Final preparations for a truce that many around the world hope will put an end to 15 months of devastation in Gaza began on Saturday when mediating nation Qatar announced a time for the cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas to go into effect the following day.
Majed al-Ansari, a spokesperson for Qatar’s Foreign Ministry, which struggled for months to reach an agreement with Egypt and the United States, said the arrangement should take effect on Sunday at 8:30 a.m. local time.
Israel’s government approved the deal early Saturday morning after hours of deliberations and amid internal rifts in the governing coalition of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The agreement overcame a last roadblock, increasing expectations for Israelis who want to see loved ones returned and Gazans who have suffered one of the most brutal bombing assaults of the 21st century.
“It’s a mix of joy, sadness and longing for a new beginning,” said Mariam Moeen Awwad, 23, who has been relocated from her home in northern Gaza six times since the conflict began.
In November 2023, Ms. Awad and her spouse were scheduled to move into their freshly equipped residence. According to her, “if it’s even still there,” the war ruined their plans, leaving the couple in an overcrowded house and ready to go back home.
Authorities in Israel have begun preparing to welcome home scores of hostages, but it is unclear if they would return dead, traumatized, or starving.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated in his address on Saturday night that 33 hostages will be freed in the first part of the agreement, “most of them alive,” in his first comments since the cease-fire was approved.
He also cited Israel’s significant strategic victories over the previous several months, including the assassinations of senior Hamas officials, in support of the agreement. “We have transformed the Middle East, as I promised you,” he declared.
According to an Israeli military officer, three reception areas have been set up along the Gaza border to welcome the hostages. According to the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity in compliance with procedure, those would be manned by Israeli troops in addition to physicians and psychiatrists.
Since a week-long cease-fire early in the conflict, the captive release is anticipated to be the first significant exchange of this kind.
Regarding the prisoners released during the 2023 ceasefire, Hagar Mizrahi, a senior official in the Israeli health ministry, stated, “The ones who were freed back then were already poorly nourished.” “Consider their predicament today, 400 days later. This is a major concern for us.
Many of the elderly men, women, and other captives who are scheduled to be released are said to have been detained in the tunnel system run by Hamas in Gaza, where they were subjected to conditions that are likely to cause psychological and bodily harm. Israeli medical facilities are setting up remote locations where the hostages may start their private recovery.
Einat Yehene, a clinical psychologist with the advocacy group Hostage Families Forum, stated, “Last time, we saw the Red Cross transferring the hostages, and some of them were running to the relatives, hugging them.” Given the physical and emotional conditions we expect, it won’t be easy and similar this time. In exchange, hundreds of Palestinian prisoners will be released; the number of prisoners to be released and their identities were among the many contentious points involved in the negotiations for a deal. The new deal also calls for negotiations on the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the territory and a permanent end to the war.
Similar to the months of discussions that resulted in last week’s cease-fire deal, those conversations are probably going to be challenging and nasty. With his far-right allies threatening to resign over their objections to the agreement, Mr. Netanyahu is already dealing with an internal uprising inside his ruling coalition.
They have demanded that the battle go on in order to destroy Hamas, which was responsible for the October 2023 attack on Israel that claimed over 1,200 lives, seized another 250 hostages, and ignited the conflict.
The numerous Israelis who want all of the hostages back, as well as the president-elect Donald J. Trump and the departing U.S. president Joseph R. Biden Jr., who both want the war to stop, are also putting pressure on Mr. Netanyahu.
Mr. Netanyahu said in his speech that the deal upholds Israel’s freedom to rejoin the fight against Hamas if it so desires. He said that, at least in the first phase, the deal permits Israeli soldiers to stay in a buffer zone between Israel’s border with Gaza and Gaza’s border with Egypt.
He declared, “If we have to resume fighting, we will do so with great might and in new ways.”
The chaotic, destroyed situation in Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of people lack access to clean water, houses, or quick supply of food or medication, and where tens of thousands of people have been murdered since the start of the conflict, adds to the uncertainty around how the agreement would go.
Much of Gaza is now powerless as a result of Israel’s attack, and attempts to provide relief to those in need have been made more risky by the lawlessness. Trucks have been routinely robbed of goods by organized looting, notably late last year when a convoy of 100 trucks carrying U.N. relief was robbed.
Since the cease-fire was declared, Israel has persisted in its attacks on Gaza, killing 23 Palestinians and injuring 83 more in the last day, the Gaza health ministry reported on Saturday morning. According to the ministry, which does not differentiate between fighters and civilians, more than 46,000 people have died in Gaza since the start of the conflict.
As soon as the cease-fire is established, much-needed relief is anticipated to flood into Gaza. Al Qahera News, an Egyptian official station, reported Friday that Egypt, which borders the enclave, was stepping up plans to provide aid, including food and tents.
