U.S. President Joe Biden has said that a long-elusive deal to end Israel’s more than 15-month war on the besieged Gaza Strip and free hostages there has been reached.
Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani also confirmed the agreement in a news conference in Doha, which will begin Sunday.
He outlined the first phase, which will last for 42 days and include the release of 33 Israeli detainees in exchange for a number of Palestinian prisoners.
Speaking from the White House, the US president said phase one of the deal will last six weeks and include a “full and complete ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from all the populated areas of Gaza, and the release of a number of hostages held by Hamas, including women, the elderly and the wounded.”
“In exchange, Israel will release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.”
During phase one, Palestinians “can also return to their neighbourhoods in all areas of Gaza” and humanitarian assistance will be surged into the enclave.
“During the next six weeks, Israel will negotiate the necessary arrangements to get [to] phase two, which is a permanent end to the war.”
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“There are a number of issues to negotiate to move from phase one to phase two, but the plan says that if negotiations take longer than six weeks, the ceasefire will continue as long as the negotiations continue.”
He added: “Today, after many months of intensive diplomacy by the United States, along with Egypt and Qatar, Israel and Hamas have reached a ceasefire and hostage deal. This deal will halt the fighting in Gaza, surge much needed humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians, and reunite the hostages with their families after more than 15 months in captivity,” Biden said in a statement.
“I laid out the precise contours of this plan on May 31, 2024, after which it was endorsed unanimously by the UN Security Council. It is the result not only of the extreme pressure that Hamas has been under and the changed regional equation after a ceasefire in Lebanon and weakening of Iran — but also of dogged and painstaking American diplomacy. My diplomacy never ceased in their efforts to get this done,” he added.
Hamas statement on the announcement of the ceasefire:
“In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. On the Announcement of a Ceasefire Agreement and the Aggression on the Gaza Strip. The ceasefire agreement is the result of the legendary steadfastness of our great Palestinian people and our valiant resistance in the Gaza Strip over the course of more than 15 months.
“The agreement to halt the aggression on Gaza is an achievement for our people, our resistance, our nation, and the free people of the world. It marks a pivotal stage in the ongoing struggle against the enemy, paving the way toward achieving our people’s goals of liberation and return.
“This agreement comes as part of our responsibility toward our steadfast and patient people in the proud Gaza Strip, to put an end to the Zionist aggression against them and halt the waterfall of blood, massacres, and the genocide war they are subjected to.
“We express our appreciation and gratitude for all the honorable official and popular stances that stood in solidarity with Gaza, supported our people, and contributed to exposing the occupation and stopping the aggression—whether Arab, Islamic, or international. Special thanks go to the brotherly mediators who exerted significant efforts to reach this agreement, especially Qatar and Egypt.”
Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya added that Palestinians will remember who carried out mass killings against them, who justified the atrocities in the media and who provided the bombs that were dropped on their homes.
“The barbaric war of extermination … that the Israeli occupation and its backers have carried out over 467 days will forever be engraved in the memory of our people and the world as the worst genocide in modern history,” al-Hayya said.
The Hamas official said despite the horrific attacks against them, Palestinians did not show Israel a “moment of weakness.”
“We say, in the name of the orphans and the children and the widows, in the name of people with destroyed homes, in the name of the families of the martyrs and the wounded, in the name of all the victims, in the name of every drop of blood that was spilled, and in the name of every tear of pain and agony: We won’t forget, and we won’t forgive,” al-Hayya said.
Al-Hayya added that Israel did not achieve any of its publicly stated or secret goals in Gaza, including returning the captives by force, eliminating Hamas or displaying the territory’s population.
“And here we are today, proving that the [Israeli] occupation did not and will not defeat our people and their resistance,” al-Hayya said.
Israel reaction
Israeli President Isaac Herzog said in a televised statement that the deal announced between Israel and Hamas was the “right move” to bring all the captives home.
“As the president of the state of Israel, I say in the clearest terms: This is the right move. This is an important move. This is a necessary move,” said Herzog.
“There is no greater moral, human, Jewish, or Israeli obligation than to bring our sons and daughters back to us – whether to recover at home, or to be laid to rest.”
Egypt’s Sisi welcomes Gaza ceasefire agreement
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi welcomed a deal on the Gaza Strip cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, which was reached after more than a year of intensive negotiations with Egyptian, Qatari and US mediators.
“I welcome the cease-fire agreement in Gaza after over a year of strenuous efforts, mediated by Egypt, Qatar, and the US,” he said on social media.
He emphasized the urgent need to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza. “This agreement highlights the importance of quickly providing critical aid to the people of Gaza to address the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe, without any obstacles, until a sustainable peace is achieved through a two-state solution,” he said
Sisi reaffirmed Egypt’s commitment to supporting a just peace, remaining a steadfast partner in achieving it and defending the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.
More to follow…
