The shock of the ceasefire agreement in Gaza
Soon 7 evening On Wednesday in Israel, Channel 12 news anchor Keren Marciano declared, “It’s real this time.” She continued: “Four hundred and sixty-seven days after the start of the war, an agreement was reached to release the hostages.”
The terms of the deal soon became public. The Prime Minister of Qatar, the main mediator, announced that the first phase will take effect on Sunday. First, the deal must be ratified by the Israeli government, and a vote is scheduled to take place before noon on Thursday. Israel will cease fire in Gaza for forty-two days. During that period, Hamas will release thirty-three hostages, including all female hostages and men over the age of fifty. Some of the released hostages will return in coffins, but most are said to be alive.
Several Israeli media outlets reported that, according to the terms of the agreement, the Israeli army will begin to withdraw from northern Gaza, and the Palestinians will be able to return there, within the first three weeks of implementing the agreement. Six hundred aid trucks will enter Gaza every day, which is a significant acceleration. Israel is also expected to release more than a thousand Palestinian prisoners, and the exact number will depend on how many hostages Hamas releases alive. (Of the ninety-eight hostages believed to still be held in Gaza, thirty-seven have been officially declared dead.) Three hostages will be released alive on Sunday, Channel 12 reported.
In the early evening hours in Tel Aviv, people began streaming into a square outside the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, known as Hostage Square. Online, videos emerged from the Al-Mawasi humanitarian area in southern Gaza, which showed Gazans cheering and waving their phones upon hearing the news.
It remains unclear whether the agreement will lead to a permanent ceasefire and the release of all the remaining hostages – whose names and faces are now as familiar to Israelis as those of their family members. Sixteen days after the implementation of the first phase of the deal, negotiations are scheduled to begin between Israel and Hamas, through their mediator Qatar, for the second and final phase. However, more than ever, fifteen months of horrific bloodshed – since a Hamas-led force raided the border on October 7, 2023, killing one thousand two hundred Israelis and taking more than two hundred hostage, including children and the elderly; Since Israel then struck Gaza, triggering a war that killed at least forty-six thousand Palestinians and rendered the entire Strip homeless, this war appears to have come to an end.
The days leading up to the agreement will be reflected in the months and years to come. After all, the terms look very similar to the proposal put forward by President Joe Biden last May. To what extent was this breakthrough the result of a radical change in the Middle East, where Hamas suddenly found itself isolated from its allies and supporters in Lebanon, Syria and Iran? How much of this deal has been born out of Israeli politics, as Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners appear willing, after months of opposition, to either support the deal or not bring down the government after it agrees? Finally, was Donald Trump’s threat to “pay the price” if Hamas did not release the hostages by his second inauguration, next week, a deciding factor?
Steven Witkoff, US President-elect Trump’s new Middle East envoy, made a phone call to Netanyahu’s office on Friday evening to announce that he would arrive in Jerusalem the next afternoon, according to detailed details. Report by Chaim LevinsonIn a liberal Israeli newspaper Haaretz. Aides to Netanyahu reportedly told Witkopf, a billionaire real estate investor, that the prime minister would be happy to meet with Witkopf after Saturday. But Vitkov, using “salty language,” according to Levinson, insisted that Netanyahu meet him as soon as he arrived. The shift in tone and behavior appears to have left Netanyahu unprepared. Jacob Bardugo, Netanyahu’s political advisor, admitted this week that “the pressure that Trump is applying now is not the kind that Israel expected.”
When the deal was announced, I was on the phone with Tal Levy, whose life may now be turned upside down. Tal-Ur’s brother and Ur’s wife, Enav, were among hundreds who attended a desert party on October 7, 2023, which ended in one of the bloodiest massacres of the day. Hamas terrorists killed Einav, but Or was captured and held hostage in Gaza. The two left behind a son named Almog, now three and a half years old and being raised by Tal and his friend in Tel Aviv.
“I can’t believe it,” Tal kept repeating as we talked about the deal. He did not receive any information about whether his brother was among the hostages scheduled to be released or not, and the list was not announced. Tal said their families have reasons for optimism. Last summer, Israel asked Hamas to release Or, among other hostages, on humanitarian grounds. Humanitarian cases are expected to be among the 33 hostages released in the first phase of the deal.
“On the one hand, there is a feeling that O will finally return to his homeland,” Tal said. “On the other hand, we don’t know what condition he’ll be in, physically, but mostly — and I’m worried — mentally.” Tal said he was already thinking about Orr’s meeting with Almog. Tal and his family told Almog that his father was “away,” and recently Tal began to feel that Almog was “angry with Orr or felt like he didn’t love him,” because he wasn’t coming back. Tal thought about changing their story and confronting Almog with the news that his father was being held against his will. He told me that while he was talking about this with a therapist, word came that there had been a breakthrough in negotiations. “All these months, I kept telling myself not to hope for anything because of all the disappointments, but now I find myself hoping again,” Tal said.
The sense of relief currently shared by many Israelis and Palestinians will soon face reality. When Gazans begin to return home, they will find a devastating scene. In Israel, the excitement over the hostages who will soon be returned will end with deep concern about those left behind.
“I worry that we are condemning some to live and others to die,” said Ramos Aloni, whose two daughters and three granddaughters were captivated by the enthusiasm of Kibbutz Nir Oz. They were all released under a ceasefire agreement that took effect in November 2023. But the husband of one of Aloni’s daughters, David Cuneo, remains in Hamas custody. David’s brother, Ariel, is also a hostage in Gaza. Neither of them is expected to be among the thirty-three hostages released.