Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas have agreed to a ceasefire deal with Israel, Qatar and the United States have said, after more than 460 days of a war that has devastated Gaza.
The ceasefire deal will come into effect on Sunday, as work on the implementation steps with Israel and Hamas continue.
Israel says that some final details remain, and an Israeli government vote is expected on Thursday.
The deal includes a temporary ceasefire that will, for now, bring to an end the destruction visited upon Gaza, as well as the release of captives held in Gaza and many of the prisoners held by Israel. The deal will also, finally, allow displaced Palestinians to return to their homes.
The initial phase will last six weeks, and will involve a limited prisoner exchange, the partial withdrawal of Israeli troops in Gaza and a surge of aid into the enclave.
Thirty-three Israeli captives, including women, children and civilians over the age of 50 – taken during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023 – will be released. In exchange, Israel will release a larger number of Palestinian prisoners during this phase, including prisoners serving life sentences. Among the Palestinians being released are around 1000 who were detained after October 7.
In tandem with the exchange of captives, Israel will withdraw its forces from Gaza’s population centres to areas no more than 700 metres inside Gaza’s border with Israel. However, that may exclude the Netzarim Corridor, the militarised belt bisecting the Strip and controlling movement along it – the withdrawal from Netzarim is expected instead to take place in stages.
Israel will allow civilians to return to their homes in the enclave’s besieged north, where aid agencies warn famine may have taken hold and allow up to 600 trucks of aid per day.
Israel will also allow wounded Palestinians to leave the Gaza Strip for treatment, and open the Rafah crossing with Egypt seven days after the start of the implementation of the first phase.
Israeli forces will reduce their presence in the Philadelphi Corridor, the border area between Egypt and Gaza, and then withdraw completely no later than the 50th day after the deal comes into effect.
Details of the second and third phases, though understood to be agreed to in principle, are to be negotiated during the first phase.
Source: Aljazeera