DayofPal– Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Bin Jassim Al Thani has just announced a landmark ceasefire and prisoners’ exchange agreement in Gaza between Hamas and Israel, on Wednesday, January 15th, 2025.
“Qatar, Egypt, and the United States are pleased to announce the reaching of a ceasefire agreement in Gaza,” he said.
He mentioned that the agreement will take effect on Sunday January, 19th, 2025 at 12:15 pm.
After 15 months of relentless Israeli genocide that has reshaped the Middle East, Israel and Hamas have finally reached an agreement in Gaza that ends Gaza plight and returns Israeli captives as well as thousands of Palestinian prisoners.
Brokered through arduous, stop-and-start negotiations led by Egyptian and Qatari mediators, with strong backing from the United States, this breakthrough comes at a pivotal moment—just days before U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s January 20 inauguration.
Just an hour before Qatar’s announcement, US President-elect Donald Trump confirmed a ceasefire deal has been reached in Gaza.
“We have a deal for the hostages in the Middle East. They will be released shortly. Thank you!” he said on the social media platform Truth Social.
As his inauguration approached, Trump repeated his demand that a deal be done swiftly, warning repeatedly that there would be “hell to pay” in the Middle East if the captives were not released.
His Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff worked with President Joe Biden’s team to push the deal over the line. The agreement raises cautious hope for a turning point in the region’s deeply entrenched strife.
Israel’s war on Gaza has killed more than 46,000 people, according to Gaza health ministry, and left the narrow coastal enclave a wasteland of rubble, with hundreds of thousands surviving the winter cold in tents and makeshift shelters.
Sources have shared details with Al Jazeera about the first stage of ceasefire in Gaza:
-The Israeli army will withdraw to within 700 metres (2,297 feet) inside Gaza.
-Israel will release about 2,000 Palestinian prisoners, including 250 serving life sentences.
-Palestinian resistance will release 33 Israeli captives.
-Israel will allow injured people in Gaza to travel to receive medical treatment.
-Israel will open the Rafah crossing with Egypt seven days after the start of the first stage to allow the entry of humanitairian aid trucks to Gaza.
-Israeli forces will begin to pull back from Gaza’s border with Egypt, known as the Philadelphi Corridor, to withdraw from it completely in later stages.
-Qatar and Egypt will be supervising the return of the displaced from the southern Gaza Strip to the north as the Israeli army would withdraw from the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza in stages.
US outgoing president Joe Biden also said that the first phase of the ceasefire agreement will last for six weeks, during which the volume of humanitarian aid will be significantly increased in the Gaza Strip.
“The ceasefire agreement in Gaza will become permanent, which is the same proposal I put forward last May,” he revealed.
Once the ceasefire announcement broadcasted, Immense celebrations spread across the Gaza enclave with displaced people start metaphorically to uninstall their tents in preparation to go back homes in Gaza City and North Gaza.
Commenting on the agreement, an activist shared on social media: “The Generals’ plan in north Gaza has failed. The plan to displace Gaza people to Sinai has failed. Netanyahu’s promise not to withdraw from Netzarim has failed. Netanyahu’s promise not to withdraw from Philadelphi has failed. Israel’s claim to eradicate Gaza resistance has failed.”
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