After 15 months of deadly war in the Gaza Strip, a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is due to come into force on Sunday morning, followed by the release of hostages, fuelling hopes of a lasting peace despite a warning from Benjamin Netanyahu.
A few hours before the deadline, set for 08:30 local time (06:30 GMT), the Israeli Prime Minister warned that this was ‘a temporary ceasefire’ and that Israel retained ‘the right to resume the war if necessary and with the support of the United States’.
Under the terms of the agreement reached in the final days of Joe Biden's presidency, hostilities are to cease and 33 Israeli hostages are to be released, in an initial phase spread over six weeks.
In exchange, Israel will release 737 Palestinian prisoners, according to the Israeli Ministry of Justice, while Egypt reports that ‘more than 1,890 Palestinian prisoners’ are to be released during this first phase.
According to US President Joe Biden, the first phase also includes an Israeli withdrawal from densely populated areas in Gaza and an increase in humanitarian aid to the territory, which is threatened by famine according to the UN.
The Egyptian authorities specified that the agreement provided for ‘the entry of 600 lorries of aid per day’, including 50 lorries of fuel.
During the first phase, the terms of the second phase will be negotiated, which should lead to the release of the last hostages, before the third and final phase devoted to the reconstruction of Gaza and the return of the bodies of the hostages who died in captivity.
In the Gaza Strip, ravaged by the conflict, many displaced Palestinians said they were eager to return home.
‘We can't wait for this moment, for life to get back to normal (...) We want to go to the markets and public places in complete safety’, Ahmed Hamouda, a displaced Palestinian, told AFPTV in Deir el-Balah (centre).
According to Qatar, the agreement aims to bring about a definitive end to the war, which was triggered by a bloody attack on Israel by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas on 7 October 2023.
The attack resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people on the Israeli side, most of them civilians, according to an AFP count based on official data.
Of the 251 people kidnapped that day, 94 are still being held hostage in Gaza, 34 of them dead according to the Israeli army.
At least 46,899 people, most of them civilians, were killed in the Israeli retaliation offensive in Gaza, according to data from the Hamas Ministry of Health deemed reliable by the UN.
Considerably weakened, Hamas, which took power in Gaza in 2007, is still far from being wiped out, contrary to the objective set by Benjamin Netanyahu, according to experts.
But after more than a year of laborious negotiations, a ceasefire agreement was finally announced on Wednesday.
The Israeli government approved it late on Friday night, after Hamas, considered a terrorist organisation by Israel, the United States and the European Union, had given the go-ahead.
The Israeli government announced that hostages would be released on Sunday, without specifying how many or at what time.
Three reception points have been set up on Israel's southern border with Gaza, at the Kerem Shalom and Eretz crossings and at the crossing near Kibbutz Reim, a military official said. The captives will be cared for by doctors.
According to sources close to Hamas, the first group of hostages to be freed should include three Israeli women.
Mr Netanyahu demanded on Saturday evening to receive ‘the list’ of hostages to be freed on Sunday before the first exchange of prisoners could take place.
Israel has designated 95 Palestinian detainees for release on Sunday, the majority of them women and minors, most of whom were arrested after 7 October. They will be released after 14:00 GMT, according to the authorities.
Among the prisoners to be released is Zakaria al-Zoubeidi, responsible for anti-Israeli attacks and former local leader of the armed wing of Fatah, arrested and imprisoned in 2019.
Two Franco-Israelis, Ofer Kalderon, 54, and Ohad Yahalomi, 50, are among the 33 hostages to be released, according to Paris. They were kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz with several of their children, and released during an initial week-long truce in November 2023.
‘When they cross the border (into Gaza) and are reunited with their families, then maybe we will be able to breathe again’, Shahar Mor Zahiro, nephew of a deceased hostage, told AFP on Saturday evening during a demonstration in Tel Aviv.
With AFP.
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