Gaza ceasefire announced but Israel warns details still to be finalised
www.ft.com
Deal would end devastating war that has shaken Middle East and world beyond

Israel and Hamas have agreed to a deal to halt the war in Gaza and free the remaining hostages, raising hopes of an end to the bloodiest round of fighting in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict’s history. The multiphase agreement comes days before Donald Trump takes office as US president. Trump’s warning that there would be “all hell to pay” if the hostages were not released before his inauguration on Monday helped inject renewed momentum into the long-stalled talks. A person close to the talks said a deal had been done. Previous attempts to broker a deal to end the 15-month conflict and secure the release of the 98 Israeli hostages still in Gaza — not all of whom are alive — had repeatedly foundered as Israel and Hamas refused to make the concessions necessary to reach an agreement. © Amir Cohen/Reuters The war was triggered by Hamas’s shock assault on Israel on October 7, 2023, during which militants killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli officials, and took another 250 hostage. Israel’s devastating retaliatory offensive has killed more than 46,000 people, according to Palestinian officials, as well as reducing much of Gaza, and fuelling a humanitarian catastrophe in the besieged enclave. This is a developing story

  • Saleh@feddit.orgEnglish
    914·
    24 hours ago

    There was no ambition to reach a ceasefire on the Israeli side and multiple cases of last minute sabotage by Netanyahus government for the ceasefire negotiations while Biden was still in office.

    It seems that the looming of Trumps presidency, who made strong remarks in this regard has pushed Israel to finally accept some sort of ceasefire, although they are already wiggling about it.

    Biden hast taken every opportunity to lick Netanyahus boots and get humiliated publicly by him. So it really wasn’t that difficult for Trump to push some change. All he had to do was being slightly less of a bootlicker.

    EDIT: Also it is basically the same deal that Hamas has accepted in July, but was tossed out last minute by Netanyahu. So Biden leaving office seams to be the defining factor. Again this is not some great win for Trump, as it was an easy one. It just shows how utterly despicable Biden was on supporting this genocide.

    EDIT 2: AP reports an analyst stating exactly what i wrote:

    https://apnews.com/live/israel-hamas-ceasefire-updates#00000194-6afd-dc66-a1bf-eafde8270000

    Trump’s pressure on Israel and Hamas to finish the ceasefire deal appears to have worked, analyst says By ELLEN KNICKMEYER

    U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has hammered home warnings that there better be a Gaza hostage deal by his Jan. 20 inauguration or “all hell would break out.”

    Hamas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu both seem to have been listening.

    Netanyahu’s agreement to a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal Wednesday “ironically shows how effective actual pressure can be in changing Israeli government behavior,” said Nancy Okail, head of the U.S.-based Center for International Policy.

    She accused Netanyahu of long stalling such a deal, and faulted Biden for not raising the stakes for Netanyahu in his continued objections to proposed terms.

    Trump declared in a social media post last month “there will be ALL HELL TO PAY” if the hostages weren’t released before the U.S. Inauguration Day.

    “It will not be good for Hamas and it will not be good, frankly, for anyone,” he told reporters this month, underscoring the deadline.

      • Saleh@feddit.orgEnglish
        1·
        21 hours ago

        The article doesnt mention a deal with Trump or 100m dollars. Did you mean to link a different article?

        • Glasgow@lemmy.mlEnglish
          3·
          20 hours ago

          That was confirmation it was part of the deal to stop the ceasefire being blocked.

          https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/2024-06-03/ty-article/.premium/trump-is-desperate-for-cash-but-donors-have-conditions/0000018f-df3a-db29-a3ef-ff3a27530000

          Adelson paid $20 million in exchange for moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem last cycle. His window, a megadonor for settlement development in the West Bank just donated 100m with her stated goals being Israeli annexation of the West Bank and a U.S. recognition of Israeli sovereignty in all the regions of the land. Trumps #1 donor above Musk.

          Jewish settlers believe that the incoming administration represents a unique opportunity to extend Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria. The president-elect’s appointments of avowedly pro-Israel figures to key positions in his upcoming administration have only raised expectations.

          During his first term as president, Trump adopted policies largely favorable to Netanyahu. He broke with longstanding US policy to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and moved the American Embassy to Jerusalem over Palestinian objections; he recognized Israel’s claim to the Golan Heights, which the international community considers occupied Syrian territory; and he turned a blind eye to settlement construction in the West Bank.

          The Abraham Accords, brokered by the Trump administration, ended Israel’s diplomatic isolation in much of the Arab world, allowing Israel to forge links with the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Bahrain, and Sudan without concessions on the Palestinian question.

          Eagerly anticipating the return of Donald Trump to the White House, Israeli settler leaders have drawn up an ambitious master plan to cement their rule over the disputed biblical land.

          The action plan includes building four new cities, a massive expansion of energy and transportation infrastructure, and the de facto dismantling of the Palestinian Authority, blurring the border between Israel proper and the land that was captured in the 1967 Six Day War.

          Settlers were delighted with the appointment of Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee as the next US ambassador to Israel. The evangelical preacher stated unequivocally that “there is no such thing” as the West Bank and that Israelis have “a rightful deed” to the land.

          “Trump’s victory brings an important opportunity for Israel,” said Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, head of the far-right Religious Zionist Party, who also controls West Bank civilian affairs. “During Trump’s first term, we were on the verge of applying sovereignty over the settlements. Now the time has come to make it a reality,” he said.

          The action plan drawn up by the Yesha settlers’ council and Avichai Buaron, a lawmaker from Prime Minister Netanyahu’s Likud party, calls for expanding the jurisdiction of West Bank settler councils to take control of all the land in areas B and C – land that is under full or partial Israeli control, including Palestinian villages.

          “If we use this window of opportunity wisely, we will create conditions for turning Judea, Samaria, and the Jordan Valley into an inseparable part of Israel,” Buaron said, using the biblical name for the West Bank. “The two-state solution needs to be taken off the table permanently.