Skip to main content

The ceasefire agreement, explained. By Qassam Muaddi. Mondoweiss.

 


Key Points on the Ceasefire Agreement between Israel and Hamas


1. Duration and Implementation Phases:

The ceasefire, effective January 19, 2025, will last 42 days initially, halting hostilities and initiating a prisoner exchange.

Phase One includes Israel withdrawing forces from populated areas in Gaza and allowing displaced Palestinians to return to the north.

Humanitarian aid will enter Gaza at a rate of 600 trucks per day.


2. Prisoner Exchange Details:

Hamas will release 33 Israelis, including women, elderly, and ill captives, while Israel will release up to 1,000 Palestinian detainees.

Negotiations for additional exchanges and a second phase of withdrawal will begin on the 16th day.


3. Territorial Adjustments:

Israel agreed to withdraw from Netzarim and Philadelphi corridors and will maintain a limited presence near the Gaza-Egypt border.

Full withdrawal from the Rafah crossing will be completed with guarantees from US, Qatari, and Egyptian mediators.


4. Political Reactions:

Qatar, Egypt, and the US were key mediators. President-elect Donald Trump claimed credit for securing the deal.

Israeli President Yitzhak Herzog supported the deal, while right-wing ministers Bezalelel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir opposed it, threatening political fallout.


5. Public and Military Actions:

Palestinian celebrations in Gaza were met with intensified Israeli airstrikes, leading to more casualties.

As of January 15, over 46,707 Palestinians had been killed, with 70% being women, children, and elderly.


6. Humanitarian and Reconstruction Efforts:

Aid will focus on medical supplies and rebuilding critical infrastructure.

Future phases will address broader reconstruction and a permanent peace framework.

This deal marks a potential turning point but faces significant political and operational challenges. The ceasefire’s success depends on adherence to terms and sustained international mediation.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

She Stitched Wounds With Empty Hands—And Lost All Nine of Her Children

In Gaza, where the sun rises over ash and broken concrete, where lullabies are drowned by the sound of drones, lived a woman whose hands brought healing to children even as the world around her collapsed. Her name was Dr. Alaa — a pediatrician , a mother , a lifeline in the middle of hell. And she has become a symbol of both the highest form of love and the deepest human suffering. Nine children. All hers. All dead. Killed in a single Israeli airstrike. Not soldiers . Not fighters . Just children — tucked beneath blankets, seeking safety that never came. She was saving children in the hospital when her entire world was bombed out of existence. “ Mama, when will this end?” Her youngest had asked her this just days before the strike . He was five . He used to draw little suns on the wall with crayons , yellow and smiling — a child who believed light could still live here. One of the child of Dr. Alaa. Dr. Alaa hadn’t answered. Because she didn’t know. She hadn’t...

When Two Lives Matter More Than Seventy – A Night of Massacres in Gaza

When Two Lives Matter More Than Seventy On the same night that the world’s media was awash with breaking news about the tragic killing of two foreign diplomats in Washington D.C. by an American citizen—a horrific incident that drew immediate outrage, blanket media coverage, and solemn condemnations from every major capital— something else happened . In Gaza, 70 Palestinians were killed . Seventy human beings. Mothers, fathers, babies in their mother’s arms, and children huddled in fear inside a school they believed would protect them. The Fahmi al-Jarjawi School in Gaza’s Al-Daraj neighborhood was struck by Israeli warplanes. At least 36 displaced people were massacred , their bodies pulled from under the rubble, their lives extinguished without a moment’s pause. And yet, as the world grieves two diplomats, it forgets seventy Palestinians in a single night. Mainstream outlets offered wall-to-wall coverage of the Washington incident: live updates, expert panels, somber editorials....

Shot While Starving: Gaza’s Desperate March Toward Death.

  "A Famine By Design: The Engineered Starvation and Killing Fields of Gaza" “It was like a battlefield full of blood and injured — everyone was lying on the ground, everyone screaming and everyone shouting.” — Jamal Azzam, nurse, Red Cross Hospital in Rafah On Tuesday morning, Israeli soldiers opened fire near a food distribution site in Rafah, southern Gaza, killing at least 27 Palestinians. It was the second such massacre in just three days . Only two days prior, 23 more were gunned down at the same location — a place that should have offered hope , not horror . The victims? Not militants . Not armed men. But starving civilians , many of them walking miles in the dark hoping to secure a single box of food . Their only crime was approaching aid, too hungry to wait. This is not war. This is calculated cruelty . 🔻 A System Designed to Fail — and to Kill The killings are the latest bloodshed under a new, deeply controversial food distribution system , jointly ...

Trump’s Gaza Plan and the Arab Autocrats: Displacement, Deals, and Betrayal

The Trump administration’s reported plan to forcibly relocate up to 1 million Palestinians from Gaza to Libya or Syria is more than a policy proposal—it is a geopolitical earthquake. It signals a dangerous shift toward normalizing permanent ethnic displacement under the guise of reconstruction. 1. What Is Trump’s Gaza “Solution”? Mass Deportation : Trump argues that Gaza is no longer livable and suggests relocating its population permanently—starting with Libya and possibly post-Assad Syria. Bribing the Host : Libya would receive access to billions in frozen funds in exchange for hosting Palestinians. Buying Consent : Trump suggests offering Palestinians housing and stipends to “incentivize” their exile. Fantasy Development : He wants to rebuild Gaza as the “Riviera of the Middle East”—without its native population. This plan, if implemented, would be a modern-day Nakba , violating international law and the principle of the right to return. 2. Why Are Arab Autocracies Qu...

The Body Is Failing, and So Is Humanity: Gaza’s Final Cry.

  When Food Is No Longer Enough: Gaza’s Descent Into Clinical Starvation “We are reaching a point where children and adults won’t be saved with pallets of food dropped from planes.” — Jake Wood , humanitarian leader and former head of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation 🔥 Gaza Is Starving — And We’ve Let It Happen Gaza is not just facing hunger. It is collapsing into famine —and the world is watching in silence. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) , 100% of Gaza’s population is now at risk of famine . Every single man, woman, and child. This is not a statistic. It’s a death sentence delivered in slow motion. 🩸 Ketones in the Urine. Organs Shutting Down. Hope Evaporating. Children in Gaza are now excreting ketones —a biochemical scream from a starving body. It means they’ve burned through fat reserves. Their bodies are consuming themselves. You can’t fix that with a bag of flour. What they need now is clinica...