Israel and Hamas agree to first phase of US-brokered ceasefire • FRANCE 24 English

Israel and Hamas agree to first phase of US-brokered ceasefire • FRANCE 24 English

out the reaction. Let’s get more though into the nitty-gritty of exactly what the deal says. Andrew Hillier joins us now from our international affairs desk. So take us through what’s actually in this deal then. Take us also through what’s been left out. That’s right. Well, in in the first phase of the deal, what we should see is the release of the 20 living hostages in Gaza by Hamas all at the same time. H and we’ll see also the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. The exact number still yet to be determined. it could be up to 2,000 prisoners to be released by Israel. Uh reports those exchanges would take place within 72 hours of the Israeli uh government officially signing off on this deal. That should happen later uh today. Donald Trump even said in an interview it could take place on Monday. We don’t know exactly when it will take place. Um we’re also expecting to see the withdrawal of Israeli forces uh but we don’t know exactly where. Uh and that brings us to uh uh the next point which is that it’s just as important just as important at this stage Stuart to focus on what hasn’t actually uh been uh cleared up. Uh and the first point and perhaps the most important point is whether or not Hamas will disarm and disband because this has been a major sticking point throughout the negotiations. Israel has vowed to annihilate Hamas and Hamas has so far refused to even discuss dropping its arms. So that has yet to be determined. Another murky point, as you can see here, is Gaza’s post-war administration. Who will gaz govern Gaza after the end of the war if the war does come to an end? And then a third point, a very important point is the exact timing, the scheduling, and the location of those Israeli withdrawals. That’s also unclear. And I want to just focus on that point briefly, Stuart, uh by bringing up another map. And we can see on this map of Gaza that you’re going to see now. There you go. Uh this was part of Trump’s 20point peace plan and it shows the phased scheduled withdrawal of ID of the of the IDF. Now Netanyahu reportedly obtained concessions on this uh uh on this uh withdrawal plan. Uh you can see there’s that initial blue line there which is the uh IDF current line of control. Then the IDF is supposed to withdraw it to the yellow line when hostages are released. And then there’s this red line, the uh which is supposedly where the IDF will stay until this international stabilization force which was part of Trump’s peace plan is in place. However, we don’t know how long that is going to take. It could take months, could even take years. And the whole point here, Stuart, is that these are all crucial details and they are details that could very well lead to the collapse of the deal if they are not resolved. So that’s the first phase. What about beyond that even? What’s the second phase? Well, for a start, uh even beyond even before we get to that, the Israeli government will still need to approve the deal. That’s supposed to happen later today. Benjamin Netanyahu has convened his uh his security cabinet. They should vote on this deal later on. Um also, uh in about an hour, the uh deal should be formally signed in Egypt as well. Of course, that’s where uh uh talks have been taking place uh all week. We may even see Donald Trump arriving in the in the region over the weekend. Now, as regards this second phase, that’s the whole point here. We’re trying to go from the first phase to the second phase. Well, what’s very interesting is that Benjamin Netanyahu’s statement did not actually talk at any point about an end to the war. He talked about the release of hostages. Uh if you compare that to statements by Hamas, well, Hamas talked about withdrawal of Israeli forces and an end to the war. So they are very uh uh uh clear and as along with the Qatari mediators that this deal is going to uh will see an end to the war in Gaza. You know the point here Stuart is that this is one of the world’s most intractable geopolitical crisis. It has eluded negotiators for 2 years and you know and the problem has always been threading that needle between creating the conditions for a ceasefire which is what we’re seeing here and then uh you know getting to a permanent end to the war. That’s where things broke down last time at the beginning of the year. Uh it could happen again. We’ll have to wait and see. So, it is an enormous moment in the Middle East, but again, many details still to be resolved. And how on earth did we get there in this first place? I mean, what does finally push, do you think, Andy, Hamas and Israel to reach some kind of deal, but I think in a nutshell, it has to be a pressure from Donald Trump. There’s only uh most people would agree there’s only one man really who has the clout and the leverage on Benjamin Netanyahu, his friend and ally to convince him to bring an to to bring an end to this war. Uh remember Stuart, Donald Trump presented that 20 point peace plan uh to the world media after inviting Netanyahu to the White House at the end of September. And one of the things that may have pushed Donald Trump into ramping up the pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu has perhaps been the embarrassment that those Israeli strikes on Hamas officials in Qatar caused the US president. Remember when of course Israel tried to assassinate Hamas mediators in Qatar. uh on this is this is an attack that took place on the sovereign territory of a US ally and you know Qatar’s understanding had always been that it was safe from such uh attacks and in the aftermath of those attacks what we may have seen is Donald Trump just marginally shifting his position to bring him closer in line with Arab governments who have been putting pressure on Israel and want Israel to reign in its military campaign. There is I I will briefly mention in Israeli society too this uh growing clamoring for the war to end. You have hundreds of thousands of IDF reserveists who want to go back to normal life as well. But I think you know the real game changer here can only have been Donald Trump. Andy, thanks very much. Andrew Hillier from our international affairs desk.

Andrew Hilliar gives us his analysis.
#Israel #Hamas #Trump

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