Skip next section What will happen if the ceasefire agreement is successful?
01/17/2025January 17, 2025
What will happen if the ceasefire agreement is successful?
After mediation by Qatar, Egypt and the US, the treaty was finalized and announced on Wednesday. As per its provisions, a should come into effect on Sunday.
The first stage will see the release of 33 Israeli hostages held in since the Hamas-led terror attacks of October 7, 2023, in exchange for a number of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons. Israel would also withdraw from Gaza’s densely-populated areas and allow Palestinians to return to their areas of residence.
Humanitarian aid corridors that are currently blocked would be opened up to aid organizations entering the Gaza Strip.
An agreement on how to proceed after the first six-week phase however emains elusive. The two sides still have to negotiate terms for a continuation of the ceasefire, the further withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza and additional exchanges of hostages and prisoners.
Hamas and other Islamist groups attacked southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 and taking some 250 more hostage. Nearly 94 of them are believed to be still in the now devastated Gaza Strip, though it is not clear how many are still alive, after over 15 months of war.
The war has killed over 46,700 Palestinians, local health authorities in the Hamas-controlled Gaza say. The UN considers the figures reliable.
https://p.dw.com/p/4pFpO
Skip next section Israeli far-right minister threatens to quit over Gaza ceasefire deal
01/17/2025January 17, 2025
Israeli far-right minister threatens to quit over Gaza ceasefire deal
Israel’s extreme-right security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has threatened to resign from his Cabinet position alongside his party colleagues should the Israeli government approve the ceasefire deal negotiated with Hamas.
“The deal that is taking shape is a reckless deal,” he said in a televised statement, adding that the release of hundreds of Palestinian militants and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from strategic areas of the Strip would “erase the achievements of the war” while leaving undefeated.
He called the deal “irresponsible” and called on humanitarian aid and the supply of water and electricity to the Gaza Strip to be stopped completely until all Israeli hostages were released.
In addition to Ben-Gvir, the far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, also opposed the deal, calling it a “dangerous deal.”
https://p.dw.com/p/4pFnM
Skip next section Israeli Security Cabinet set to vote on hostage deal
01/17/2025January 17, 2025
Israeli Security Cabinet set to vote on hostage deal
The Security Cabinet is set to meet on Friday to vote on a hostage release and ceasefire deal in Gaza, according to Prime Minister office.
Netanyahu’s office said early on Friday that a “deal to release the hostages” had been reached and he had ordered the Security Cabinet to meet later in the day.
“The government will then convene to approve the deal,” the office added, without specifying whether the meeting would also take place on Friday.
The announcement comes after Netanyahu said on Thursday that his Cabinet had deal, accusing the Palestinian, militant group of reneging on parts of the agreement to achieve last minute concessions. Hamas denied the accusations and stressed its commitment to the deal presented by the mediators.
If approved, the first stage of the truce would see a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of 33 Israeli hostages in exchange for a number of Palestinian prisoners. Later stages aim to see both sides agreeing on a permanent end to the war.
The US said it feels “confident” the truce would come into effect on Sunday as planned.
tg/rmt (AFP, AP, Reuters, dpa)
https://p.dw.com/p/4pFml
The post Gaza ceasefire: Israeli Security Cabinet to discuss deal appeared first on Deutsche Welle.
