By: Jordan Sarver-Bontrager
Staff-Writer
A ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas came into effect on Jan. 19 after diplomats reached an agreement Jan. 15 in Doha, Qatar. Videos of Palestinian families in Gaza celebrating the deal circulated social media on Jan. 15, some shedding tears of relief, others praying in destroyed mosques. The deal followed the release of three Israeli hostages from Hamas and 95 Palestinian hostages from Israel.
Another hostage exchange took place on Jan. 25: four Israeli soldiers returned to Israel, and 200 Palestinian prisoners returned to the Palestinian territories.
The ceasefire deal, which follows months of negotiations mediated by the U.S., Egypt and Qatar, is a three-phase plan.
Phase one includes the prisoner exchange mentioned above, a partial withdrawal of Israeli troops and humanitarian aid being allowed into the Gaza Strip. All of this will take place over six weeks.
Phase two includes Hamas releasing the remaining living hostages in exchange for Israel’s complete withdrawal.
For phase three, the terms are still mostly unknown, but it involves a rebuilding plan for the Gaza Strip.
Many families in Gaza don’t have homes to return to, and with most hospitals, universities, schools and other important infrastructure destroyed or severely damaged, the effects of the bombardment will be felt for years.
The pause in shelling has also allowed humanitarian workers to retrieve bodies of killed Palestinians that were buried under the rubble of destroyed buildings. According to civil defense worker Haitham Hams as quoted in the Associated Press, teams uncovered 120 decomposed bodies in Rafah between Jan. 19 and Jan. 21.
The final death toll in Gaza is likely to exceed 186,000, according to medical journal “Lancet”, due to direct violence and indirect consequences such as disease, exposure, malnutrition, lasting environmental impacts and lack of infrastructure.
While ceasefire and hope have kept hold in the Gaza Strip, violence in the West Bank – the other occupied Palestinian territory that is separated physically from the Gaza strip by Israel and is not part of the ceasefire deal – has escalated. Israeli forces have launched new offenses in the city of Jenin, and suspected Israeli vigilantes have wreaked vandalism and destruction on West Bank villages.
While the future is uncertain and further talks about a permanent peace agreement have not been announced, for the first time in a long time, there’s hope in the Gaza Strip.