Al Mayadeen – January 15, 2024
Qatar Prime Minister declares Gaza ceasefire deal reached
Qatar's Foreign Minister announces that the Gaza ceasefire deal will take place Sunday as the Israeli occupation agrees to the accord.
Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani held a press conference to announce the successful efforts to broker a ceasefire agreement in Gaza.
During the press briefing, Al Thani confirmed that both Palestinian and Israeli parties had agreed to the terms of the ceasefire, which is set to be implemented on Sunday, January 19.
The Qatari leader emphasized that work is ongoing with both the Israeli occupation and Hamas to ensure the smooth execution of the agreement's steps. He also disclosed that the ceasefire would be carried out in phases, with further details of the second and third stages to be announced following the completion of the first phase.
Under the agreement, Hamas is set to release 33 captives in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners.
Al Thani highlighted Qatar’s role in facilitating the negotiations, praising the increased cooperation from both the current and incoming US administrations in achieving the ceasefire deal.
Al Mayadeen has obtained details of the Gaza ceasefire agreement with the Israeli occupation. The agreement, which outlines an eleven-clause framework, marks a significant step toward resolving the ongoing war and addressing the humanitarian crisis in the region.
- Israeli forces are required to fully withdraw from all areas of the Gaza Strip and return to the pre-war borders.
- The Rafah crossing must be reopened, with Israeli forces withdrawing entirely from the area.
- "Israel" is mandated to ease the travel of injured individuals for treatment abroad.
- "Israel" must permit the daily entry of 600 aid trucks, as per a humanitarian protocol backed by Qatar.
- "Israel" must facilitate the entry of 200,000 tents and 60,000 caravans for immediate shelter.
- A large-scale prisoner exchange will occur, including the release of 1,000 prisoners from Gaza and hundreds of detainees serving lengthy sentences.
- "Israel" is to release all women and children under the age of 19 from its prisons.
- Israeli forces must gradually withdraw from the Netzarim corridor and the Philadelphi Route.
- Displaced residents must be allowed to return to their homes, with guaranteed freedom of movement throughout the Gaza Strip.
- Hostile aircraft must vacate Gaza's airspace for 8 to 10 hours daily.
- All hospitals in Gaza must be rehabilitated. Field hospitals, medical equipment, and surgical teams must be permitted entry.
Biden announces ceasefire deal between Israelis, Hamas
US President Joe Biden announced that Israel and the Palestinian Resistance have reached a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement, ending over a year of war in Gaza, with plans to halt fighting, reunite captives with families, and increase humanitarian aid.
US President Joe Biden revealed on Wednesday that Israel and the Palestinian Resistance have finalized a ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal, bringing an end to over a year of violence in Gaza.
The agreement, achieved through intensive negotiations led by the US, Egypt, and Qatar, is expected to halt hostilities, reunite captives with their families, and significantly increase humanitarian aid to Gaza.
"I can announce a ceasefire and a hostage deal has been reached between Israel and Hamas," Biden said at the White House. "Fighting in Gaza will stop, and soon the hostages return home to their families."
In a separate statement, the White House explained, "Today, after many months of intensive diplomacy by the United States, along with Egypt and Qatar, Israel and Hamas have reached a ceasefire and hostage deal. This deal will halt the fighting in Gaza, surge much-needed humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians, and reunite the hostages with their families after more than 15 months in captivity."
Deal Reached After Lengthy Delays
The deal comes after protracted violence that has devastated Gaza and intensified the humanitarian crisis. Negotiations faced numerousﾠdelaysﾠdue to unresolved issues between the parties.
According to Palestinian sources familiar with the talks, one of the main sticking points was the lack of clarity from "Israel" regarding the mechanism for the release of captives and the evacuation of injured individuals for medical treatment.
Additionally, the Israeli side did not provide a clear map outlining the withdrawal of its forces from Gaza or the management of key points like the Rafah crossing and the entry of humanitarian aid trucks. These unresolved details disrupted the progress of the agreement, prolonging the suffering of civilians in the region.
Despite these challenges, Arab, American, and Israeli officials confirmed earlier this week that the draft agreement was nearing completion.
https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/biden-announces-ceasefire-deal-between-israelis--hamas
Hamas: Ceasefire agreement result of steadfastness, resistance in Gaza over 15 months
Hamas has hailed announcement of a ceasefire in the Israeli regime’s genocidal war against the Gaza Strip, calling the deal the result of steadfastness and resistance in the coastal sliver for over 15 months.
The movement made the remarks in a statement on Wednesday following the announcement of the deal that the regime agreed to after coming under hundreds of retaliatory operations by Palestinian resistance groups.
“The ceasefire agreement is a result of the legendary steadfastness of our great Palestinian people and our valiant resistance in the Gaza Strip over the past 15 months,” it said.
“The agreement to end the aggression on Gaza is an achievement for our people, our resistance, our nation, and the free people of the world. It marks a pivotal moment in the struggle against the enemy, paving the way toward achieving our people's goals of liberation and return,” the movement added.
According to Hamas, the agreement stemmed from the group’s responsibility toward the patient and steadfast people in Gaza, putting an end to the Zionist aggression against them and halting the bloodshed, massacres, and genocide they have endured.
The group also expressed its appreciation and gratitude for all the honorable official and popular stances that stood in solidarity with Gaza, supported our people, and helped expose the occupation and halt the aggression, whether Arab, Islamic, or international.
It finally voiced special gratitude to the Qatari and Egyptian mediators, who had exerted significant efforts to achieve this agreement.
Al-Qassam Brigades, Islamic Jihad, Mujahideen Movement, PFLP join chorus of praise
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hamas’ fellow Gaza-based resistance movement, chimed in by announcing, “Today, our people and their resistance are imposing an honorable agreement to stop the aggression, [Israeli forces’] withdrawal, and conduct an honorable [captive/]prisoner exchange, due to their legendary steadfastness and their brave and valiant fighters.”
The group mourned Gaza’s righteous martyrs, affirming that it would spare no effort in serving the people in the territory and keeping pace with the challenges of the coming stage.
It also extended greetings to all the resistance forces that had supported the Palestinian people throughout the time, asserting that the resistance would remain vigilant to ensure full implementation of the agreement.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a Palestinian group based in Gaza and the West Bank, also hailed that “Gaza triumphs over genocide.”
Al-Qassam Brigades’ spokesman Abu Obeida also hailed the patience and steadfastness and firmness of Palestinian fighters in the face of United States-backed Israeli tyranny.
“Peace upon the souls of our martyrs, our innocent children, and our oppressed people,” he said, adding, “Peace be upon your souls that will one day soar in the skies of our liberated al-Quds and al-Aqsa, purified from the defilement of your killers.”
The Palestinian Mujahideen Movement, another resistance faction, released a similar statement, lauding Palestinians’ triumph over the “Zionist Nazi” Israeli regime, “supported by the criminal American administration and all the forces of global evil.”
“Our people and their resistance in Gaza have secured an agreement for a ceasefire and a [captive/]prisoner exchange, thwarting the enemy’s plans for displacement and the eradication of the resistance.”
The Palestinians, it said, had, therefore, thwarted the enemy’s plans for displacement and the liquidation of the Palestinian cause of liberation from Israeli occupation and aggression, bringing the just cause back to global prominence.
They “humiliated the enemy, shattered its arrogance, and inflicted upon it successive losses that cannot be concealed, despite the [simultaneous Israeli] siege, brutal aggression, conspiracies, and betrayals,” the group stated.
It also likewise admired the regional Axis of Resistance for their supportive sacrifices “in a time of betrayal and international complicity.”
The movement finally averred that the resistance would stay fast down its course to reclaim all of Palestinians’ rights and liberate all their lands, and thanked Qatari and Egyptian mediators for their persistent efforts towards realizing the ceasefire.
World reacts in joy, admiration
Also on Wednesday, various other resistance groups and political groupings took to social media platforms to express joy and admiration for the fruition of Gaza’s steadfastness.
Head of Yemen’s National Negotiating Delegation, Mohammed Abdul Salam said, “We salute with respect and reverence the legendary and historical steadfastness of Gaza.”
“We and all the free people of the world appreciate the great sacrifices of the Palestinian resistance in Gaza and the martyrdom of a number of its great leaders, including the two martyr leaders Haniyeh and Sinwar,” he said, referring respectively to Hamas’ former Political Bureau chief and leader.
According to the Yemeni official, the great sacrifices of the Palestinian resistance did not weaken its resolve, rather prompting it to continue with all its strength and bravery to confront the enemy until it was forced to accept the ceasefire.
He also commended Hezbollah for doing “a good job in fighting and sacrificing.” “The Lebanese Resistance Front offered its most precious possessions in redemption for Gaza, Palestine, and al-Quds” during the Israeli aggression that led to the martyrdom of its leader.
Abdul Salam also pointed to Yemen’s reprisal against the occupied Palestinian territories and its millions-strong support marches in favor of Gaza and Lebanon.
“The responsibility of supporting Gaza is a religious and humanitarian responsibility for which the entire nation is asked.”
The official finally underlined that “the continued occupation of Palestine by the Zionist enemy represents a threat to the security and stability of the region.”
Akram al-Ka’abi, secretary-general of the Iraqi Resistance’s al-Nujaba Movement, congratulated the “great triumph” on the Palestinian nation and all of the world’s free-thinking people, especially the Islamic Republic’s people, Yemen’s Ansarullah popular resistance movement, Hezbollah, Iraq, and all other nations supporting Gaza.
“With this great development, we too announce that we stop our military operations against the Zionist regime alongside the Palestinian resistance towards reinforcement and continuation of ceasefire in Gaza,” he said.
'Capitulation': Israeli officials and media concede Gaza defeat as truce unfolds
As a ceasefire comes into effect in the besieged Gaza Strip after over 15 months of genocidal war, the reactions from Israeli regime officials and media are a mix of outrage and disillusionment.
After 467 days of genocidal onslaught, which killed more than 46,600 Palestinians, most of them children and women, the Israeli occupation failed to achieve its main military objective - elimination of the Gaza-based Hamas resistance movement.
The movement and its military wing, Al-Qassam Brigades, continue to inflict heavy blows on the Zionist entity in and outside Gaza, having regrouped and reorganized under the new leadership following the assassination of Yahya Sinwar late last year.
Ceasefire talks had been underway in Doha between Hamas and the Israeli regime, mediated by the Qatari government, for several weeks. Finally, the two sides managed to reach a consensus.
The details of the truce deal suggest that it is an emphatic victory for the resistance front and a disgraceful defeat for the occupation and its Western backers, which has been acknowledged even by the regime officials.
While much of the world has welcomed the much-anticipated agreement as a nascent step toward ending 15 months of relentless Israeli assaults on Palestinian civilians and infrastructure, hardcore Zionists are fuming.
They argue that the ceasefire terms overly favor Hamas and threaten to reverse the Israeli regime's so-called "achievements," which will be required to completely pull out its troops from the besieged territory.
According to experts, it exposes both the collapse of Israeli war strategy and the undying resilience of the resistance front, which, contrary to Tel Aviv's assertions, remains vigorous, dynamic, and effective.
In the last week alone, Israeli media reported two fatal "security incidents," euphemisms for tactical military defeats suffered at the hands of Hamas resistance fighters in Gaza.
Both Israeli and American media outlets have reported about the spirited resurgence of Hamas in Gaza in recent months, which has been evident from growing number of sophisticated operations against regime forces by Al-Qassam Brigades.
On Monday, the elite Nahal Brigade of the regime lost five soldiers, with eight others severely wounded in operations near Rafah, Jabalia, and Beit Hanoun in Gaza. Two days before that, four soldiers were killed in the same area in resistance operations.
Despite Israeli claims that these zones had been “cleared,” Hamas has successfully rebuilt its infrastructure and redeployed its forces, inflicting regular and severe losses on the occupiers.
This assessment aligns with recent remarks by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who acknowledged that Hamas has regrouped, reflecting Washington's skepticism about the long-term viability of the Israeli regime's campaign to eliminate the resistance group.
Israel’s policy of mass destruction and targeting civilians aimed to crush Palestinian morale and undermine the resistance, but the results have proven the opposite, according to observers who have hailed the ceasefire agreement as the defeat for occupation.
The mood in Tel Aviv is gloomy, which is reflected by statements issued by regime officials as well as policy pundits. Israeli minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, a vocal critic of the truce deal, warned that he may quit Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet if the agreement proceeds.
Calling the proposed deal “terrible” and a “capitulation,” Ben-Gvir lamented provisions such as the release of hundreds of Hamas prisoners, the return of Gazans to northern Gaza, and the withdrawal of Israeli occupation forces from the Netzarim axis—which he said in a video post on X, formerly Twitter, undermine Israel’s costly gains.
Ben-Gvir further decried the deal for not ensuring the release of all Israeli captives, saying it dooms those who have been excluded from the swap list to "death," advocating for war crimes, including the total cessation of humanitarian aid to Gaza, cutting off food, water, electricity, and fuel, while escalating military operations to annihilate the Hamas movement entirely.
Similarly, other war cabinet minister Bezalel Smotrich denounced the proposed ceasefire as a "disaster" for the Zionist entity. In a post on the X platform, Smotrich vowed to oppose any agreement perceived as a “surrender,” which he claimed compromises the war’s "hard-won advances," in a veiled reference to the daily massacres of Palestinians.
Echoing Ben-Gvir, Smotrich called for an all-out military offensive to occupy and "cleanse" Gaza, withholding all humanitarian aid and unleashing unprecedented destruction until Hamas capitulates.
Discontent extends to media commentators like Erel Segal of Israeli Channel 14, who derided the proposed ceasefire deal as a failure to achieve Israeli military objectives.
“We believed controlling northern Gaza would enable us to regulate humanitarian aid and pressure Hamas,” Segal lamented in an article. “But if a million Gazans return, the Israeli army will lose operational control there.”
Segal suggested the military should retain key areas like the Philadelphia corridor, warning that relinquishing such control jeopardizes Israel’s strategic position.
Journalist Yoav Limor, writing in "Israel Hayom," echoed these sentiments, criticizing what he called concessions provided by the Israeli side, including the return of Palestinians and withdrawals from key axes.
He admitted that such compromises are now inevitable and regretted the delay in reaching a ceasefire agreement, which cost numerous Israeli military many lives.
Military analyst Yossi Yehoshua, in "Yedioth Ahronoth," noted that Israeli forces failed to dismantle Hamas’s military wing, Al-Qassam Brigades, after 15 months of fighting.
“The emerging ceasefire and prisoner release deal is bad for Tel Aviv, but it has no choice but to accept it," he noted in grim tone.
Writing in "Yedioth Ahronoth," Israeli analyst Yoav Zitun said the occupation army has been fighting in Gaza "without a real, strategic, and long-term goal," which provided the Israeli settlers with a hope "while the people are paying the price with an increasing number of casualties, with military cemeteries expanding almost daily."
"Due to the cowardice of ministers in making a decisive political decision, and with the growing indifference of the public towards the increasing number of fallen soldiers, and amid a crisis of exhausted military manpower shortages, the army is forced to fight slowly and with fewer numbers," he stated, alluding to the fact that the resistance has an upper hand on the ground.
Channel 12 correspondent, Almog Boker, cited testimonies from Israeli regime soldiers in Beit Hanoun, who said they were fighting "under the watchful eyes of cameras" with resistance fighters "rigging every alley with explosives, activating them from tunnels."
"Their underground system is fully operational, eliminating the need for face-to-face combat," he quoted one of them as saying. "Every alley and intersection is equipped with advanced cameras, including 360-degree thermal cameras."
Another regime soldier said the Palestinian resistance fighters "operate smartly, choosing when and what targets to detonate explosives for or not."
"They monitor movements underground through cameras. If it’s a drone, they do nothing, but if it’s a military force, they detonate the explosives. They detonate the explosives, and when evacuations are announced, they come out and fire at the rescue forces," he said.
Israeli military has suffered massive losses in Gaza but the real numbers have been censored by the regime to avoid embarrassment or further demoralization.
A correspondent of the Israeli army radio earlier this week admitted that at least 840 soldiers from the occupation army have been killed since the beginning of the war.
Of these, 405 soldiers were killed during the ground maneuver in Gaza while 55 soldiers were killed during the current military operation in northern Gaza and 15 soldiers were killed in one week in Beit Hanoun.
The real numbers are much higher though, according to independent observers.
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2025/01/15/740985/Israel-officials-reaction-Gaza-ceasefire
'Gaza has won': Social media users react to ceasefire with mix of relief, joy
Social media users have reacted with a mix of relief and joy to news of a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel in the Gaza Strip.
Many users are celebrating what they see as a victory for the Palestinian resistance to 15 months of a brutal campaign of genocide and ethnic cleansing by an apartheid regime, which has left a massive trail of death and destruction in Gaza, the largest open prison in the world.
"Gaza has won, Palestine has won, resistance has won," a Palestinian woman wrote on social media platform X.
“Imperialism and Zionism has lost, the Democratic Party has lost, the future of the Zionist state continues to be eroded.”
She said everyone “who participated, aided and abetted this genocide will continue to pay the price.”
The sentiment surrounding the ceasefire also includes strong denunciations of imperialism and Zionism. Many users highlight the failure of Israel’s Western backers, the United States, in supporting an oppressive regime.
“They tried eliminating the resistance through genocide & destruction, but the people of Gaza stood tall and kept fighting until the last breath.”
Nora Barrows, reporter and associate editor of The Electronic Intifada, said this ceasefire happened “because of the immovable and tenacious bravery and ingenuity of the Palestinian resistance, and the humanitarian interventions of Lebanese and Yemeni forces.”
“Palestinian liberation is inevitable; Zionism collapses in its shadow.”
Journalist Rania Khalek says she is happy over the ceasefire deal, but nobody can “rest until the genocidal imperialists who inflicted apocalyptic destruction on Gaza are held accountable and their systems dismantled.”
The Israeli regime has killed over 46,700 people, including thousands of children, in Gaza since October 2023, according to the figures released by the Gaza Health Ministry on Wednesday.
"The Israelis murdered probably hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in every depraved way imaginable,” Khalek wrote.
Others remind the world that the Palestinian conflict is rooted in a long history of occupation and oppression. The struggle for Palestinian liberation is far from over, they say.
Afif Aqrabawi, a Palestinian-Canadian X user, says this is a moment of joy, “but grief lingers in the air.”
“One year and one hundred days of massacres — rivers of blood, oceans of tears, homes reduced to rubble, lives torn apart.”
Palestinian football journalist Leyla Hamed says Palestinians in Gaza will now “visit their loved ones' graves since they never got to say goodbye.”
“Every single family in Gaza has experienced the killing of a relative.”
