[🇧🇩] Israel and Hamas war in Gaza-----Can Bangladesh be a peace broker?

[Saif]

Thousands across Gaza celebrate ceasefire deal

Crowds of Gazans chanted and embraced as news spread that a ceasefire and hostage release deal had been reached

www.thedailystar.net

Thousands across Gaza celebrate ceasefire deal

Photo: Collected

Crowds of Gazans chanted and embraced on Wednesday as news spread that a ceasefire and hostage release deal had been reached between Israel and Hamas aimed at ending more than 15 months of war in the Palestinian territory.

After a US official and a source close to the negotiations first revealed the agreement, Israel cautioned that several points "remain unresolved" that it hoped would be resolved.

But celebrations were already underway in Gaza, where AFP journalists saw crowds of people hugging and taking photos to mark the announcement.

"I can't believe that this nightmare of more than a year is finally coming to an end. We have lost so many people, we've lost everything," said Randa Sameeh, a 45-year-old displaced from Gaza City to the Nuseirat Camp in the centre of the territory.

"We need a lot of rest. As soon as the truce begins, I will go to the cemetery to visit my brother and family members. We buried them in Deir el-Balah cemetery without proper graves. We will build them new graves and write their names on them."

Outside Deir al-Balah's Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, where so many of the war's casualties have been taken, hundreds of Palestinians gathered to chant, sing and wave flags, AFPTV footage showed.

At one point, a member of the crowd and a journalist in body armour were raised on people's shoulders to conduct an interview above the mass of elated Gazans.

As an ambulance squeezed through the crowd to reach the hospital, smiling men and women alike chanted "Allahu Akbar", or "God is greatest" in Arabic, and waved the Palestinian flag.

Young children, some looking confused by the commotion, gathered outside the hospital too, milling between adults and watching as they gave interviews to the waiting media.

A gaggle of young boys in the centre of the crowd led a popular pro-resistance chant as adults filmed the moment on their phones.

In Gaza City, 27-year-old Abdul Karim said: "I feel joy despite everything we've lost."

"I can't believe I will finally see my wife and two children again," he added. "They left for the south almost a year ago. I hope they allow the displaced to return quickly."

Large crowds also gathered in Khan Yunis, in southern Gaza, with young men surfing through the crowd on the shoulders of others beating drums and cheering, an AFP photographer saw.

The deal agreed on Wednesday is expected to halt the fighting in the devastated Palestinian territory and see hostages held in Gaza released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

Hamas carried out the attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, resulting in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.

Palestinian men also took 251 people hostage during the attack, 94 of whom are still being held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel's retaliatory campaign in Gaza has killed 46,707 people, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory's health ministry that the UN considers reliable.​

 

[Saif]

Trump takes credit for 'epic' Gaza peace deal

Trump also signaled he would push for an elusive deal to normalize relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia

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Trump takes credit for 'epic' Gaza peace deal

Donald Trump

US President-elect Donald Trump hailed an "epic" ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas on Wednesday -- and claimed credit for an accord that comes days before he is due to be sworn in for his second term.

"We have a deal for the hostages in the Middle East. They will be released shortly. Thank you!" Trump said on his Truth Social network, before any official announcement from outgoing President Joe Biden's White House.

Trump had warned Palestinian armed group Hamas of "hell to pay" if it did not free the captives before he took office, and envoys from both his incoming administration and Biden's outgoing one had been present at the latest negotiations.

"This EPIC ceasefire agreement could have only happened as a result of our Historic Victory in November," Trump added in a lengthy second post.

The Republican said his 2024 US election win had "signaled to the entire World that my Administration would seek Peace and negotiate deals to ensure the safety of all Americans, and our Allies."

He added that he was "thrilled" about the release of the hostages taken by Hamas in its October 7, 2023, attack on Israel. Those taken included several Americans.

The attack sparked a war that has seen Israel level large swaths of Gaza, killing at least 46,707 people, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory's health ministry that the UN considers reliable.

Hamas's attack resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, also mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures. The group took 251 people hostage during the attack, 94 of whom are still being held in Gaza. At least 34 are dead, according to the Israeli military.

Trump returns to the White House on Monday -- meaning that much of the implementation of the Gaza deal will play out under his incoming administration.

The 78-year-old said his national security team would "work closely with Israel and our Allies to make sure Gaza NEVER again becomes a terrorist safe haven."

Trump also signaled he would push for an elusive deal to normalize relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

He said he would "build upon the momentum of this ceasefire" to expand the Abraham Accords from his first term, which established diplomatic ties between Israel and the Gulf countries of the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

Trump's incoming National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz, credited the Gaza deal in a post on X to "The Trump Effect."​

 

[Saif]

‘An earthquake struck’

After news of a ceasefire agreement sparked mass rejoicing in Gaza, residents woke up yesterday to columns of smoke, rubble and more deaths following new Israeli air strikes.

www.thedailystar.net

An earthquake struck’
Say Palestinians as air strikes in Gaza crush joy of ceasefire deal

After news of a ceasefire agreement sparked mass rejoicing in Gaza, residents woke up yesterday to columns of smoke, rubble and more deaths following new Israeli air strikes.

"We were waiting for the truce and were happy. It was the happiest night since October 7," said Gaza resident Saeed Alloush, referring to the Hamas attack on Israel that sparked the war in 2023.

"Suddenly... we received the news of the martyrdom of 40 people," including his uncle, Alloush said. "The whole area's joy turned to sadness, as if an earthquake struck."

The latest strikes came after Qatar and the United States announced a fragile ceasefire deal that should take effect on Sunday.

AFP has contacted the Israeli military for comment.

Mahmud Bassal, spokesman for Gaza's civil defence agency, told AFP yesterday that at least 73 people had been killed in Israeli air strikes since the announcement on Wednesday.

Among them were 20 children and 25 women, he said, with around 200 others wounded.

As day broke, crowds gathered to inspect and clear the remains of a building reduced to rubble, where chunks of concrete lay interspersed with rebar and personal items scattered across the site.

The scenes mirrored those in other parts of the densely populated territory of 2.4 million people, most of whom have been displaced at least once since the offensive broke out in October 2023.

At Nasser Hospita ln Khan Yunis, AFP journalists saw stained metal mortuary stretchers stained in red as staff drained them of the blood of the dead in a strike.

In Gaza City's Al-Ahli hospital, where several strike casualties were taken, grieving families knelt by the white shrouds enveloping their loved ones' bodies.

Rescuer Ibrahim Abu al-Rish told AFP that "after the ceasefire was announced and people were happy and joyful, a five-storey building was targeted, with over 50 people inside".​

 

[Saif]

What are the details of truce deal in Gaza?

Qatar said Wednesday that Israel and Hamas had agreed to a ceasefire in Gaza starting on Sunday and a hostage and prisoner exchange after 15 months of offensive.

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What are the details of truce deal in Gaza?
PRISONER-HOSTAGE SWAP

Qatar said Wednesday that Israel and Hamas had agreed to a ceasefire in Gaza starting on Sunday and a hostage and prisoner exchange after 15 months of offensive.

Thirty-three Israeli hostages will be released in the first, 42-day phase of the agreement that could become a "permanent ceasefire", said Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani.

Those first released would be "civilian women and female recruits, as well as children, elderly people... civilian ill people and wounded", he said.

Israeli government spokesman David Mencer said on Tuesday Israel was "prepared to pay a heavy price -- in the hundreds" in exchange for the 33 hostages.

ISRAELI POSITIONS IN GAZA

During the initial, 42-day ceasefire Israeli forces will withdraw from Gaza's densely populated areas to "allow for the swap of prisoners, as well as the swap of remains and the return of the displaced people", Qatar's prime minister said.

Negotiations for a second phase would commence on the "16th day" after the first phase's implementation, an Israeli official said. This phase would cover the release of the remaining captives, including "male soldiers, men of military age, and the bodies of slain hostages", the Times of Israel reported.

Israeli media reported that under the deal, Israel would maintain a buffer zone within Gaza during the first phase.

Israeli forces were expected to remain up to "800 metres (yards) inside Gaza stretching from Rafah in the south to Beit Hanun in the north," according to a source close to Hamas. Israeli forces would not fully withdraw from Gaza until "all hostages are returned", the Israeli official said.

END TO THE OFFENSIVE

Joint mediators Qatar, the United States and Egypt will monitor the ceasefire deal through a body based in Cairo, Sheikh Mohammed said, urging "calm" in Gaza before the agreement comes into force.

There was "a clear mechanism to negotiate phase two and three", Sheikh Mohammed added.​

 

[Saif]

Israeli cabinet to vote on Gaza ceasefire Friday

As ministers weighed whether to approve the fragile agreement, new Israeli strikes on about 50 targets in Gaza killed dozens of people on Thursday...

www.newagebd.net

Israeli cabinet to vote on Gaza ceasefire Friday
Agence France-Presse . Jerusalem 17 January, 2025, 04:30

Israel’s cabinet was set to vote Friday on a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal, an official said, with mediator the United States ‘confident’ the accord would take effect as planned.

As ministers weighed whether to approve the fragile agreement, new Israeli strikes killed dozens of people, Gaza rescuers said Thursday, and Israel’s military reported hitting about 50 targets across the territory over the past day.

At least two cabinet members have voiced opposition to the ceasefire, with far-right national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir saying Thursday that he and his party colleagues would quit the government –– but not the ruling coalition –– if it approved the ‘irresponsible’ deal.

The truce, announced by mediators Qatar and the United States on Wednesday, would begin on Sunday and involve the exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, after which the terms of a permanent end to the war would be finalised.

Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office accused Hamas on Thursday of reneging ‘on parts of the agreement... to extort last-minute concessions’, and vowed to postpone the cabinet vote until the issues were addressed.

An Israeli official, however, later told AFP that the cabinet would meet Friday to decide on the deal.

Hamas political bureau member Sami Abu Zuhri said that there was ‘no basis’ for Israel’s accusations.

US secretary of state Antony Blinken, who has been involved in months of mediation efforts, said he believed the ceasefire would go ahead on schedule.

‘I am confident, and I fully expect that implementation will begin, as we said, on Sunday,’ he said.

The foreign ministry of fellow mediator Egypt said in a statement the ceasefire must ‘start without delay’.

Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israel pounded several areas of the territory after the deal was announced, killing at least 80 people and wounding hundreds.

Hamas’s armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, warned that Israeli strikes were risking the lives of hostages due to be freed under the deal, and could turn their ‘freedom... into a tragedy’.

The war began on October 7, 2023 with the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.

Of the 251 people reportedly held hostage by the Hamas, 94 are reportedly still being held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel’s ensuing campaign has destroyed much of Gaza, killing 46,788 people, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas health ministry that the UN considers reliable.

The ceasefire agreement followed intensified efforts from mediators Qatar, Egypt and the United States, after months of fruitless negotiations to end the deadliest war in Gaza’s history.

If finalised, it would pause hostilities one day before the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump.

Envoys from both the Trump team and the outgoing administration of president Joe Biden were present at the latest negotiations, with a senior Biden official saying the unlikely pairing had been a decisive factor in reaching the deal.

In Israel and Gaza, there were celebrations welcoming the truce deal, but also anguish.

Saeed Alloush, who lives in north Gaza, said that he and his loved ones were ‘waiting for the truce and were happy’, until overnight strikes killed many of his relatives.

‘It was the happiest night since October 7’ until ‘we received the news of the martyrdom of 40 people from the Alloush family’, he said.

In Tel Aviv, pensioner Simon Patya said that he felt ‘great joy’ that some hostages would return alive, but also ‘great sorrow for those who are returning in bags, and that will be a very strong blow, morally’.

In addition to Ben Gvir, far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich has also opposed the truce, calling it a ‘dangerous deal’.

Qatari prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani, announcing the agreement on Wednesday, said an initial 42-day ceasefire would see 33 hostages released, including women, ‘children, elderly people, as well as civilian ill people and wounded’.

Also in the first phase, Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza's densely populated areas and allow displaced Palestinians to return ‘to their residences’, he said.

Announcing the deal from the White House, Biden said the second phase of the agreement could bring a ‘permanent end to the war’.

He added the deal would ‘surge much needed humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians, and reunite the hostages with their families’.

Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi also underscored the ‘importance of accelerating the entry of urgent humanitarian aid’ into Gaza.

Cairo said it was ready to host an international conference on reconstruction in Gaza, where the United Nations has said it would take more than a decade to rebuild civilian infrastructure.

The World Health Organisation’s representative in the Palestinian territories, Rik Peeperkorn, said Thursday that at least $10 billion would probably be needed over the next five to seven years to rebuild Gaza’s devastated health system alone.

The UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA, facing an Israeli ban on its activities set to start later this month, welcomed the ceasefire deal.

‘What’s needed is rapid, unhindered and uninterrupted humanitarian access and supplies to respond to the tremendous suffering caused by this war,’ UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini wrote on X.​

 

[Saif]

Ceasefire: not holding my breath

THE announced ceasefire agreement between Israel and Gaza is reminiscent of the last days of the Carter administration, a time when American hostages were released with Reagan (and his behind-the-scenes machinations) taking credit for ending the hostage impasse. Be on the look-out for Trump to...

www.newagebd.net

Ceasefire: not holding my breath
Raouf Halaby 16 January, 2025, 22:24

THE announced ceasefire agreement between Israel and Gaza is reminiscent of the last days of the Carter administration, a time when American hostages were released with Reagan (and his behind-the-scenes machinations) taking credit for ending the hostage impasse. Be on the look-out for Trump to take 95 per cent of the credit.

Between today and the 19th (when full implementation takes place), spoilers on both, the Israeli and Hamas sides, might sabotage the deal. We’ve been there before, ceasefires were agreed to only to be broken, and things have always gone back to status quo ante.

Tragically, Biden could have averted much bloodshed and destruction way when

The realistic side of me says that, unfortunately, while the patient has been resuscitated, it is a temporary band aid solution. The elephant in the room is Israel’s occupation of Gaza and especially the occupied West Bank, a tiny 22 per cent sliver of historic Palestine taken over by some 700,000 Israeli militant settlers whose biblical claims are aided and abetted by America’s End Time Christian Zionists, AIPAC, and their compadres. Just look at Trump’s ambassadorial (think Mike Hucksterbee) and other appointees, each of whom is an avowed supporter of Greater Israel.

In a manner of speaking Donald Trump, and because of his outright kindship to and outright support of Netanyahu, has been handed a golden opportunity. He could, once and for all, help create a Palestinian state that would end 80 years of bloodletting.

Will he see this as a historic moment? Or, will he, in his pro forma transactional handling of myriad events, perceive this to be another real estate deal in which winners take all?

The Palestinian State (Solution) Delusion, promised by successive US presidents, is at the crossroads of a historic moment.

Perhaps the legal maxim ‘Justice delayed is justice denied’ has never resonated as it has today.

And, while apathetic world leaders give lip service to justice and peace, the masses of the world hold their breath and pray that billions spent arming the world would be spent to alleviate hunger, drought, global warming, disease, and the many plagues looking on the horizon.​

 

[Saif]

Israeli security cabinet approves Gaza ceasefire deal

The agreement, which must now go to the full cabinet for a final green light, would halt fighting and bombardment in Gaza's deadliest-ever war

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Israeli security cabinet approves Gaza ceasefire deal

This handout picture released by the Israeli Government Press Office (GPO) shows Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, fifth from right, heading a security cabinet meeting to vote on a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal that should take effect on January 19, in Jerusalem on January 17, 2025. Photo: AFP

Israel's security cabinet approved in a vote on Friday a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal that should take effect this weekend, the prime minister's office said.

The agreement, which must now go to the full cabinet for a final green light, would halt fighting and bombardment in Gaza's deadliest-ever war.

It would also launch on Sunday the release of hostages held in the territory since Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

Under the deal struck by Qatar, the United States and Egypt, the ensuing weeks should also see the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.

Israeli strikes have killed dozens of people since the deal was announced. Israel's military said on Thursday it had hit about 50 targets across Gaza over the past day.

The full cabinet will convene later Friday to approve the deal. The ceasefire would take effect on the eve of Donald Trump's inauguration as US president.

Saying the proposed deal "supports achieving the objectives of the war", the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that the security cabinet recommended that the government approve it.

His office had earlier said the release of hostages would begin on Sunday.

Even before the start of the truce, Gazans displaced by the war to other parts of the territory were preparing to return home.

"I will go to kiss my land," said Nasr al-Gharabli, who fled his home in Gaza City for a camp further south in the territory.

"If I die on my land, it would be better than being here as a displaced person."

In Israel, there was joy but also anguish over the 251 hostages taken in the deadliest attack in the country's history.

Kfir Bibas, whose second birthday falls on Saturday, is the youngest hostage.

Hamas said in November 2023 that Kfir, his four-year-old brother Ariel and their mother Shiri had died in an air strike, but with the Israeli military yet to confirm their deaths, many are clinging to hope.

"I think of them, these two little redheads, and I get shivers," said 70-year-old Osnat Nyska, whose grandchildren attended nursery with the Bibas brothers.

- 'Confident' -

Two far-right ministers had voiced opposition to the deal, with one threatening to quit the cabinet, but US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he believed the ceasefire would go ahead on schedule.

"I am confident, and I fully expect that implementation will begin, as we said, on Sunday," he said.

Gaza's civil defence agency said Israel pounded several areas of the territory, killing more than 100 people and wounding hundreds since the the deal was announced on Wednesday.

Hamas's armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, warned that Israeli strikes were risking the lives of hostages due to be freed under the deal, and could turn their "freedom... into a tragedy".

The war began with the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Of the 251 people taken hostage, 94 are still in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel's retaliatory campaign has destroyed much of Gaza, killing 46,788 people, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory's health ministry that the UN considers reliable.

- Trump and Biden -

The ceasefire agreement followed intensified efforts from mediators after months of fruitless negotiations, and with Trump's team taking credit for working with US President Joe Biden's administration to seal the deal.

"If we weren't involved in this deal, the deal would've never happened," Trump said in an interview on Thursday.

A senior Biden official said the unlikely pairing had been a decisive factor in reaching the deal.

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani, announcing the agreement on Wednesday, said an initial 42-day ceasefire would see 33 hostages released, including women, "children, elderly people, as well as civilian ill people and wounded".

The Israeli authorities assume the 33 are alive, but Hamas has yet to confirm that.

Also in the first phase, Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza's densely populated areas and allow displaced Palestinians to return "to their residences", he said.

Two sources close to Hamas told AFP three Israeli women soldiers would be the first to be released on Sunday evening.

The women may in fact be civilians, as the militant group refers to all Israelis of military age who have undergone mandatory military service as soldiers.

Once released they would be received by Red Cross staff as well as Egyptian and Qatari teams, one source said on condition of anonymity.

They would then be taken to Egypt where they would undergo medical examinations and then to Israel, the source said.

Israel "is then expected to release the first group of Palestinian prisoners, including several with high sentences", the source added.

Egypt was on Friday hosting technical talks on the implementation of the truce, according to state-linked media.

French President Emmanuel Macron said French-Israeli citizens Ofer Kalderon and Ohad Yahalomi were on the list of 33 hostages to be freed in the first phase.

Biden said the second phase could bring a "permanent end to the war".

In aid-starved Gaza, where nearly all of its 2.4 million people have been displaced at least once, aid workers worry about the monumental task ahead.

"Everything has been destroyed, children are on the streets, you can't pinpoint just one priority," Doctors Without Borders (MSF) coordinator Amande Bazerolle told AFP.​