The ceasefire aims to de-escalate the most lethal and devastating conflict between Israel and Hamas, triggered by Hamas’ incursion into Israel on October 7, 2023. Despite an initial disagreement this week on the order of hostage releases, the ceasefire has been upheld.
According to the agreement, Israel and Hamas are set to engage in further negotiations for a second phase involving the release of the remaining hostages by Hamas and the continuation of the ceasefire without a defined end date. Failure to reach an agreement may result in a resumption of hostilities as early as March.
Israel has reiterated its determination to dismantle Hamas, even as the militant group swiftly reinstated control over Gaza following the truce. A significant right-wing faction in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is already pushing for a resumption of conflict at the conclusion of the initial ceasefire phase.
Hamas says it won’t release the remaining hostages without an end to the war and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
Hamas started the war when it sent thousands of fighters storming into Israel. The militants killed some 1200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250.
Israel’s ensuing air and ground war among the deadliest and most destructive in decades. More than 47,000 Palestinians have been killed, over half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were militants.
The Israeli military says it killed over 17,000 fighters, without providing evidence, and that it went to great lengths to try to spare civilians. It blames civilian deaths on Hamas because its fighters operate in dense residential neighbourhoods and put military infrastructure near homes, schools and mosques.
The Israeli offensive has transformed entire neighborhoods into mounds of gray rubble, and it’s unclear how or when anything will be rebuilt. Around 90 per cent of Gaza’s population has been displaced, often multiple times, with hundreds of thousands of people living in squalid tent camps or shuttered schools.
