Israel Ceasefire in Gaza to begin in the morning

SDA

19.1.2025 - 05:51

ARCHIVE - Israeli soldiers take up positions during a ground operation in the southern Gaza Strip. Photo: Leo Correa/AP/dpa
ARCHIVE - Israeli soldiers take up positions during a ground operation in the southern Gaza Strip. Photo: Leo Correa/AP/dpa
Keystone

After more than 15 months of war, a six-week ceasefire between Israel and the Islamist Hamas in the Gaza Strip is to come into force this morning.

Keystone-SDA

The evening before, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu emphasized the temporary nature of the ceasefire, the first phase of which is to begin at 7.30 a.m. CET in the Gaza Strip. However, Hamas should have announced the names of the three hostages to be released today on Saturday. Without the list of names, it will not be possible to continue, Netanyahu emphasized. Israel would not tolerate violations of the agreement.

During the ceasefire, 33 of the 98 Israeli hostages remaining in the Gaza Strip are to be exchanged for 1,904 imprisoned Palestinians. The hostages include Israelis who also hold German citizenship. It is assumed in Israel that 34 of those kidnapped are probably already dead.

According to the Israeli news website "Ynet", the release of the first three hostages is planned for today at 15:00 CET. According to Israeli sources, these are three civilian women. Around the same time, the first 90 or so Palestinian prisoners are to be released in Israel and taken by security forces either to the occupied West Bank or the Gaza Strip.

Guterres: Distribution of humanitarian aid in Gaza not easy

The first phase of the agreement also provides for a rapid improvement in the supply of food for the more than two million inhabitants of the largely destroyed Gaza Strip, 90 percent of whom are suffering from hunger according to UN figures. In addition, the Israeli army must withdraw from population centers in the Gaza Strip. The distribution of humanitarian aid will not be easy, said UN Secretary-General António Guterres. There are gangs in Gaza that are systematically looting the convoys.

"We only have a limited number of trucks in Gaza at the moment," said Guterres on Saturday during a visit to Lebanon. He added that many measures were needed to ensure full distribution. Israel has an obligation "not to create obstacles", said Guterres. The situation in the Gaza Strip remains "extremely complex". The UN Coordinator for Humanitarian Aid in the Palestinian Territories, Muhannad Hadi, called on all parties involved to implement the deal.

Netanyahu: Can war start again

However, on the eve of the ceasefire, Netanyahu reiterated that Israel would resume fighting if the agreement failed and would enforce all war aims, including the destruction of Hamas. In addition, Israel's troop contingent in the Philadelphi Corridor along the border with Egypt would not be reduced, but increased.

Details of the second and third phases of the agreement on a permanent end to the war and a withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip are to be clarified in negotiations that are to begin on the 16th day of the ceasefire.

Should the negotiations of the second phase remain unsuccessful, US President Joe Biden and his designated successor Donald Trump would support Israel's right to resume fighting in the Gaza Strip, Netanyahu said. "If we have to return to fighting, we will do so in new ways and with great force," he said, without giving details.

Israelis demand implementation of the entire Gaza deal

Shortly before the ceasefire came into force, thousands of demonstrators in Israel demanded full implementation of the three-stage agreement so that all hostages are released. Relatives fear that the agreement could fail after or during the first phase. Should the fighting then break out again, many of those kidnapped could remain in the Gaza Strip. In the evening, the demonstrators also recalled the fate of the youngest hostage. The boy named Kfir, who was abducted as an eight-month-old baby, turned two on Saturday.

The child has both Israeli and German citizenship. Kfir is trapped in hell and she does not even know if he is still alive, the boy's aunt said at a rally in Tel Aviv. Hamas had announced that the boy, his older brother and their mother had been killed in Israeli bombardments. However, Israel has not confirmed their deaths. According to media reports, all three are on the list of hostages to be released in the first phase of the agreement. For many of the abductees, the only thing left to do is to hand over their mortal remains.

Israel's military prepared to receive the hostages

According to reports, the hostages to be released are to be handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross and initially taken to initial reception centers set up by Israel's military near the Gaza border. According to the Times of Israel, they are located in Reim and at the Kerem Shalom and Erez border crossings. There, the detainees are to receive initial medical treatment and care from doctors and psychologists. They will then be taken to hospitals for further treatment and reunited with their families, according to the Israeli army.

Israel warns Gaza residents: do not approach soldiers

Before the ceasefire came into force, Israel's army warned Gaza residents not to approach areas where the military will initially continue to be stationed. These include the area along the Netzarim Corridor, which divides the Gaza Strip into two halves, the border crossing with Egypt in Rafah and the Philadelphi Corridor along the border with Egypt in southern Gaza.

Many of the Palestinians displaced from the north of the sealed-off coastal strip to the south are planning to return. According to the agreement, this should be possible from the seventh day after the ceasefire comes into force. The Rafah border crossing, which has been closed since May, is to be reopened for the import of humanitarian aid. However, the timing of this is still open.

The war was triggered by the unprecedented massacre by Hamas and other Islamist terrorists, in which around 1,200 people were killed in Israel on October 7, 2023 and more than 250 were deported to the Gaza Strip. Israel responded with attacks on Hamas in which, according to Palestinian figures, more than 46,700 people were killed and more than 110,200 others injured. The figures, which cannot be independently verified but are considered credible by the United Nations, do not distinguish between civilians and fighters.