Both Israelis and Palestinians are celebrating a ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal reached as the first phase of peace talks brokered by US President Donald Trump, Reuters reports.
A day after two years since the Hamas terror group launched an attack on Israel that has killed more than 67,000 people, indirect talks in Egypt have yielded a result that will allow the first point of Trump’s 20-point peace plan to be implemented. If the agreement is implemented, it will be the closest the two sides have come to ending the war.
News of the deal has sparked celebrations in Israel, Gaza and elsewhere. Families of Israeli prisoners have held a salute, while Palestinians have applauded and rejoiced, all united in the hope that the bloodshed will end.
However, Trump’s announcement of the agreement was short on details, and many unanswered questions remain that could end the ceasefire before it takes effect, as has happened before. The US president announced on his social media that the ceasefire means the release of all hostages and that Israel will withdraw its troops from Gaza.
Successful implementation of the agreement would mark a major foreign policy achievement for the Republican president.
He has repeatedly boasted that he can end major wars, but has so far failed to deliver on his promise.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced that he will convene a government on the 9th of October to approve the agreement.
After the Israeli army eliminated several leaders of terrorist groups, it gained some favor, but now there is growing global outrage over Israel’s actions in the occupied Palestinian territories. Human rights experts, academics and a UN Commission of Inquiry have said the actions in Gaza amount to genocide. Israel calls it self-defense.
Hamas has confirmed that it has reached an agreement to end the war, saying the agreement includes the withdrawal of Israelis from the enclave and a prisoner exchange.
Despite hopes that the war could end, important details remain unclear, including a timeline, post-war governance of the Gaza Strip and what will happen to the Hamas terrorist group.
A Hamas source said the live prisoners would be returned within 72 hours of Israel’s approval of the deal.
Hamas officials have insisted that it will take longer to recover the remains of the dead prisoners from the rubble of Gaza. It is estimated that 28 remains will be returned.
The group said on October 8 that it had handed over a list of prisoners to the Israelis. The Islamist group has refused to comply with Israel’s demand to lay down its arms until the Israelis leave the Palestinian territories.
Arab countries that support the peace plan say it should eventually lead to the creation of an independent Palestinian state, but Netanyahu has said that will never happen.
It is also unclear when the war in Gaza might actually end. Netanyahu, Trump, Western countries and Arab states have rejected the possibility of Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, remaining in power. Hamas has said it will hand over leadership only to a technocratic Palestinian government supported by Arab and Muslim countries, and the group rejects the possibility of Western powers taking power.
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