Welcome truce

ISRAEL and Hamas have reached an agreement on a four-day ceasefire in war-ravaged Gaza with the twin objectives of increasing the inflow of humanitarian aid and facilitating the release of at least 50 hostages captured by militants in exchange for around 150 Palestinians jailed in Israel. This promises to be a significant pause in the war that began over six weeks ago and has claimed the lives of more than 14,000 Palestinians so far, even as about 1,200 Israelis were killed in the October 7 Hamas attack. Hamas and allied militant groups had captured around 240 hostages when gunmen stormed southern Israeli towns. With at least half of them being foreign nationals or dual-citizenship holders from around 40 countries, Israel has been under international pressure to suspend or cease its relentless bombardment of Gaza. According to the Israeli government, the truce would be extended an extra day for every additional 10 hostages released by Hamas.

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has declared that the war against Hamas would resume once the truce expires. However, Tel Aviv may find it hard to achieve its goal of destroying Hamas’ military capabilities if the lull leads to a louder clamour, both on the international and domestic fronts, to end the war. The temporary de-escalation of hostilities may give Hamas an opportunity to regroup after having suffered heavy losses. The militant group has made it clear that its fingers will ‘remain on the trigger’ and its ‘victorious fighters will be on the lookout to defend our people and defeat the occupation’.

The onus is on both sides to honour the ceasefire and pave the way for a potentially extended pause. Any transgression would undo the efforts made by Qatar and other countries to bring Israel and Hamas to the negotiating table. Much will depend on whether Hamas will release all hostages (and how soon) or keep some of them back as a bargaining chip.

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