The contradictory reactions between Palestinians and Israelis to the long-awaited news of an impending hostage exchange and ceasefire were clear to see.
As news of the agreement spread throughout Gaza, there was jubilation and jubilation that the devastation caused by Israeli bombs might finally end, and that hundreds of thousands of displaced people might be able to return to their former neighborhoods, even if their homes were reduced to rubble.
United Nations estimates indicate that more than two-thirds of buildings in Gaza were destroyed or damaged. Continued Israeli bombing over the past 15 months has killed more than 46,500 people, according to Palestinian officials.
In the occupied West Bank, celebrations also took place amid claims of victory. Hundreds of Palestinians serving sentences in Israeli prisons – some for violent crimes – are set to be released back to their families, along with many others who were detained without ever facing trial.
But on the streets of Jerusalem on Thursday morning, there was no such euphoria. A group of protesters hung Israeli flags on the boxes as a symbol of the hostages they say the deal will likely leave them in Gaza.
Canadian Maureen Leshem speaks to The National about waiting for the release of her cousin Rumi Gonen, who was kidnapped by Hamas from the Nova Music Festival in Israel on October 7, 2023.
Meanwhile, the Israeli Cabinet, which has not yet officially ratified the agreement, delayed the morning vote on the agreement, accusing Hamas of reneging on it just hours after it was signed.
Under the agreement reached on Wednesday, 33 hostages are scheduled to be released over the next six weeks in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinians detained by Israel. Israeli forces will withdraw from many areas in Gaza, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians will be able to return to what remains of their homes, and there will be an increase in humanitarian aid.
With approximately 30 detainees and prisoners released for every Israeli hostage, up to 1,000 Palestinians could be released. More than 60 Israelis are believed to be still alive and detained in Gaza, but only the very young or very sick and young women will be included in the first group to be returned, starting on Sunday.
The announced agreement led to the division of the country.
“The Israelis are very happy about the deal, but at the same time they are hurting and aching about it,” Dalia Sheindlin, an Israeli-Canadian pollster and political analyst based in Tel Aviv, told the BBC.
While acknowledging that 33 hostages will be released in the first phase, “no one knows if it will actually reach the second phase.”
Divisions between families of hostages
The only stop to the war came in November 2023, when Hamas released 105 prisoners. But this ceasefire collapsed.
The pause came nearly two months after militants from Hamas and other groups in Gaza invaded southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking nearly 250 hostage, according to Israeli government statistics. In the war that followed, Israel says 405 of its soldiers died, as well as some hostages, either by execution or mistakenly during Israeli attacks.
Even before US President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump made competing statements this week taking credit for the deal, there was widespread talk in Israel of betrayal. Israeli media ran stories Allegations of secret deals between Netanyahu and his far-right partners to resume the war after the initial six-week pause and the hostages being cursed with their fate.
After 15 months of bloodshed, Israel and Hamas reached a ceasefire agreement that would lead to an end to the war in Gaza, the release of hostages and more aid for the Palestinians. But world leaders stress the need for a long-term solution.
Groups representing hostage families in Gaza appear particularly divided. The largest forum for families of hostages and missing persons, which has dominated Tel Aviv Square for the past 15 months and held constant rallies to try to keep the plight of their loved ones in the public eye, said they “welcomed with overwhelming joy the easing of the agreement to bring our loved ones home.”
But the more hard-line Tikva Forum for Hostage Families criticized the agreement.
She said in a statement: “This deal leaves dozens of hostages in Gaza.” “Do not be part of a government that betrays dozens of hostages and leaves them behind,” she said, urging members of Netanyahu’s government not to support the deal.
Many Israelis appear to share the fear that the chances of reaching the second phase of the deal are low — either because Hamas will violate the agreement or the Netanyahu government will do so.
Under the terms of the three-stage agreement, negotiations on the release of the hostages in the second phase will begin 16 days after its implementation on Sunday.
Hamas continues despite its weakness
The truce will face enormous tests if it is to ultimately hand over all the hostages to Israel and return more than 1,000 Palestinian detainees to their families.
Even as the deal was announced, Israeli warplanes continued to inflict massacres, with attacks on Wednesday night and Thursday morning killing dozens in Gaza City and northern Gaza, according to Palestinian medics.
Netanyahu has stressed numerous times over the past fifteen months that he will not be satisfied with anything less than “total victory.” This meant defeating Hamas, releasing the hostages, and creating conditions in which armed groups in Gaza could not launch attacks on Israel again.
For many Israelis who woke up Thursday morning, it appears that the agreement signed in Qatar does not amount to that much. While Hamas has been severely weakened and its top leaders killed, US officials said Wednesday that the group also appears able to recruit many new members to replace those it has lost.
Hamas said in a statement that “the ceasefire agreement and the cessation of war in Gaza is considered an achievement for our people” and a “turning point” on the “path to freedom.” Iran’s rulers, who support Hamas, described this as an “Israeli retreat.”
Even assuming that the two sides can move forward with implementing the second phase of the deal, the Israeli government has refused to discuss the type of Palestinian government it envisions to govern Gaza in the long term, a key aspect of the third phase.
Netanyahu has repeatedly ruled out that representatives of Hamas or the reformed Palestinian Authority — which has something akin to municipal status in the occupied West Bank — would take power in Gaza.
Without any mention of a commitment to establishing a Palestinian state or ending Israel’s seven-decade occupation, a ceasefire may end direct fighting – but the broader conflict is likely to continue.
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