Celebrations and “welcome homes” are being exchanged throughout Israel, the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza, as phase one of the Israel-Hamas peace plan nears completion. With hostages and prisoners freed, what’s next?
The Israel-Hamas War could be heading toward an end after the two agreed to a ceasefire agreement Wednesday that included hostage and prisoner swaps.
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Implementing phase one
The swaps required Hamas to release 20 Israeli hostages immediately and Israel to release 1,968 Palestinians who were either held in military camps or political prisoners, international news site Al Jazeera reported. Hamas has reportedly started releasing the bodies of 28 other hostages to Israel.
President Donald Trump and leaders from Qatar, Egypt and Turkey signed the Israel-Hamas peace deal on Monday in Egypt. He told several world leaders during a peace summit that the agreement answers the prayers of millions of people.
“After years of suffering and bloodshed, the war in Gaza is over,” Trump said at a peace summit with several world leaders.
Not all of the Palestinians imprisoned will return home. According to Palestine-based human rights group Addameer, more than 11,100 people are still jailed in Israel and are mainly held under administrative detention without trial or charge, or are awaiting a trial.
Next steps
The deal, brokered by Trump, is nearing the end of phase one, which concerned the swaps. The next steps are for Israel to withdraw from portions of Gaza while retaining control of about half the territory and for humanitarian aid to enter Gaza and the West Bank.
“Humanitarian aid is now pouring in, including hundreds of truckloads of food and medical equipment, and other supplies,” Trump said.
The United Nations said on Monday that 190,000 metric tons of the supplies Trump mentioned will enter the Gaza Strip soon and that cooking gas has now been allowed to enter the territory.
“With the easing of movement and access restrictions in multiple places, humanitarians were able to pre-position medical and emergency supplies where they are needed most and assess key roads for explosive hazards,” the organization said.
Trump’s peace plan between Israel, Hamas
Mediators are waiting until the second phase discussions happen to resolve how the disarmament of Hamas, governance of Gaza and what the presence of international forces, including Israel, would be like, according to The Washington Post.
It builds on Trump’s 20-point peace plan that Al Jazeera reported, to include a deradicalized terror-free Gaza, redevelopment of the territory and the creation of a technocratic Palestinian committee for governance. No information has been shared publicly about how the second phase will play out.
As for Israel’s occupation of Gaza, the plan called for the country to slowly back out to Gaza’s borders but didn’t specify how long that action would take. There’s also no mention of how closely aligned the peace deal is to Trump’s 20-point plan.
The Washington Post reported Hamas’ main focus during negotiations was the American guarantee that Israel wouldn’t resume bombing Gaza once the hostages were freed.
Not included in the 20-point plan or the signed deal so far is the status of journalists in Gaza. Reporters Without Borders, a press freedom organization, said Friday that Israeli Defense Forces killed nearly 200 journalists throughout the course of the war, and the deal makes no mention of Israel’s media blockage throughout the Palestinian territory.
“To bring justice to Gaza’s reporters and to protect the right to information around the world, we demand arrest warrants for the perpetrators of crimes against our fellow journalists in Gaza,” Jonathan Dagher, RSF Middle East desk head, said in a statement.
