Is the fighting finished? By the end of today, 13 people will be back with their loved ones. But for Palestinians and Israelis still in Gaza, the future is a terrifying unknown.
Breakthrough! Gaza hostages due to head home
Is the fighting finished? By the end of today, 13 people will be back with their loved ones. But for Palestinians and Israelis still in Gaza, the future is a terrifying unknown.
For dozens of Israelis, seven weeks of anguish end today. Children reunited with their parents, elderly people with their families. Meanwhile the bombs will stop falling on millions of PalestiniansPeople from Palestine, an area located in the Southern Levant region of Western Asia. . A small glimmer of hope after weeks of horror and despair.
HamasA militant Palestinian organisation, which has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007. It is listed as a terrorist organisation in the UK. will today release 13 of the 239 hostages it took on 7 October. In exchange, Israel is releasing 39 Palestinian women and children from its jails. Over the next few days, a total of 50 hostages and 150 Palestinians are due to be released.
The fighting will be paused for four days, and 200 lorries will be allowed to carry humanitarian aid into GazaThe smaller of two Palestinian territories, home to two million people. It is located on the Mediterranean coast, bordered by Israel and Egypt. , although experts say many more are needed to end the starvation, disease and injuries that are still killing Palestinians.1
Many hope this might mean peace is once again on the horizon. Much can happen in four days. Israeli prime minister Benjamin NetanyahuThe prime minister of Israel. has dangled the promise of an extension if more hostages are released. It might be possible to broker a more lasting agreement.
But the storm clouds have not dispersed. Israel has already declared that once the pause is over it will resume its war on Gaza.
This is because for Israel, the hostages are only one objective. The other is to destroy Hamas as a military and political force.
Moreover, some influential Israeli cabinet ministers were opposed to this deal from the start. Far-right figures like Bezalel SmotrichIsrael's finance minister. He lives in a settlement in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, which is considered illegal under international law. are thought to want to use the crisis as a pretext to drive the Palestinians out of Gaza permanently.2 They will put pressure on Netanyahu to continue the war.
He also has his own reasons to drag it out. A majority of Israelis want him to step down once the war ends.3 And once he leaves office he will face bribery and corruption charges that could see him imprisoned for years.4
On the other hand, most of Israel's international allies privately believe destroying Hamas is impossible.
Then there is the question of what comes next. The USA hopes to revive the two-state solutionA proposed solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict, which imagines an independent State of Palestine as well as the State of Israel. . But it is not clear how to get there.
Many leaders on both sides will settle for nothing less than the other's total destruction. And even if the USA could bring together different leaders from both sides, like Israel's Yair LapidIsrael's current Leader of the Opposition and former prime minister. He is from the centrist Yesh Atid party. and Hamas's Ismail HaniyehA Hamas leader based in Qatar. He is viewed by Arab officials as more pragmatic than Hamas's military wing inside Gaza. , the two would be unlikely to reach an agreement.
Lapid insists Israel must annex much of the West BankA landlocked territory bordered by Israel, Jordan and the Dead Sea. It is the largest of the Palestinian territories. in any two-state agreement.5 But Haniyeh, like all previous Palestinian leaders, has said they will never accept any further loss of land.6
Is the fighting finished?
Yes: Both sides know they cannot achieve their aims through military force. Nor can they just go on fighting forever. They will take the chance to reach a negotiated settlement.
No: Israelis will not accept an end to the war which leaves Hamas intact. Hamas is happy for the war to drag on because the more Palestinians Israel kills, the more it alienates its Arab neighbours. This is far from over.
Or... In the end both sides will succumb to pressure to stop the fighting. But there is currently little prospect of a lasting peace deal. The current nightmare will end, but the next will not be far away.
Keywords
Palestinians - People from Palestine, an area located in the Southern Levant region of Western Asia.
Hamas - A militant Palestinian organisation, which has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007. It is listed as a terrorist organisation in the UK.
Gaza - The smaller of two Palestinian territories, home to two million people. It is located on the Mediterranean coast, bordered by Israel and Egypt.
Benjamin Netanyahu - The prime minister of Israel.
Bezalel Smotrich - Israel's finance minister. He lives in a settlement in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, which is considered illegal under international law.
Two-state solution - A proposed solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict, which imagines an independent State of Palestine as well as the State of Israel.
Yair Lapid - Israel's current Leader of the Opposition and former prime minister. He is from the centrist Yesh Atid party.
Ismail Haniyeh - A Hamas leader based in Qatar. He is viewed by Arab officials as more pragmatic than Hamas's military wing inside Gaza.
West Bank - A landlocked territory bordered by Israel, Jordan and the Dead Sea. It is the largest of the Palestinian territories.
Breakthrough! Gaza hostages due to head home
Glossary
Palestinians - People from Palestine, an area located in the Southern Levant region of Western Asia.
Hamas - A militant Palestinian organisation, which has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007. It is listed as a terrorist organisation in the UK.
Gaza - The smaller of two Palestinian territories, home to two million people. It is located on the Mediterranean coast, bordered by Israel and Egypt.
Benjamin Netanyahu - The prime minister of Israel.
Bezalel Smotrich - Israel's finance minister. He lives in a settlement in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, which is considered illegal under international law.
Two-state solution - A proposed solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict, which imagines an independent State of Palestine as well as the State of Israel.
Yair Lapid - Israel's current Leader of the Opposition and former prime minister. He is from the centrist Yesh Atid party.
Ismail Haniyeh - A Hamas leader based in Qatar. He is viewed by Arab officials as more pragmatic than Hamas's military wing inside Gaza.
West Bank - A landlocked territory bordered by Israel, Jordan and the Dead Sea. It is the largest of the Palestinian territories.