Gaza: Ceasefire, hostages, strikes… Update on the Agreement Concluded between Hamas and Israel

TOWARDS PEACE: Israel and Hamas have reached an agreement on the first phase of Donald Trump’s plan to bring peace to Gaza

After two years of devastating war, the guns will shut up in Gaza. Israel and Hamas in fact reached an agreement on the night of Wednesday to Thursday on the first phase of Donald Trump’s plan aimed at bringing peace to the Palestinian territory.

This 20-point plan, announced by the American president on the 29th September during his meeting at the White House with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, ultimately provides for the disarmament of Hamas and a withdrawal of Israel from the territory. While the agreement must be formally signed this Thursday in Egypt, where indirect talks began on Monday, 20 Minutes tells you everything about the points to remember.

The first phase of the Trump plan

The agreement between the two belligerents, first announced by a Donald Trump “proud”, according to Qatar, concerns all the “provisions and mechanisms for implementing the first phase of the ceasefire agreement in Gaza, which will lead to the end of the war to the release of hostages Israelis and Palestinian prisoners, and the entry of humanitarian aid.
Hamas also communicated on this agreement “providing for the end of the war in Gaza”. Benjamin Netanyahu for his part, he indicated that he would bring his government together this Thursday to approve it. Finally, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi invited Donald Trump to “attend his signing”.

Towards the release of the hostages

The guns will have to keep quiet when the agreement is signed. The Israeli army said this Thursday that it was preparing to receive the hostages, but also to face “all scenarios”. Hamas will free the 20 living hostages in one go (of the 47 still in Gaza), an official said Hamas. They will be exchanged for nearly 2,000 Palestinian detainees: 250 serving life sentences and 1,700 other detainees since the start of the war.

The agreement provides that the exchange takes place within 72 hours after signing. Donald Trump thinks all the hostages, alive and dead, will be “back Monday”. “With God’s help, we will bring them all home”, declared Benjamin Netanyahu.

Humanitarian aid made easier

At least 400 humanitarian aid trucks will enter the Gaza Strip every day during the first five days of the ceasefire, and this number will increase in the following days, according to Hamas.

The agreement also provides for “the immediate return of displaced people from the south of the Gaza Strip to Gaza (city) and the north”, added a source from the Palestinian Islamist movement. The Israeli army, however, urged the population not to seek to return to these areas at this stage.

A staggered withdrawal of Israeli troops

According to Donald Trump, the agreement reached provides that Israel “will withdraw its troops to the agreed line” within the enclave. According to the previously cited senior Hamas official, the agreement stipulates “scheduled withdrawals” of Israeli troops.

Hamas, for its part, officially called on President Trump (and) the guarantor countries of the agreement […] to force (Israel) to fully implement the deadlines of the agreement and not to allow it to evade or to procrastinate in implementing what has been agreed. The United States will be “involved” in “maintaining peace” in Gaza, Donald Trump promised on Fox News.