The Deal Is On: Ceasefire In Gaza
Photo Credit: Bashar Taleb/AFP via Getty Images
After 15 months of war and eight months of negotiations, a three-phase permanent ceasefire deal between Israel and Gaza went into effect on Jan. 19.
The ceasefire deal contains 42 days in each of its three phases. In the first phase, Hamas is to release 33 Israeli hostages, which it captured in an Oct. 7, 2023 incursion into Israel. Israel is due to release 1,904 Palestinian prisoners that it captured in the last several years, most abducted due to political activism or alleged involvement with Hamas.
As of Feb. 18, there have been 19 Israeli hostages and over 1,000 Palestinian captives released since the beginning of the ceasefire. There were 183 more returned on Feb. 8. Three Israeli captives were also released on the same day. Eight of the 33 Israeli captives to be released are believed to be dead.
Hamas claimed on Feb. 10 that Israel had violated part of the ceasefire deal, and promised to delay the release of Israeli hostages. Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassme said that Israel is not “holding up their end of the bargain” since they are not allowing fuel and construction supplies to enter Gaza.
Previously, the release of an Israeli woman was delayed, resulting in a two-day delay in the return of Palestinians to Gaza. However, negotiators resolved the issue, and the hostage was released.
This has been resolved, as Hamas has said that six more living hostages will be released on Feb. 22. Originally, only three were supposed to be released and then the remaining three the week after, but Israel pushed for them to be released as one group. Additionally, four dead bodies are to be released Feb 20.
In the second phase of the ceasefire, Hamas is set to release the remaining surviving male detainees, while Israel will also release several Palestinian captives. The exact number of detainees to be released on both sides has yet to be agreed upon, although talks between Israel and Hamas have been ongoing since the beginning of February.
In the third phase of the plan, Hamas will release the bodies of dead Israeli hostages, and Israel will release the bodies of dead Palestinian captives. Israel is also set to end the blockade of Gaza, and Hamas will not be allowed to rebuild its military. Since 2023, Israel has begun to intensify its restrictions on movement in and out of Gaza — which have been in place since 2007— including blocking up to 83 per cent of food aid entering Gaza in 2024. These restrictions are set to be dropped by this phase of the deal.
Specifics about the future of Gaza, including proposed deals for a one-state or two-state solution, have not been agreed upon.
The ceasefire will be maintained by mediators from Egypt, Qatar, and the US. Currently, there is no plan for the governing of Gaza after the war. However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed that neither Hamas nor any Palestinian Authority will be in charge.
Israel says it will work with local Palestinians unaffiliated with Hamas or the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, although Hamas has threatened anybody cooperating with Israeli forces.
US officials have attempted to form postwar plans that would see a reformed Palestinian Authority govern Gaza, but such plans require the creation of a Palestinian state, which Netanyahu and much of Israel oppose. Netanyahu has said that Israel will maintain open-ended security control over Gaza and the Occupied West Bank.
While negotiations have yet to produce long-term plans for the region, agreeing upon the current ceasefire was undoubtedly a lengthy process.
The ceasefire deal was first drafted by Qatar and Egypt, and accepted by Hamas on May 6, 2024. Its first version is similar to the deal accepted recently: the ceasefire would include three phases and oversee an exchange of detainees.
After the May 6 Hamas agreement, however, the road to Israel’s agreement was long. Following brief negotiations in Cairo, Hamas announced in a statement that Israel had rejected the ceasefire deal. Netanyahu maintained that a permanent ceasefire would only be accepted alongside “the destruction of Hamas military and governing capabilities, the freeing of all hostages, and ensuring that Gaza no longer poses a threat to Israel.” Soon after rejecting the deal, Israel launched an invasion of Rafah.
Then, on June 10, 2024, the United Nations Security Council, composed of 15 member countries, passed a resolution calling for a ceasefire similar to the plan proposed in May. However, Israel did not honour the resolution, voicing concern over a lack of language in the deal mandating Hamas no longer govern Gaza.
In the following months, Israel received increased international pressure to end the war, including a decision from the International Court of Justice, which issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu in connection to alleged war crimes against Gaza.
In a press release, the Court stated that the Israeli prime minister is “intentionally and knowingly depriv[ing] the civilian population in Gaza of objects indispensable to their survival, including food, water, and medicine and medical supplies.” According to the Court, there are reasonable grounds to believe that Netanyahu had directed Israel to use starvation as a method of warfare, which is considered a war crime.
As discussion among world leaders continues, the ceasefire has had immediate impacts on the Palestinian people affected by the war. When the deal came into effect on Jan. 19, the Israeli Defense Forces opened military checkpoints within Gaza, which had previously exiled Gazans to various regions away from their homes.
As a result, more than 300,000 Gazans, having been displaced to various regions throughout the past 15 months due to the war, began to walk on foot to their homes in northern Gaza. Some families have walked up to 36 hours for the journey, which can oftentimes be dangerous, according to a UNICEF report. “We've heard reports of people being killed by unexploded remnants of war on the way,” their report states. It credits these deaths to the fact that in some areas, there is unexploded artillery buried below piles of rubble.
As he prepared to enter the Oval Office, President Trump added his voice to the rising international condemnation of the conflict.
Trump pushed for a ceasefire, promising on his Truth Social social media platform post that “there will be hell to pay” if Israeli hostages are not released by the time he takes office on Jan. 20.
“Those responsible will be hit harder than anybody has been hit in the long and storied History of the United States of America. RELEASE THE HOSTAGES NOW!” he wrote on Truth Social.
After Trump took office, he made a series of statements in a press conference following a meeting with Netanyahu, regarding potential US involvement in the Gaza strip. His comments, which included him referring to a potentially US controlled and rebuilt Gaza as “the Riviera of the Middle East”, sparked swift backlash.
Trump added that Palestinians would have no right of return once Gaza is rebuilt.
Netanyahu did not fully endorse the plan at first, but acknowledged that Trump’s idea is worthy of attention and could change history. On Feb. 9, five days after Trump’s original statements, he fully welcomed the plan as a “revolutionary vision” for Gaza.
"President Trump came with a completely different, much better vision for Israel – a revolutionary, creative approach that we are currently discussing," said Netanyahu.
He added that Israeli troops will “do the job,” as Trump never mentioned American troops carrying out the plans.
However, many Palestinian civilians and Hamas condemned these plans.
Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri called Trump’s plan “ridiculous and absurd,” telling Reuters that “any ideas of this kind are capable of igniting the region.” He said that Hamas is still committed to the ceasefire deal and is negotiating the next phase.
Palestinian civilians and the families of Israeli hostages fear that the US taking over Gaza could threaten the ceasefire agreement. As well, Gazans do not want to be forced out of their homes.
“We came very close to dying, but we survived with the grace of God. Unfortunately, there came a decision to displace us. We reject it in its entirety. We are still holding on to our right to live," Gaza resident Moeen Mohsen told the CBS News team in Gaza City.
China, Egypt, France, Jordan, Russia, and the UK also rejected the idea of a forced displacement of Gaza residents and emphasized support for a two-state solution.
French foreign ministry spokesperson Christophe Lemoine said in a statement, “France reiterates its opposition to any forced displacement of the Palestinian population of Gaza, which would constitute a serious violation of international law, an attack on the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinians, but also a major obstacle to the two-state solution and a major destabilizing factor for our close partners Egypt and Jordan as well as for the entire region.”