After 467 days of relentless bombardments, death, injuries, displacement, and starvation among Palestinians in Gaza, a long-awaited ceasefire has been agreed upon to end the Israeli assault to be implemented in three phases starting today, January 19.

A ceasefire deal between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas was mediated by Qatar, Egypt, and the United States (U.S.) last January 15 to end the 15-month Israeli devastation on the Gaza Strip.

The deal includes a temporary ceasefire, the release of Israeli captives in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, as well as the return of displaced Palestinians to their homes. 

However, during the constant Israeli airstrikes for over 15 months, most homes in Gaza have been destroyed, along with their livelihood. 

3-phase ceasefire deal

During the first phase of the ceasefire, Hamas will release 33 Israeli captives in exchange for around 2,000 Palestinian prisoners, including 250 life-sentenced and 1,000 detained after Hamas launched a surprise attack on October 7, 2023, following Israeli settlers storming the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the fifth day of Sukkot.

Sukkot is a week-long Jewish autumn festival that commemorates the Israelites’ 40 years in the desert after leaving Egypt, during which they resided in temporary shelters.

Hamas is expected to announce the names of 33 Israeli hostages to be released on the first day in the evening, before the agreement takes effect this January 19.

As part of the agreement, Israel will withdraw from Gaza, remaining within 700 meters of its border with Israel, excluding the Netzarim Corridor, where withdrawal will gradually occur.

Civilians will also be allowed to return to their homes, while wounded Palestinians may leave the Gaza Strip to receive humanitarian aid.

Israel will open the Rafah crossing with Egypt seven days after the start of the first sage.

Additionally, Israeli forces will reduce their presence in the Philadelphi Corridor, the border area between Egypt and Gaza, before completely withdrawing by the 50th day after the deal is implemented.

The mediators have guaranteed Hamas continued negotiations for the second and third phases, although Israel has refused to provide written guarantees that it will not resume the attacks in Gaza once the first phase takes effect and its civilian captives are returned. 

If Israel determines that the conditions ofin the first phase are met, the second phase will include the release of all remaining captives by Hamas, mostly male soldiers, in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners held in the Israeli prison system, as well as Israel’s complete withdrawal from Gaza.

Meanwhile, the third phase includes a three-to-five-year reconstruction plan under international supervision in exchange for the return of the remaining captives’ bodies.

Currently, there is no agreement on who will govern Gaza after the ceasefire, and Israel has yet to propose an alternative governance plan.

Gaza death toll

As of the latest report from Al Jazeera, Israel has massacred at least 46,707 Palestinians, meaning that one in every 50 people in Gaza has been killed, including 18,000 children.

Israel’s genocide also left more than 11,000 Palestinians missing to date.

However, a study by The Lancet Journal and analysts from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine estimated that up to 64,260 Palestinians in Gaza were killed in "traumatic injury deaths" between October 7, 2023, and June 30, 2024.

"Although we only [analyzed] data up to June 2024, the official [health ministry] estimate from Oct 7, 2023, to Oct 6, 2024, was 41,909," the study said.

According to the analysis, the true death toll among Palestinians may exceed 70,000 due to significant underreporting, indicating that Israel has wiped out multiple generations of Palestinian families.

At least 110,265 people have also been injured in Gaza as a result of the Israeli assault.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency has reported that every day in Gaza, 10 children lose one or both legs, with operations and amputations often performed with little or no anesthesia due to Israel’s blockades.

During the Nakba, or “catastrophe,” which refers to Israel’s ethnic cleansing in Palestine in 1948, Palestinians have endured loss and displacement of over 700,000 individuals from their homes, villages, and cities.

Between 1947 and 1949, around 15,000 Palestinians were killed in a series of mass atrocities, including more than 70 massacres.

This has continued to this day, with Israel’s 15-month devastation highlighting the continuous ethnic cleansing of Palestinians throughout history.

Bombing continues

Hours after the ceasefire’s declaration and days before the scheduled ceasefire on January 19, Israel airstrikes continued in Gaza, massacring at least 101 Palestinians, including 27 children and 31 women.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also delayed his vote on the ceasefire, accusing Hamas of backing out of an agreement to release hostages and adding last-minute negotiations.

According to the Israeli cabinet, it would not meet to vote on the deal “until mediators notify Israel that Hamas has accepted all elements of the agreement.”

"The Israeli cabinet will not convene until the mediators notify Israel that Hamas has accepted all elements of the agreement," Netanyahu's office stated.

On the contrary, Hamas senior official Izzat-el-Reshiq said the group remained committed to the ceasefire deal.

According to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel will proceed as scheduled on January 19, despite last-minute negotiations to tie up a "loose end.”

As Palestinians cautiously wait for a ceasefire while continuously being bombed by Israel, both US President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump are claiming credit for the Gaza ceasefire agreement.

In his farewell address from the Oval Office last January 15, Biden emphasized his administration’s role in negotiating and developing the ceasefire deal for Gaza.

"This plan was developed and negotiated by my team and will be largely implemented by the incoming administration. That's why I told my team to keep the incoming administration fully informed," the US President said.

Meanwhile, Trump asserted that the ceasefire agreement was only made possible due to his electoral victory in November.

"This epic ceasefire agreement could have only happened as a result of our Historic Victory in November, as it signaled to the entire World that my Administration would seek Peace and negotiate deals to ensure the safety of all Americans, and our Allies," he stated.

Since October 2023, the Biden administration has spent more than $20 billion military aid, contributing to Israel’s genocide in Gaza, which is the highest annual total ever, according to a report by Brown University’s Watson Institute.

In Trump’s second term in office, he threatened to suppress the advocacy efforts and punish Palestinians if the hostages are not released before he assumes office on January 20.

The president-elect also warned that those responsible would face consequences, emphasizing that they would be “hit harder than anybody has been hit in the long and storied History of the United States of America.” 

Last June 1, 2024, Biden outlined a proposal urging Hamas to accept a new Israeli proposal to end the ‘conflict’ in Gaza, stating that "it's time for this war to end.” The proposal later served as the basis for the existing ceasefire agreement.

In light of the ceasefire deal agreement, the Department of Foreign Affairs stated that the country welcomed the Hamas-Israel ceasefire deal last Friday.

It can also be recalled that the Philippines was one of the 33 countries that supported the UN Resolution 181 in 1947, the division of Palestine into two states, one Arab and one Jewish, while placing Jerusalem placed under a special international administration.

Last October 20, 2023, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said that the Philippines expressed its support to Israel against militant group Hamas while also “condemning the killing of civilians,” including the Palestinians caught in the crossfire.

- Kasharelle Javier

(Photo by Janice Aina Herrera/FEU Advocate)