The decision by warring parties in Gaza – Israel and Hamas – to cease hostilities is a welcome development that was long overdue, given the carnage, death and monumental destruction it had brought on Palestinians in the last 460 days of the deadly conflict. The war is indeed catastrophic and very mean on its human casualties and humanitarian crisis, for which sake, all stakeholders should do everything possible to make the peace deal permanent.
Triggered by the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, the war has so far resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians. During the attack, the deadliest in Israel’s history, Palestinian militants also took 251 people hostage, 94 of whom are still being held in Gaza, including 34, who Israeli military said are dead. Israel’s retaliatory campaign has destroyed much of Gaza, killing 46,788 people, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run health ministry.
Interestingly, both parties have agreed on a ceasefire deal, facilitated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States of America. The deal includes a temporary ceasefire that will, for now, bring to an end the destruction visited upon Gaza, as well as the release of captives held in Gaza and many of the prisoners held by Israel. The deal will also, finally, allow displaced Palestinians to return to their homes, if those homes are still standing.
Structured to happen in phases, the peace deal’s initial first phase is expected to last for six weeks and will involve a limited prisoner exchange, partial withdrawal of Israeli troops in Gaza and access to humanitarian aid into the territory. Already, Hamas has released four female Israeli soldiers in exchange for over 1000 Palestinians in Israeli Prisons. More are expected to be released by Hamas.
On the other hand, Israel is expected to withdraw its forces from Gaza’s population centres to areas no more than 700 metres inside the Gaza border with Israel. Apart from allowing civilians to return to their homes, Israel will also allow wounded Palestinians to leave the Gaza Strip for treatment, and open the Rafah crossing with Egypt seven days after the start of the implementation of the first phase.
Part of the deal is that Israeli forces will reduce their presence in the Philadelphi Corridor, the border area between Egypt and Gaza, and then withdraw completely not later than the 50th day after the deal comes into effect. How the second and third phases of this deal would be implemented will depend on the conduct of the parties during the implementation of the first phase.
Therefore, it is immoral, disreputable and wicked for any of the parties to attack the other during the ceasefire. It is unacceptable therefore that, going by report from t he civil defence agency in Gaza Israel pounded several areas of the territory after the deal was announced, killing at least 75 people and wounding hundreds more. It should not be so. There is already a ceasefire, which must be consolidated and not to be violated by any of the parties. Yes, Hamas started the war by invading Israel, which is very wrong. But Israel on the other hand had taken more than its pound of flesh, considering that the substantial parts of Gaza had been leveled in retaliation. The carnage is beyond description and the most deadly the country has ever had in Gaza.
Gaza is completely destroyed. Further attempts to jeopardise the truce will strengthen the impression that Israel wants to exterminate the Palestinians just as Adolf Hitler wanted to do to the Jews. Owing to the ferocity with which Israel embarked on this campaign, they can no longer count on international support and allies, as they went too far against the people of Palestine. American and European youths now wave the Palestinian flag in American and European cities with confidence. Now that there is a truce, the hostilities must stop and all the parties must keep to their own part of the bargain.
That said, Hamas, which sees itself as a resistance force, must change tactics, if indeed it wants a lasting peace in the territory. Certainly, their indiscretion in attacking Israel, even though they still claim to have remained undefeated so far, has brought so much pain and agony to innocent children, men and women of Gaza. They have also caused the total destruction of infrastructure in Gaza, apart from the loss of lives. They have also lost so many fighters too, besides the monumental destruction of their tunnels and armory.
It is important for both Israel and Hamas to commit to peace, and avoid temptations to reignite the conflict on any excuse. To think that attacking Israeli civilians or soldiers by either solitary or organised campaign or kidnapping Israeli citizens would liberate Palestine is a pipe-dream. It would rather illicit disproportionate retaliations from Israel, which would result in death, pain and agony for mostly the innocent, who Hamas claims to be fighting for.
So, Hamas, like the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO), should embrace peace, affirm the right of Israel to co-exist with them, pursue national development, peace and prosperity for the people of Gaza. Israel under Prime Minister Ariel Sharon unilaterally withdrew from Gaza and North Samaria on August 15, 2005. They dismantled their settlement there and also withdrew their troops from the Philadelphi Route, after Egypt agreed to secure its side of the border after the Rafah Agreement.
Hamas will do well to desist from teaching and indoctrinating children with hate against Jews and promoting Jihad. They ought to have leveraged this voluntary withdrawal by deploying resources to the welfare of the people, instead of building terror infrastructure in the name of resistance. If the control of the West Bank is the issue at stake, discussion could be held on whether Jordan, which has a territorial link to the West Bank could administer it.
If Israel withdraws totally from the West Bank and just as Jordan lives peacefully with Israel, the Palestinians who live in the West Bank must ensure that peace reigns in that territory as well by shunning violence in all its ramifications. Enough of this bloodshed in the desert.
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