Middle East Eye – What you need to know about the Gaza ceasefire deal

Thirty three Israel captives set to be released in first phase, as well as hundreds of Palestinians serving life sentences, a Hamas official tells MEE

Cross-posted from Middle East Eye

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Israel and Hamas agreed to a three phase ceasefire deal on Wednesday evening, 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 evening. 

It stated that the first phase of the ceasefire would involve the exchange of captives and prisoners and a return to “sustainable calm” with a view to 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 detained from 8 October 2023 onwards.

Among the 33 captives will be several men over the age of 50, who 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.

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 6km Netzarim axis stretch was established by Israel’s military during the current war and spans from the Israeli boundary with Gaza City to the Mediterranean Sea. It was used by Israeli forces to monitor and control the movement of Palestinians between northern and southern Gaza.

In the summer, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had 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 Israel, with the exception of five localised points where the perimeter will increase by 400 additional metres, determined by Israel.

As for the 14km wide Philadelphi Corridor which runs along the entire Gaza boundary 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.

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.

The agreement states that 50 wounded Palestinian combatants will be allowed to cross daily, with the approval of Israeli and Egyptian authorities.

Ill and wounded Palestinian civilians will be allowed to cross into Egypt too for treatment.

On day seven of the ceasefire, unarmed displaced Palestinians will be allowed to return to northern Gaza via Rasheed Street. On day 22, others will be allowed to return via Salah al-Din Street.

As for vehicles, they will be allowed to return north on day seven subject to inspections performed by a private company determined by Israel in conjunction with international mediators.

Displaced Palestinians are set to return to northern Gaza as part of the first phase, an area that Israel’s military had ethnically cleansed in a brutal military operation in recent weeks.

According to a previous draft of the agreement, on the 16th day of the ceasefire, negotiations are planned to begin over the second phase of the ceasefire.

The broad outline of the second phase is for all Israeli captives to be released, in return for a total withdrawal from Gaza. The exact details are yet to be confirmed.

Israeli officials have long maintained that it will not withdraw from the enclave unless Hamas’s military and governance capabilities are completely removed. A plan for the governance of post-war Gaza will be discussed in the second and third phases.

The third phase will involve the return of the bodies of Israeli captives still held in Gaza and the announcement of a three to five-year reconstruction plan for the enclave overseen by international actors.

Israel’s war on Gaza has killed over 46,000 people, most of whom are women are children, since 7 October 2023. More than 110,000 others have been wounded in the enclave since then.

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