President Donald Trump announced that Israel and Hamas had agreed on the first phase of a ceasefire deal – but significant questions remain about what the 20-point plan will mean for the future of the Gaza Strip.
“This means that ALL hostages will be released very soon and Israel will withdraw its troops along an agreed-upon line as the first step toward a strong, lasting, everlasting peace,” Trump said in an article on Truth Social.
What is Trump’s proposed plan?
Key elements of Trump’s proposal include:
- The release of all living and dead hostages in Gaza within 72 hours of Israel’s acceptance of the deal.
- Once all hostages are released, Israel will release 250 life-sentenced prisoners as well as 1,700 Palestinians detained after October 7, 2023.
- A demand from Hamas to lay down arms and a withdrawal of Israeli troops from the territory.
- The delivery of humanitarian aid and the installation of civil authority for the Palestinians.
What happens next?
The Israeli military announced Thursday that it would soon move to “adjusted deployment lines” but warned that parts of Gaza remained a “dangerous combat zone.”
But a ceasefire would come into effect in Gaza “within 24 hours” following a government meeting scheduled for Thursday evening, a spokesperson for the Israeli prime minister’s office told reporters.
After this 24-hour period, a 72-hour window would open during which Hamas would release the remaining hostages. Earlier, the White House said it expected the hostages to be released on Monday. Forty-eight hostages have yet to be returned, of whom Israel estimates 20 are still alive.
An Israeli official briefed on the matter told NBC News that all living hostages would be released at the same time.
The agreement comes almost two years to the day after Hamas’s terrorist attacks on Israel killed 1,200 people. Since then, Israel has killed more than 67,000 people in Gaza, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
The future of Gaza?
The first phase of Trump’s plan does not address the medium- and long-term future of Gaza. With most of Gaza’s buildings damaged or destroyed in the Israeli offensive, according to the United Nations, and the population largely forced from their homes, what happens next is an urgent question.
Trump’s plan calls for the enclave to be temporarily governed by a “technocratic, apolitical Palestinian committee” overseen by a “Peace Council” led by Trump and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
And this is until the Palestinian Authority, which controls part of the occupied West Bank and is the main representative of the Palestinians on the international stage, can be “reformed”, according to the plan.
Meanwhile, Hamas agreed to participate in the hostage and prisoner exchange, but did not declare that it would disarm and disband — a key stipulation of Trump’s proposal.
