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SvennoJ on 16 January 2025
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Main events from Januari 15th

  • Mediators Qatar, Egypt and the US have announced that Hamas and Israel have reached a multi-phased deal to halt the war in Gaza and secure the release of Israeli captives in the territory.
  • Mediators said the deal, which will go into effect on Sunday, starts with a 42-day period that will see the release of 33 Israeli captives as well as a number of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.
  • Hamas said the deal meets all the conditions it set out early in the war, including the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, the return of displaced people to their homes, and a permanent end to the war.
  • Many displaced Palestinians in Gaza have told Al Jazeera about the relief and joy they felt over just being able to return to their homes, even if they are destroyed.
  • Palestinian Civil Defence has warned Israel’s assault is intensifying in parts of Gaza ahead of the ceasefire, with one attack on a residential block in Gaza City killing 12 and injuring 20 more.
  • Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked US President-elect Trump for securing the deal and putting an “end to the suffering of dozens of hostages and their families”, his office said.
  • Far-right members of Netanyahu’s government have criticised the deal, including Finance Minister Smotrich, who labelled it “bad and dangerous” for Israel’s “national security”.



‘Ceasefire is the start – not the end’: WFP

The World Food Programme calls for resources, access and protection to allow its teams to scale up aid to Gaza.

“We welcome the long awaited ceasefire in Gaza. But a ceasefire is the start – not the end,” WFP chief Cindy McCain said in a statement.

“We have food lined up at the borders to Gaza – and need to be able to bring it in at scale. For this: We need all border crossings open and [to] be able to move food safely from the crossing points to the people in need across Gaza.

“We need security for team members and our partners, including during aid convoys. Humanitarians MUST be protected. We need more humanitarian staff allowed into Gaza. And we need urgent funding to reach everyone in need quickly.”




Agreement could lead to increased Rafah crossing access: Former Egyptian official

Speaking to Al Jazeera from Cairo, Hussein Haridy, Egypt’s former assistant foreign minister, said the agreement should lead to some access through the Rafah crossing between southern Gaza and Egypt.

“Fortunately, the agreement announced today in Doha stipulates that the Israelis would start withdrawing gradually from the Philadelphi Corridor, and the Palestinians would be managing the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing,” Haridy said.

“That would enable us to open the Rafah crossing, to surge aid and humanitarian assistance to Gaza.” Haridy also said he understands the agreement would mean injured Palestinians could pass through the crossing to get medical assistance.

“Ultimately, when the Israeli forces would withdraw completely from the Gaza Strip, and there is a Palestinian authority running Gaza, I think that the Rafah crossing would be operated normally, as it had been before June 2007,” he said.

Haridy added that Egypt, which was one of the mediators for ceasefire negotiations between Hamas and Israel, “has really exerted all its efforts to bring the Israeli aggression to an end as quickly as possible”.


A line of trucks waiting on an Egyptian road along the border with Israel, near the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip, on May 2, 2024