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

[Saif]

Hamas will free four women hostages in next swap

Hamas said on Tuesday it will release four women hostages in the next swap with Israel under the terms of a fragile truce intended to bring to an end to 15 months of war in Gaza...

www.newagebd.net

Hamas will free four women hostages in next swap
Agence France-Presse . Jerusalem 22 January, 2025, 00:24

Hamas said on Tuesday it will release four women hostages in the next swap with Israel under the terms of a fragile truce intended to bring to an end to 15 months of war in Gaza.

US president Donald Trump, who claimed credit for the hard-won ceasefire agreement, said he doubted the deal would hold as he took office for a historic second term.

Desperately needed humanitarian aid has begun to flow into Gaza as Palestinians displaced by the war headed back to devastated areas of the territory, hopeful the agreement would hold.

The ceasefire took effect on Sunday, and saw Israel and Hamas conduct their first exchange of hostages for prisoners.

Hamas official Taher al-Nunu said that four Israeli women hostages will be freed on Saturday in exchange for a second group of Palestinian prisoners.

In Washington, newly-inaugurated Trump cast doubt on whether the truce would hold.

‘That’s not our war; it’s their war. But I’m not confident,’ he said.

Trump had claimed credit for the three-phase ceasefire agreement announced ahead of his return to the White House by Qatar and the United States, following months of fruitless negotiations under his predecessor Joe Biden.

Qatar was confident in the ceasefire deal it helped mediate ‘when it comes to the language of the deal, when it comes to the fact that we hashed out all the major issues on the table’, its foreign minister spokesman said on Tuesday.

The new US president has made clear he would support Israel, and in one of his first acts as president, he revoked sanctions on Israeli settlers in the West Bank imposed by the Biden administration over attacks against Palestinians.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulated Trump on his return, while far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich thanked him for lifting the sanctions.

‘I look forward to working with you to return the remaining hostages, to destroy Hamas’s military capabilities and end its political rule in Gaza, and to ensure that Gaza never again poses a threat to Israel,’ Netanyahu said.

‘Mr. President, your unwavering and uncompromising support for the State of Israel is a testament to your deep connection to the Jewish people and our historical right to our land,’ Smotrich wrote on X.

Displaced Gazan Ghadeer Abdul Rabbo, 30, said she hopes that ‘with or without Trump’, the ceasefire will hold and world governments will help ‘maintain this calm, because we are afraid’.

If all goes to plan, during the initial, 42-day phase of the truce that began Sunday, a total of 33 hostages are to be returned from Gaza in exchange for around 1,900 Palestinians.

Over those six weeks, the parties are meant to negotiate a permanent ceasefire.

In Rafah, in southern Gaza, Ismail Madi said that ‘we have endured immense hardships, but we will stay here. We will rebuild this place.’

Three Israeli hostages, all women, were reunited with their families on Sunday after more than 15 months in captivity.

Hours later, 90 Palestinian prisoners were released from an Israeli jail.

In Israel, there was elation as Emily Damari, Romi Gonen and Doron Steinbrecher returned home and appeared to be in good health.

‘In Emily’s own words, she is the happiest girl in the world; she has her life back,’ Damari’s mother Mandy said on Monday, adding that her daughter was ‘doing much better than any of us could have expected’ even after losing two fingers.

The first group of Palestinians released under the deal left Ofer prison in the West Bank early Monday, with jubilant crowds celebrating their arrival in the nearby town of Beitunia.

One freed detainee, Abdul Aziz Muhammad Atawneh, described prison as ‘hell, hell, hell’.

Another, Khalida Jarrar of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine — proscribed as a ‘terrorist’ group by Israel and some Western governments — said she had been kept ‘in solitary confinement for six months’.

The relatives of the three Israeli ex-hostages called for the release of the remaining 91 captives seized during Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack that sparked the war, including 34 the military says are dead.

Meirav Leshem Gonen, mother of Romi Gonen, said: ‘We got our Romi back, but all families deserve the same outcome, both the living and the dead.’

There was anxiety in Israel over the next phases of the truce, with columnist Sima Kadmon warning in the Yedioth Ahronoth daily that the coming hostage releases may be more painful than the first.

‘Some of them will arrive on gurneys and wheelchairs. Others will arrive in coffins. Some will arrive wounded and injured, in dire emotional condition,’ she wrote.

In southern Gaza, Ammar Barbakh, 35, spent the truce’s first night in a tent on the rubble of his home.

‘This is the first time I sleep comfortably and I’m not afraid,’ he said.

‘It’s a beautiful feeling, and I hope the ceasefire continues.’

The war has devastated much of the Gaza Strip and displaced the vast majority of its population of 2.4 million.

More than 900 trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered Gaza on Monday, the United Nations said.

The day the deal came into force, 630 trucks entered Gaza.

Qatar, which played a key role in negotiating the truce, said that 12.5 million litres of fuel would enter Gaza over the first 10 days.

Hamas’s October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Sunday that the death toll in the war had reached 46,913, a majority civilians, figures the United Nations has said are reliable.​

 

[Saif]

The ceasefire that couldn't heal: Reflections from a survivor

I can’t forget the days in Gaza’s hospitals—the sight of dismembered children and the cries from phosphorus burns.

www.thedailystar.net

The ceasefire that couldn't heal: Reflections from a survivor

Kamel’s family home, captured from a video of a drone passing through the sky, on January 19, 2025. PHOTO COURTESY: KAMEL ABU AMSHA

Late September 2023, I returned to Gaza from Faridpur to see my family. It was my 24th birthday. I have been studying medicine in Bangladesh, and it was the first time in four years that I visited them. A few days later, we all knew what had happened. After seven months of genocide, I left Gaza and my family behind. My story of surviving the genocide was covered by The Daily Star in May 2024. I am not one to share my sorrow or pain, but I agreed to let a journalist document what happened to me so that Israel could not achieve its final victory— erasing these atrocities from human memory.

During those weeks when I shared what I went through in Gaza, there was talk of a ceasefire, but it never seemed likely as things only worsened. I was in Gaza during a temporary truce, which was reported as a "halt in fighting," but it was a farce. We went to our house, already bombed once, to retrieve food for the camps. We left quickly as the house was bombed again during that pause.

Months passed, and I have lost 35 family members to date. I lost my cousin Jamal, who was like a brother to me. The day he was killed by Israeli airstrikes, my uncle, Jamal's father, tried to bury him in Jabalia. But the Israeli had sieged the area. Jamal's body was left with a cloth, and today, five months later, he has still not been buried. As I write this, I wonder what Jamal did in this cruel world, to not even get the chance to rest peacefully and with dignitu, even after he was killed.

My immediate family have been displaced almost daily and injured. Changes happened around the world but things remained the same in the north of Gaza: in horror. The government changed in Bangladesh, where I've been since leaving my family in Gaza. Similar to the internet blackout during the last days of the previous regime here, my family still goes without internet for five to seven days at a stretch.

On a random Wednesday, January 15, 2025, we all got the news that a ceasefire had been reached. My first reaction was an overwhelming urge to celebrate with my family, just as I had suffered the flames of war with them. Then a strange feeling overtook me. Seven months of genocide flashed across my mind like a reel. I can't forget October 7, the day I had been asleep in Gaza for just seven days before the war began. I understood nothing back then and could not, in my worst nightmare, imagine all that followed: displacement after displacement, hunger, fear, thirst, and exhaustion.

I can't forget the days in Gaza's hospitals—the sight of dismembered children and the cries from phosphorus burns. I can't forget escaping Gaza through an Israeli checkpoint, fearing every moment that I would be shot or bombed. I can't forget the bitter cold of the night we slept in an open tent, with torn clothes and no blankets. I hugged my brother just to keep warm. I can't forget returning to our first camp, Al-Falluja, where decaying corpses were everywhere.

Kamel’s nephew and father in front of the camp where they were staying in North Gaza, three weeks before the ceasefire. PHOTO COURTESY: KAMEL ABU AMSHA

The feeling of joy dissipated, and I did not believe the ceasefire would hold. Growing up in Gaza, always fearing Israeli attacks and enduring the genocide, has eroded my trust in everything. I never trusted anything the Israeli government said. They killed, destroyed, and ruined my life as I knew it. Frankly, I don't remember what my beloved city, Gaza, looked like before the war or what it felt like without the smell of death. So, how can I believe they would stop killing now?

Just days before the ceasefire, my parents were taking refuge with other stranded residents in a small room of a broken house in southern North Gaza. I could not reach my family when the ceasefire was announced, and at the time of this writing, I still haven't been able to talk to them, as they do not have internet. But I heard there was relentless shelling. Until the ceasefire came into effect on Sunday, I worried my family would not live to see it. The Israeli army indiscriminately bombed everywhere to claim more so-called "victories." We had been lucky, by God's grace, to survive so far. I always prayed but feared that luck would run out.

My cousin Sayed, who has periodic internet access and updates me on my family's whereabouts, informed me they evacuated their shelter but made it out safely.

Now that the ceasefire is in effect, people ask if I am happy. But how could anyone from Gaza, especially those who lived through the genocide, relate to the word "happiness"? The house I grew up in has been destroyed. My family takes shelter wherever they can—in rooms of houses that survived the bombings. Many residents from the North fled to the South, and when they return, my family will be homeless. The streets of North Gaza have been destroyed with such depravity that even a tent cannot be set up.

I truly believe no one can understand how terrible it is unless they see it with their own eyes. Yet still, I feel a sense of relief that the bombing has stopped, even if temporarily, and people have stopped dying—a thought that once seemed too distant. In Gaza, "peace" now means not hearing the thunderous sound of bombs, and a pause in the constant struggle for survival.

Thinking of my family's condition has made me feel like giving up, but I returned to Bangladesh alive, with the dream of becoming a doctor. I continued studying, but it was not without challenges. After returning, I would suffer severe trauma shocks. They would start with chest pain, and I would fall unconscious, on the verge of heart attacks. My roommates, who took me to the CCU, later told me I hallucinated snipers and blood. But I am one of the lucky ones. I made it out alive after seven months. For my family members and friends who lost their children and parents, the psychological trauma is immense.

News stories now focus on Israeli hostages being reunited with their families, while Palestinians are referred to as "prisoners." The Israeli army has randomly and arbitrarily arrested people. The worst day of my life was December 18 last year, during the second paper of my final medical exams. I woke up to messages from my cousin Sayed that the Israeli army had besieged the shelter where my family was in Beit Hanoun. Their neighbours were killed. My mother was injured by shrapnel while escaping.

They arrested my brothers Nahid, 21, and Mohammad, 22, my grandfather, who is over 70, and my father. None of my brothers had any affiliation with Hamas. What crime did they commit other than trying to survive? My father was released, thankfully, but my brothers and grandfather remain in an Israeli prison, enduring torture. Everyone in Gaza knows what the prisons are like—prisoners are given no place to sleep, nothing to eat, and are beaten as though they are not human beings.

I don't know why my father was released but my brothers weren't. The way the Israelis imprison Palestinians is arbitrary and ruthless. Each time I see the news, I hope to see my brothers freed before the next tragedy strikes. I don't trust the ceasefire will last or that the war will permanently end. The perpetrators' nature is betrayal.

The Israeli army told us to go to "safe zones," only to bomb them. They tricked people, even children, into death. I fled to so many such zones only to be forced to leave again. Many escaped alive—if they were lucky—while thousands died.

The hope that the US, with the transition from Biden to Trump, will make the ceasefire last does not inspire trust. The US has always supported Israel's killings, as have other powerful countries. At 25, I have lived through five flare-ups caused by the Israeli army, armed by countries that support their actions. In Gaza, the world showed no mercy to the elderly, children, women, youth, homes, streets, mosques, schools, or universities. They tried to annihilate us, but they cannot destroy our determination to not give up.

We Gazans dream that one day the sun will rise for us and never set again. Until then, we keep going, even if it means dying in the process. There may be a ceasefire now, but any form of trust that lives will be spared has ceased to exist.

When I left for Bangladesh, my father told me, "We know our fate, but you have a different fate. Go and become a doctor." Every day I wake up, I remember those words with a sinking feeling in my chest, and I go on with life. Because what else can I do? In Gaza, we are hardwired to keep going—and so, that's what we do.

Kamel Abu Amsha is a Palestinian medical student in Faridpur Medical College.​

 

[Saif]

Ceasefire in Gaza: what next?

For the second time, in the one and a half year long war of attrition unleashed by Israel, a ceasefire has come into effect from January 19, one day before the inauguration of Donald Trump as the president of United States. This time the ceasefire is broader in scope and has a longer timeframe than

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Ceasefire in Gaza: what next?
Hasnat Abdul Hye
Published :
Jan 24, 2025 21:00
Updated :
Jan 24, 2025 21:00

A member of the Palestinian Hamas police directs traffic on a street in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, on January 20, 2025. Gaza's Hamas-run interior ministry said Saturday in a statement that its security forces will begin deploying across the Gaza Strip as soon as the ceasefire-for-hostage release deal takes effect on January 19. Photo : Xinhua/Files

For the second time, in the one and a half year long war of attrition unleashed by Israel, a ceasefire has come into effect from January 19, one day before the inauguration of Donald Trump as the president of United States. This time the ceasefire is broader in scope and has a longer timeframe than the first one that took place for a week, from 24 November to 30 November in 2023. A total of 70 Israeli hostages were released by Hamas then, against 210 Palestinian prisoners held by Israelis. At the end of the truce on 30 November, another one day extension was agreed upon by both sides for further release of Israelis and Palestinians but the truce ended with Hamas blaming the Israelis for violation of terms of agreement.

In May, 2024, as the war in Gaza entered eight months, Egyptian and Qatari officials, working with American counterparts, worked out a ceasefire deal which was accepted by Hamas but rejected by Israel. Later, President Biden announced that Israel had agreed to a three- phase ceasefire and this time the American proposal was placed before the UN Security Council which adopted the same. But the Israeli prime minister rejected the deal and continued with the war.

On December 2, 2025, the president-elect, Donald Trump, posted in social media that hostages held by Hamas have to be released before his inauguration on January 20 or else 'all hell will break lose'. It was a very unusual statement coming from the president incumbent, using strong-arm tactics of underworld characters. It was obvious that his threat was directed at Hamas. There was gallows' humour in the threat because the Palestinians, including Hamas, were already living in hell, courtesy the devastations wrought by Israeli defence force (IDF) in Gaza.

As the interminable negotiations continued in the Qatari capital and in Cairo, representatives of the incoming Trump administration joined the Biden-era American officials. In addition, president-elect Trump sent his middle-east trouble-shooter, Steve Witcoff, to hold talks with Netanyahu and other stake-holders. It requires little imagination to conclude that the input by president elect Trump, particularly through backdoor diplomacy, using carrot and stick, pulled off the elusive ceasefire deal. Discussion on what may be embodied in the 'carrot and the stick' policy can be postponed until the terms of the present ceasefire agreement are briefly reviewed.

The present ceasefire, like the one negotiated in May last year, has three phases. During the first phase, covering six weeks from January 19, Hamas will release 33 hostages in several batches. In return, Israel will release several hundred Palestinians kept in prison, also in batches. Both sides will release children and women on priority basis. The lists of persons to be released have to be sent in advance for vetting by each side.

The second term in the agreement for the first phase provides for withdrawal of Israeli army from densely populated areas like northern Gaza and allowing displaced Palestinians to return to their former places of residence.

Under the third clause, about 600 trucks would be allowed to enter Gaza, carrying food, fuel, medicine and other essential items.

Except the second, the other two terms can be complied with by both parties without much hitch. The second is somewhat sensitive because Israeli army may regard withdrawal as surrender to Hamas. Here political leadership will play a big role. The Israeli cabinet, comprising extreme rightists, is divided over the ceasefire issue. One coalition party has already resigned from the cabinet. The second extremist party in the coalition has given notice and is bidding for time. Much depends on the political will of prime minister Netenyahu and his skill for manoeuvring. This, in turn, will depend on his motivation. If he is concerned with only saving his skin by staying in power with the help of extremists, he may renege on the ceasefire even during the first phase. But it is quite probable that he will take a chance during the first phase on this issue hoping to counter the pressure from coalition extremist parties with the release of Israelis kept as hostages for nearly a year and a half. The demand for their release has become a popular movement which none of the political parties can go on ignoring. So, the willingness of Israeli politicians, even if with reservations, can be expected to play a role in keeping the ceasefire alive and well. As regards Hamas, there is no problem for them with releasing the hostages if there is reciprocity from the Israeli side in releasing Palestinian prisoners according to agreed numbers. But their compliance with the terms of ceasefire deal will also depend on the withdrawal of Israeli army from northern Gaza.

The second phase of the ceasefire agreement gains in complexity as it envisages release of remaining Israeli hostages and of Palestinian prisoners by concerned parties, complete withdrawal of Israeli army from Gaza, including Philadelphi corridor and holding discussions on establishment of permanent peace in the region. Here again, the withdrawal of Israeli army completely from Gaza is problematic for the same reason mentioned above. The question of who will represent the Palestinians in the peace talks can become a stumbling bloc as Hamas is likely to assert its right to represent the Gazan Palestinians. The fact that there has been no popular protest against their role in the war in Gaza strengthens their case. By all appearances, the Palestinians feel proud of their patriotism and determination to resist Israeli occupation. In contrast, the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank lacks popular support for its submissive role vis-à-vis Israel and rampant corruption. America and Israel should realise that without Hamas participation in peace talks a permanent political settlement will be elusive.

During the third and final phase the remains of the dead hostages will be returned by Hamas and reconstruction of Gaza will take place. For the implementation of the first part, no problem is foreseen other than the wilful scuttling of the ceasefire deal by Israel. As regards reconstruction of Gaza, since it will take years for completion, temporary shelters for Gazans have to be provided, complete with civic and medical facilities. Several tent towns, each self-sufficient to meet the needs of its residents, have to be built in various parts of Gaza strip. Any idea of relocating the Gazans elsewhere, as is being casually bandied about now, runs into the face of reality. If not a single Gazan family tried to leave their homeland under round the clock bombing by Israelis during the past one year and a half, how can they be expected to be willing to go to another place now? The Palestinians in Gaza love their homeland and no amount of inducement or coercion will succeed in weaning them away from their soil. This should be recognised as a tribute to their sufferings, courage and fortitude. The heroism of ordinary Palestinians that has made them survivors of one of the horrifying genocide in history is of epic proportions. To ask them to move out in the name of reconstruction of Gaza would be a humiliation and agony that they do not deserve.

Now an attempt can be made to answer the question as to what led prime minister Natanyahu to accept the ceasefire deal that he had rejected in May last year. President Trump is a transactional man, having learnt the essence of deal making in his real estate business. At the heart of deal making is give and take. In the ceasefire deal not only carrots were used but also stick. Using the latter, Trump may have told Netanyahu through his emissary that unless he agreed to the deal arms shipment would be halted and his government would go along with the order of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and arrest him. But more than the stick, President Trump may have used the carrot of recognising the annexation of West Bank just as he did in the case of Golan Heights during his first term. That this is not a figment of imagination is borne out by the fact that on the first day in office as President he reversed the decision of President Biden and cancelled imposition of sanctions on 17 settlers and 16 entities in the occupied West Bank. This clearly paves the way to the annexation of West Bank, as a whole or in part, by Israel and anointing of the same by Trump administration. If Netanyahu is rewarded with this 'crown in the jewel', he can entice back the right-wing members of Knesset who have revolted over the ceasefire. The world will not have to wait for long to see if this is going to happen.

This write-up may be concluded by referring to the familiar reactions of Israeli government about the maltreatment of Israeli hostages at the hands of Hamas during their captivity. This would be a blatant lie, not substantiated by evidence. On the contrary, the smiling faces of the first three female hostages, in good health and clean clothes, prove that even under the most trying circumstances of constant bombardment and disruption of food and medicine supplies, the hostages were well looked after. The three hostages released looked cheerful and not at all indignant at their captors. They even accepted the small bag of gift given by Hamas gracefully and not perfunctorily and carried it all the way home. What better evidence can be there about the humane treatment of hostages by a group constantly being hunted down and forced to be on the run.

A ceasefire has been reached in Gaza. After a prolonged armed conflict that saw 47,000 Palestinians dead and hundreds of thousands injured and ninety per cent of infrastructures in Gaza reduced to rubbles, a window of opportunity has opened to make a clean break with the past. Whether this will happen depends largely on the goodwill of America and good sense of Israel. The Palestinians, as usual, are at the receiving end.​

 

[Bilal9]

I don't live in India. You and your wife do

Guys - please on topic posts only.

 

[Sharma Ji]