January 15, 2025
MEMO
Palestinians celebrate after US President-elect Donald Trump’s announcement of hostage deal between Israel and Hamas , in the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis, Gaza on January 15, 2025 [Abed Rahim Khatib/Anadolu Agency]
Palestinians burst into celebration across the Gaza Strip on Wednesday at news of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, with some shedding tears of joy and others whistling, clapping and chanting “Allahu akbar” (God is greatest), Reuters reports.
“I am happy, yes, I am crying, but those are tears of joy,” said Ghada, a mother of five displaced from her home in Gaza City during the 15-month-old conflict.
“We are being reborn, with every hour of delay Israel conducted a new massacre, I hope it is all getting over now,” she told Reuters via a chat app from a shelter in Deir Al-Balah town in central Gaza.
Youths beat tambourines, blew horns and danced in the street in Khan Yunis in the southern part of the enclave minutes after hearing news of the agreement struck in the Qatari capital, Doha.
The deal, not yet formally announced, outlines a six-week initial ceasefire phase and includes the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
The accord also provides for the release of hostages held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian detainees held by Israel, an official briefed on the negotiations told Reuters.
READ: FACTBOX – War-ravaged Gaza faces multi-billion dollar reconstruction challenge
For some, delight was mingled with sorrow.
Ahmed Dahman, 25, said the first thing he would do when the deal goes into effect is to recover the body of his father, who was killed in an air strike on the family’s house last year, and “give him a proper burial.”
‘A day of happiness and sadness’
“I feel a mixture of happiness because lives are being saved and blood is being stopped,” said Dahman, who like Ghada was displaced from Gaza City and lives in Deir Al-Balah.
“But I am also worried about the post-war shock of what we will see in the streets, our destroyed homes, my father whose body is still under the rubble.”
His mother, Bushra, said that while the ceasefire wouldn’t bring her husband back, “at least it may save other lives.”
“I will cry, like never before. This brutal war didn’t give us time to cry,” said the tearful mother, speaking to Reuters by a chat app.
Iman Al-Qouqa, who lives with her family in a nearby tent, was still in disbelief.
“This is a day of happiness, and sadness, a shock and joy, but certainly it is a day we all must cry and cry long because of what we all lost. We did not lose friends, relatives, and homes only, we lost our city, Israel sent us back in history because of its brutal war,” she told Reuters.
“It is time the world comes back into Gaza, focuses on Gaza, and rebuilds it,” said Qouqa.
Israeli troops invaded Gaza after Hamas-led gunmen broke through security barriers and burst into Israeli communities on 7 October, 2023, killing 1,200 soldiers and civilians and abducting more than 250 foreign and Israeli hostages.
However, since then, it has been revealed by Haaretz that helicopters and tanks of the Israeli army had, in fact, killed many of the 1,139 soldiers and civilians claimed by Israel to have been killed by the Palestinian Resistance.
Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed more than 46,000 people, according to Gaza Health Ministry figures, and left the coastal enclave a wasteland, with many thousands living in makeshift shelters.
Palestinians celebrate after US President-elect Donald Trump’s announcement of hostage deal between Israel and Hamas , in the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis, Gaza on January 15, 2025 [Abed Rahim Khatib/Anadolu Agency]
Palestinians burst into celebration across the Gaza Strip on Wednesday at news of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, with some shedding tears of joy and others whistling, clapping and chanting “Allahu akbar” (God is great
“I am happy, yes, I am crying, but those are tears of joy,” said Ghada, a mother of five displaced from her home in Gaza City during the 15-month-old conflict.
“We are being reborn, with every hour of delay Israel conducted a new massacre, I hope it is all getting over now,” she told Reuters via a chat app from a shelter in Deir Al-Balah town in central Gaza.
Youths beat tambourines, blew horns and danced in the street in Khan Yunis in the southern part of the enclave minutes after hearing news of the agreement struck in the Qatari capital, Doha.
The deal, not yet formally announced, outlines a six-week initial ceasefire phase and includes the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
The accord also provides for the release of hostages held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian detainees held by Israel, an official briefed on the negotiations told Reuters.
READ: FACTBOX – War-ravaged Gaza faces multi-billion dollar reconstruction challenge
For some, delight was mingled with sorrow.
Ahmed Dahman, 25, said the first thing he would do when the deal goes into effect is to recover the body of his father, who was killed in an air strike on the family’s house last year, and “give him a proper burial.”
‘A day of happiness and sadness’
“I feel a mixture of happiness because lives are being saved and blood is being stopped,” said Dahman, who like Ghada was displaced from Gaza City and lives in Deir Al-Balah.
“But I am also worried about the post-war shock of what we will see in the streets, our destroyed homes, my father whose body is still under the rubble.”
His mother, Bushra, said that while the ceasefire wouldn’t bring her husband back, “at least it may save other lives.”
“I will cry, like never before. This brutal war didn’t give us time to cry,” said the tearful mother, speaking to Reuters by a chat app.
Iman Al-Qouqa, who lives with her family in a nearby tent, was still in disbelief.
“This is a day of happiness, and sadness, a shock and joy, but certainly it is a day we all must cry and cry long because of what we all lost. We did not lose friends, relatives, and homes only, we lost our city, Israel sent us back in history because of its brutal war,” she told Reuters.
“It is time the world comes back into Gaza, focuses on Gaza, and rebuilds it,” said Qouqa.
Israeli troops invaded Gaza after Hamas-led gunmen broke through security barriers and burst into Israeli communities on 7 October, 2023, killing 1,200 soldiers and civilians and abducting more than 250 foreign and Israeli hostages.
However, since then, it has been revealed by Haaretz that helicopters and tanks of the Israeli army had, in fact, killed many of the 1,139 soldiers and civilians claimed by Israel to have been killed by the Palestinian Resistance.
Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed more than 46,000 people, according to Gaza Health Ministry figures, and left the coastal enclave a wasteland, with many thousands living in makeshift shelters.
Hamas: Ceasefire is a turning point in the fight against Israel
January 16, 2025
January 16, 2025
MEMO
Palestinians gathered in the garden of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Gaza to celebrate after US President-elect Donald Trump’s announcement of hostage deal, on January 15, 2025 in Deir al-Balah, Gaza [Ashraf Amra – Anadolu Agency]
Hamas described the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip, which is expected to come into effect on Sunday, as a “turning point in the fight against the Israeli occupation.”
The movement said in a statement: “The ceasefire agreement is the fruit of the legendary steadfastness of our great Palestinian people and our valiant resistance in the Gaza Strip, over more than 15 months.”
“The agreement to stop the aggression on Gaza is an achievement for our people, our resistance, our nation, and the free people of the world, and it is a turning point in our fight against the enemy, on the path to achieving our people’s goals of liberation and return,” it added.
Hamas noted that “this agreement comes as part of our responsibility towards our patient steadfast people in the honourable Gaza Strip, to stop the Zionist aggression against them, and put an end to the bloodshed, massacres and genocidal war to which they are being subjected.”
Yesterday evening, Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al Thani announced that the mediators had reached a ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip, noting that it would begin to be implemented on Sunday.
The first phase of the agreement will last 42 days and includes the release of 33 Israeli captives in exchange for an unspecified number of Palestinian prisoners.
The deal comes 467 days after Israel launched its genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, during which it has killed or maimed over 157,000 Palestinians, most of them children and women. Some 11,000 others are missing, presumed dead under the rubble.
Palestinians gathered in the garden of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Gaza to celebrate after US President-elect Donald Trump’s announcement of hostage deal, on January 15, 2025 in Deir al-Balah, Gaza [Ashraf Amra – Anadolu Agency]
Hamas described the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip, which is expected to come into effect on Sunday, as a “turning point in the fight against the Israeli occupation.”
The movement said in a statement: “The ceasefire agreement is the fruit of the legendary steadfastness of our great Palestinian people and our valiant resistance in the Gaza Strip, over more than 15 months.”
“The agreement to stop the aggression on Gaza is an achievement for our people, our resistance, our nation, and the free people of the world, and it is a turning point in our fight against the enemy, on the path to achieving our people’s goals of liberation and return,” it added.
Hamas noted that “this agreement comes as part of our responsibility towards our patient steadfast people in the honourable Gaza Strip, to stop the Zionist aggression against them, and put an end to the bloodshed, massacres and genocidal war to which they are being subjected.”
Yesterday evening, Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al Thani announced that the mediators had reached a ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip, noting that it would begin to be implemented on Sunday.
The first phase of the agreement will last 42 days and includes the release of 33 Israeli captives in exchange for an unspecified number of Palestinian prisoners.
The deal comes 467 days after Israel launched its genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, during which it has killed or maimed over 157,000 Palestinians, most of them children and women. Some 11,000 others are missing, presumed dead under the rubble.
Lack of security after Gaza truce could make aid surge difficult, UN says
MEMO
January 15, 2025
A group of demonstrators carries banners, posters, and placards as they gather to demand a ceasefire in Gaza and a hostage swap deal, while calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government on December 27, 2024, in West Jerusalem. [Mostafa Alkharouf – Anadolu Agency]
A short-term surge of aid deliveries into Gaza after a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian Hamas will be difficult if the deal does not cover security arrangements in the enclave, a senior UN official said on Wednesday, Reuters reports.
Negotiators reached a deal on Wednesday for a ceasefire, an official briefed on the negotiations told Reuters, after 15 months of conflict. It would include a significant increase in humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, but it was unclear if any agreement would cover security arrangements.
“Security is not (the responsibility of) the humanitarians. And it’s a very chaotic environment. The risk is that with a vacuum it gets even more chaotic,” a senior UN official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters. “Short of any arrangement, it will be very difficult to surge deliveries in the short term.”
The United Nations has long described its humanitarian operation as opportunistic – facing problems with Israel’s military operation, access restrictions by Israel into and throughout Gaza and, more recently, looting by armed gangs.
“The UN is committed to delivering humanitarian assistance during the ceasefire, just as we were during the period of active hostilities,” said Eri Kaneko, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
READ: 62 Palestinians killed by Israel in Gaza in 24 hours
“The removal of the various impediments the UN has been facing during the last year – which include restrictions on the entry of goods; the lack of safety and security; the breakdown of law and order and the lack of fuel – is a must,” she said.
The UN has been working with partners to develop a coordinated plan to scale up operations, Kaneko said.
600 trucks a day
The ceasefire deal – according to the official briefed on talks – requires 600 truckloads of aid to be allowed into Gaza every day of the initial six-week ceasefire, including 50 carrying fuel. Half of the 600 aid trucks would be delivered to Gaza’s north, where experts have warned famine is imminent.
“We are well-prepared, and you can count on us to continue to be ambitious and creative,” said the UN official, speaking shortly before the deal was agreed. “But the issue is and will be the operating environment inside Gaza.”
For more than a year, the UN has warned that famine looms over Gaza. Israel says there is no aid shortage – citing more than a million tons of deliveries. It accuses Hamas of stealing aid, which Hamas denies, instead blaming Israel for shortages.
“If the deal doesn’t provide any agreement on security arrangements, it will be very difficult to surge assistance,” said the official, adding that there would also be a risk that law and order would further deteriorate in the short term.
The United Nations said in June that it was Israel’s responsibility – as the occupying power in the Gaza Strip – to restore public order and safety in the Palestinian Territory so aid can be delivered.
Hamas came to power in Gaza in 2006 after Israeli soldiers and settlers withdrew in 2005, but the enclave is still deemed as Israeli-occupied territory by the United Nations. Israel controls access to Gaza.
The current war was triggered on 7 October, 2023, when Hamas killed 1,200 people in southern Israel, and took some 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
However, since then, it has been revealed by Haaretz that helicopters and tanks of the Israeli army had, in fact, killed many of the 1,139 soldiers and civilians claimed by Israel to have been killed by the Palestinian Resistance.
Since then, more than 46,000 Palestinians have been killed, Israel has laid much of Gaza to waste and the enclave’s pre-war population of 2.3 million people has been displaced multiple times, aid agencies say.
MEMO
January 15, 2025
A group of demonstrators carries banners, posters, and placards as they gather to demand a ceasefire in Gaza and a hostage swap deal, while calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government on December 27, 2024, in West Jerusalem. [Mostafa Alkharouf – Anadolu Agency]
A short-term surge of aid deliveries into Gaza after a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian Hamas will be difficult if the deal does not cover security arrangements in the enclave, a senior UN official said on Wednesday, Reuters reports.
Negotiators reached a deal on Wednesday for a ceasefire, an official briefed on the negotiations told Reuters, after 15 months of conflict. It would include a significant increase in humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, but it was unclear if any agreement would cover security arrangements.
“Security is not (the responsibility of) the humanitarians. And it’s a very chaotic environment. The risk is that with a vacuum it gets even more chaotic,” a senior UN official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters. “Short of any arrangement, it will be very difficult to surge deliveries in the short term.”
The United Nations has long described its humanitarian operation as opportunistic – facing problems with Israel’s military operation, access restrictions by Israel into and throughout Gaza and, more recently, looting by armed gangs.
“The UN is committed to delivering humanitarian assistance during the ceasefire, just as we were during the period of active hostilities,” said Eri Kaneko, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
READ: 62 Palestinians killed by Israel in Gaza in 24 hours
“The removal of the various impediments the UN has been facing during the last year – which include restrictions on the entry of goods; the lack of safety and security; the breakdown of law and order and the lack of fuel – is a must,” she said.
The UN has been working with partners to develop a coordinated plan to scale up operations, Kaneko said.
600 trucks a day
The ceasefire deal – according to the official briefed on talks – requires 600 truckloads of aid to be allowed into Gaza every day of the initial six-week ceasefire, including 50 carrying fuel. Half of the 600 aid trucks would be delivered to Gaza’s north, where experts have warned famine is imminent.
“We are well-prepared, and you can count on us to continue to be ambitious and creative,” said the UN official, speaking shortly before the deal was agreed. “But the issue is and will be the operating environment inside Gaza.”
For more than a year, the UN has warned that famine looms over Gaza. Israel says there is no aid shortage – citing more than a million tons of deliveries. It accuses Hamas of stealing aid, which Hamas denies, instead blaming Israel for shortages.
“If the deal doesn’t provide any agreement on security arrangements, it will be very difficult to surge assistance,” said the official, adding that there would also be a risk that law and order would further deteriorate in the short term.
The United Nations said in June that it was Israel’s responsibility – as the occupying power in the Gaza Strip – to restore public order and safety in the Palestinian Territory so aid can be delivered.
Hamas came to power in Gaza in 2006 after Israeli soldiers and settlers withdrew in 2005, but the enclave is still deemed as Israeli-occupied territory by the United Nations. Israel controls access to Gaza.
The current war was triggered on 7 October, 2023, when Hamas killed 1,200 people in southern Israel, and took some 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
However, since then, it has been revealed by Haaretz that helicopters and tanks of the Israeli army had, in fact, killed many of the 1,139 soldiers and civilians claimed by Israel to have been killed by the Palestinian Resistance.
Since then, more than 46,000 Palestinians have been killed, Israel has laid much of Gaza to waste and the enclave’s pre-war population of 2.3 million people has been displaced multiple times, aid agencies say.
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