s statement came after a flurry of diplomatic and security activity culminated in Doha on Wednesday.

The 15 months of Israel’s indiscriminate aggression have killed 46,707 Palestinians, including over 17,00 children, according to officials in the coastal enclave. Over 25,000 Palestinian children have been orphaned.

Around 90 percent of the strip’s population — or over 1.9 million people — have been displaced from their homes, many more than once, according to the United Nations. 

Around two thirds of Gaza’s urban structures have been destroyed. 

In Israel, around 407 soldiers have been killed in the year and three months of fighting in the Gaza Strip, and around 1,200 people were killed by Hamas and other Palestinian militants during operation Al-Aqsa Flood on October 7, 2023.