What you need to know about the Gaza ceasefire deal
A boy celebrates and makes the peace sign in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on 15 January 2025
Rayhan Uddin reports in Middle East Eye on 15 January 2025:
Israel and Hamas agreed to a three-phase ceasefire deal on Wednesday after fifteen months of hostilities, the Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani announced in Doha.
US President-elect Donald Trump announced on social media: “We have a deal for the hostages in the Middle East. They will be released shortly.”
A senior Hamas official shared the agreement with Middle East Eye on Wednesday.
It stated that the first phase of the ceasefire would involve the exchange of captives and prisoners and a return to “sustainable calm”, with the aim of achieving a permanent ceasefire. According to the agreement, 33 Israeli captives held in Gaza will be released as part of the first phase, including nine who are ill or wounded.
Israel will release 1,000 Palestinians who were detained from 8 October 2023 onwards. Among the 33 captives will be several men over the age of 50. They will be released in exchange for Palestinians serving life sentences at a ratio of 1:3 and Palestinians serving other sentences at a ratio of 1:27.
Hisham al-Sayed and Avera Mengistu, who have been held in Gaza since before Israel’s war on Gaza, will be released in exchange for 60 Palestinian prisoners and 47 Palestinians who were re-arrested after being freed in 2011 as part of the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange deal.
Withdrawal of Israeli forces
Israel will begin to withdraw from the Gaza Strip as part of the first phase, moving eastwards from densely populated areas, including from the Netzarim Corridor and Kuwait roundabout. The six-kilometre Netzarim Corridor, referred to as the “axis of death” by Palestinians, was established by Israel’s military during the current war. It spans from the Israeli boundary with Gaza City to the Mediterranean Sea and was used by Israeli forces to monitor and control the movement of Palestinians between northern and southern Gaza.
During the summer, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that under a truce agreement, there would be no Israeli withdrawal from the area. Israeli forces will retreat to a perimeter 700 metres from the boundary with Gaza, with the exception of five localised points where the perimeter will increase by 400 additional metres, as determined by Israel.
As for the 14km wide Philadelphi Corridor, which runs along the entire Gaza border with Egypt, Israel will reduce its forces from the buffer zone during the first phase. According to the agreement, Israeli forces will begin the withdrawal on the 42nd day of the ceasefire, after the last captive of the first phase is released, and conclude the withdrawal by day 50.
Rafah opens for wounded
The Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, which Israel seized during the war, will be opened for the transfer of wounded civilians after all women captives (civilians and soldiers) are released. Israeli forces will remain around the crossing.