A ceasefire has come into force in the Gaza Strip as part of the peace plan brokered by US President Donald Trump. As an Israeli military spokesman said, the weapons have been silent since 12 noon on Friday (11 a.m. CEST). The Israeli troops had withdrawn to the agreed demarcation lines. The US military command center responsible for the region (Centcom) confirmed the Israeli withdrawal, as US special envoy Steve Witkoff announced. The Al Jazeera news channel showed footage of thousands of people, mostly on foot, heading towards the city of Gaza.
The start of the ceasefire begins an agreed 72-hour period during which all hostages kidnapped by terrorist groups from Israel to the Gaza Strip in the massacre on October 7, 2023 are to be released. According to Israeli information, there are still 47 hostages there, 20 of whom are said to be still alive. In addition, the body of a soldier who was kidnapped during the last major Gaza war in 2014 is still in the hands of Islamists in the Gaza Strip.
In return, according to the agreement, Israel will release more than 2,000 Palestinians – including 250 prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment. According to Israeli information, Fatah activist Marwan Barghouti, who is considered the most promising candidate to succeed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, is not among them. He is held responsible for the murder of five people in attacks and sentenced to multiple life sentences.
US President Trump says he plans to set off for the Middle East on Sunday. The Republican could then be there for an official signing of the agreement and the release of the hostages. Israel said he had been invited to give a speech before the Israeli parliament, the Knesset.
The disarmament of Hamas will only be discussed later
After exchanging hostages for prisoners, a second phase of negotiations will be used to create conditions that will ensure long-term peace.
According to Trump’s plan, a complete withdrawal of Israeli soldiers from the Gaza Strip, which Hamas is demanding, is only planned at a later date, when an international stabilization force (ISF) provides security on site. The disarmament of the terrorist organization Hamas will also only be discussed at a later date. But it is still unclear when soldiers from Türkiye, Qatar, Egypt and other countries will be on site and how a security vacuum will be avoided. There is also no timetable for setting up a new administration in the Gaza Strip.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu emphasized to journalists in the afternoon that the disarmament of Hamas and the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip would happen in any case – the easy way or the hard way, as he put it.
Merz rules out military involvement in peacekeeping
According to Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Germany will not participate militarily in an international stabilization mission. But the Federal Republic wants to help “create the legal framework for such a presence, for example through a Security Council resolution,” said the CDU politician, according to a statement. Among other things, immediate humanitarian aid amounting to 29 million euros will be made available.
Meanwhile, Turkey reiterated its willingness to participate militarily in securing peace. “Our Turkish Armed Forces, which have experience in establishing and maintaining peace, are ready to undertake any task assigned to them,” the Turkish Defense Ministry said, according to the state-run Anadolu news agency.
Turkey was involved in indirect negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas in Egypt. Ankara maintains good relations with Hamas; Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly described it as a liberation organization.
Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani wrote on The success of this first phase is a shared responsibility.
170,000 tons of relief supplies in the region
The United Nations called for all border crossings into the Gaza Strip to be opened, spokespeople for several UN humanitarian organizations said in Geneva. These include the World Health Organization (WHO), the UN Children’s Fund Unicef and the UN Relief and Works Agency for the Palestinians (UNRWA), which Israel rejects.
The United Nations says it has 170,000 tons of relief supplies in the region that can be brought to the Gaza Strip within a very short time. In addition to food, this includes medicine and materials for repairing infrastructure.
It was initially unclear what the work of the UN organizations would look like and who could deliver what to the Gaza Strip. Israel controls the entrances and must give the green light and guarantee the safety of convoys. It is still unclear whether and how UNRWA will be used for humanitarian tasks.
Israel ended cooperation with UNRWA earlier this year. The country accuses the organization of being close to Hamas. But without the network of 12,000 employees in the Gaza Strip who continued to work there despite the Israeli boycott, a spokeswoman for the aid agency told reporters in Geneva: “UNRWA remains the largest humanitarian aid organization in the Gaza Strip.”
The Gaza war was triggered by the attack on Israel by Hamas and other Islamist terrorist groups on October 7, 2023. Around 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 were kidnapped as hostages in the Gaza Strip. Israel responded with a full-scale military offensive and partial blockade of the Gaza Strip. Since then, more than 67,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Hamas-controlled health authority.
