The armistice in the Gaza strip enters into force “in the next 24 hours,” Israel announces. When will the last hostages be released

The Palestinian militant group and the Palestinian militant group signed in Egypt on Thursday an agreement to cease the fire and the release of Israeli hostages in exchange for the Palestinian prisoners, in the first phase of US President Donald Trump to end the war in the Fâstia Gaza. The armistice will enter into force in Gaza “in the next 24 hours” from a meeting of the Israeli Security Cabinet, which takes place during the afternoon, a spokeswoman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later announced, according to Reuters and NBC News.

Both the Israelis and the Palestinians enjoyed the announcement of the agreement, the most important step taken so far to end a two-year war in which over 67,000 Palestinians were killed and to release the last hosts captured by Hamas in the deadly attacks that triggered the war.

The officials of both parties confirmed that they signed the agreement following indirect discussions in the Egyptian resort Sharm El-Sheikh.

According to the agreement, the struggles will cease, Israel will partially withdraw from the Gaza strip, and Hamas will free all the remaining hostages that he captured in the assault that rushed the war, in exchange for hundreds of prisoners in detention in Israel.

The truck fleets carrying food and medical aid will be allowed to enter the Palestinian enclave to deliver them to civilians, of whom hundreds of thousands have housed in tents after Israeli forces have destroyed their homes and laughed.

Armistice will come into effect after being ratified by Israel

The Press Office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced that the cessation of fire will enter into force once the agreement is ratified by his government, which will meet on Thursday, after a meeting of the Security Cabinet that has already started, at 17:00 (local time and Romania time).

Many things could still go wrong, notes Reuters. Even after the agreement is signed, a Palestinian source said that the list of Palestinians to be released has not yet been completed. The militant group requires the release of some of the most prominent Palestinian who have been convicted and are in Israeli prisons, as well as hundreds of people arrested during the Israeli military assault on the Gaza strip.

The following stages of the Plan in Trump's 20 points have not yet been discussed by the parties, including how the Gaza strip will be governed, destroyed by the war, after the conclusion of the battles. The final fate of Hamas is not known, which has so far rejected the demands of Israel.

However, the announcement of the cessation of battles and the release of the hostages was welcomed with joy both in Gaza and Israel.

“The whole Gaza strip is happy”

“I thank God for the cessation of fire, for the end of the bloodshed and the killings,” said Abdul Majeed Abd Rabbo, a Palestinian from the city of Khan Younis, southern Gaza. “I am not the only happy one, the whole Gaza strip is happy, all the Arab people, everyone is happy for ceasing fire and the end of blood.”

The Israeli Einav Zagauker, whose son Matan is one of the last hostages, has enjoyed the so-called Tel Aviv hostages market, where the families of the kidnapped in the Hamas attack that triggered the war two years ago were constantly gathered to request their release.

“I can't breathe, I can't breathe, I can't explain what I feel … it's crazy,” she said, speaking in the red light of a signal missile.

When will they be released the hostages

Shosh Bedrosian, a spokesman for the Israeli government, confirming the signing of the agreement, said that the ceasefire will enter into force within 24 hours from the Cabinet meeting.

After this 24 -hour period, the hostages detained in Gaza will be released within 72 hours, she said.

“The final version of the first phase in order to release all the hostages” in the plan of US President Donald Trump to put an end to the Gaza war was signed “by all parties,” said Shosh Bedrosian. The security office, a restricted ministerial decision-making body, meets this afternoon, before a meeting of all the members of the Israeli government, Bedrosian said.

She also said that Netanyahu had a “cordial discussion” in the morning with Trump, in which the two leaders congratulated each other for “historical achievement”.

An informed source about the details of the agreement has previously stated that Israeli troops will begin to withdraw within 24 hours.

An Israeli official said that all 20 Israeli hostages are believed to be alive in Gaza after being captured by Hamas in Israel in October 2023 will be released in a few days. Another 26 hostages were declared dead, and the fate of two others is unknown. Hamas indicated that the recovery of their bodies could take longer.

Trump seems willing to go to Israel near the time when the hostages will return home, a note from the office of Israeli President Isaac Herzog indicating that his agenda for Sunday has been postponed in anticipating the visit of the US leader.

Bombardments continue

Given that the cessation of fire had not yet entered into force, Israeli attacks on the gas continued on Thursday, although at a slower rate than before the debut of the negotiations, earlier this week.

The Ministry of Health in Gaza has announced that at least nine Palestinians have been killed by Israeli shots in the last 24 hours, a much smaller number than the one recorded daily in recent weeks, during one of the largest Israeli offensives so far – a total attack on Gaza.

The agreement received the support of the Arab and Western countries and was widely presented as a major diplomatic achievement for Trump, which considered a first step towards reconciliation in the Middle East.

“All parties will be treated in a fair way! It is a big day for the Arab and Muslim world, Israel, all the neighboring nations and the United States, and thank the mediators of Qatar, Egypt and Turkey, who have collaborated with us to make this historical and unprecedented event possible,” he wrote, in a message published on his social network. “Blessed are the ones who make peace!”, Added Trump, in his characteristic style, using uppercase.

Western and Arab countries met in Paris on Thursday to discuss an international peacekeeping force and assistance for the reconstruction of Gaza strip once the fights will cease.

Netanyahu qualified the agreement as “a diplomatic success and a national and moral victory for the State of Israel.” Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Israel has the interest to expand the circle of peace and normalization in the Middle East.

But the extreme-right members of Netanyahu's coalition have long opposed any agreement with Hamas. One of them, the Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich, said that Hamas should be destroyed once the hostages are released. He will not vote in favor of the agreement, although he has not reached the threat that he will overthrow the government.

Over 67,000 Palestinians were killed in the attacks of Israel on the gas, launched after the militants led by Hamas stormed the Israeli cities and a music festival on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking hostages.