Summary
- The first big challenge is to ensure that the ceasefire remains.
- Ceasefire in three phases, the first phase is the most important
- Western countries fear that the war may start again as soon as the first phase of 42 days ends.
- The ceasefire will not end the Israel-Palestine conflict that is more than a century old.
The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is a major achievement. It should have happened long ago.
Since May last year, this agreement has been discussed in different forms. Hamas and Israel have blamed each other for the delay in the agreement.
Israel’s retaliation after Hamas’ attacks on October 7, 2023, has devastated Gaza.
About 1200 people were killed in the Hamas attack, most of whom were Israeli citizens. At the same time, more than 2 million people have been displaced in Gaza so far.
According to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health, about 50 thousand people have been killed in Israeli attacks. These include both Hamas fighters and common people.
A recent study published in the Lancet Medical Journal says that this number may actually be much higher than this.
Challenges of the agreement
But the first big challenge after the agreement is to ensure that the ceasefire remains.
Many senior diplomats of Western countries fear that the war may start again as soon as the first phase of 42 days ends.
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The war in Gaza had very deep consequences across the Middle East.
However, many people feared that this war would spread throughout the region. But this did not happen. US President Joe Biden’s administration took credit for this. However, the Gaza war did create a turbulent atmosphere in the entire region.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister have been accused of war crimes by the International Criminal Court.
The International Court of Justice is also investigating South Africa’s accusation of genocide against Israel.
In Lebanon, Hezbollah was crushed by Israeli attacks as soon as it intervened in the war.
This was the reason for the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria.
Iran and Israel have attacked each other directly, weakening Iran. Its network of allies and proxies, which Iran calls the ‘Axis of Resistance’, has also been crippled.
In Yemen, the Houthis have blocked most of the cargo ships passing through the Red Sea between Europe and Asia. It remains to be seen whether the Houthi rebels will fulfill their promise to stop attacks after a ceasefire in Gaza.
As far as the long-running conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is concerned – the situation is more bitter than ever.
If luck favors, this ceasefire could stop the killings and return Israeli hostages, Palestinian prisoners, and detainees to their families.
But this ceasefire will not end the conflict that is more than a century old.
Netanyahu thanked Trump before Biden
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has said that a formal announcement will be made by the PM about this agreement. However, this announcement will be made after finalizing the agreement, which is still being worked on.
However, even before this statement from the Israeli PM, Netanyahu thanked both the newly elected US President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden over the phone for getting the agreement done.
Interestingly, Netanyahu called Donald Trump before the current US President, who will take over as President on January 20.
According to a statement from Netanyahu’s office, “The PM thanked Trump for their help in pushing for the release of the hostages.”
Netanyahu also thanked Trump for his statement in which he said that “the US will work with Israel to ensure that Gaza never becomes a haven for terrorism.”
According to the statement, “Trump and Netanyahu agreed to meet in the US soon.”
The last line of the statement reads, “Prime Minister Netanyahu then spoke to US President Joe Biden and thanked him for the agreement to release the hostages.”
This ceasefire deal will come into effect from next Sunday, which will be Biden’s last day as President. The next day Donald Trump will take oath as the President of the US.
At the same time, in a briefing by the White House, it was told that there was military pressure on Hamas, due to which it agreed to the talks.
According to a senior official of the US administration, Donald Trump’s Middle East ambassador Steve Witkoff also played a role in this agreement.
He said that Witkoff was active during the talks and he was working closely with Joe Biden’s top advisor in the Middle East, Brett McGurk.
