Beyond the ceasefire

On Sunday, January 19, 2025, the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas came into force, seeding hopes after 15 months of devastating war in the Gaza Strip. Indeed, the ceasefire is a great relief for displaced and starving Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians tucked into 365 square kilometres with a long coastline of 40 kilometres on […]

On Sunday, January 19, 2025, the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas came into force, seeding hopes after 15 months of devastating war in the Gaza Strip. Indeed, the ceasefire is a great relief for displaced and starving Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians tucked into 365 square kilometres with a long coastline of 40 kilometres on the Mediterranean coast between Israel and Egypt.

Israel’s military operations were sparked by Hamas’s shock October 7, 2023, attack which killed about 1,200 Israelis and 251 more taken hostage. And with the Gaza ground operation on October 27, 2023, the Israeli military lost 405 of its soldiers.

But the numbers are grim for the Palestinians. Figures from the Gaza Health Ministry put the death toll at 47,317 and may likely rise as new bodies are found under the rubble. The report also said at least 111,494 people were wounded, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). An additional 11,000 people remain unaccounted for – likely either missing or not yet found under the rubble, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimates that 1.9 million people were internally displaced—some 90 per cent of the population of Gaza—while some have moved several times from one area to another.

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In terms of education, all the schools run by the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), or directly operated by the Palestinian Authority or privately managed, have been shut since November 6, 2023, when the Ministry of Education suspended the 2023-2024 school year due to the war. The same is true for Gaza’s 17 universities, community and university colleges that even have their infrastructures destroyed.

The first phase of the deal, billed to last 42 days, includes a complete ceasefire with the release of 33 Israeli hostages at regular intervals; Israel’s release of about 1,900 Palestinian prisoners; and Israeli forces leaving populated areas to Gaza’s border areas while displaced Palestinians are allowed to return to their neighbourhoods just as about 600 truckloads of aid would be granted daily entry into the territory.

Phase two involves negotiations on a permanent ceasefire, the exchange of Israel’s remaining hostages for more Palestinian prisoners and the complete withdrawal. The third phase involves the return of all remaining bodies of dead Israeli hostages and the reconstruction of Gaza under the supervision of Egypt, Qatar and the UN.

Last September, the UN, in a dire report, said with $18.5 billion worth of damage to Gaza’s infrastructure, even with the ceasefire, “a return to the 2007–2022 growth trend would imply that it would take Gaza 350 years just to restore GDP to its level in 2022.”

We at Daily Trust believe that the ceasefire is a welcome development that signals needed relief for desperate Gazans. At least, it provides a platform to build lasting peace in the region. Therefore, we call on international mediators to work towards bridging the gaps in the post-war scenario between Israel and the Palestinians by establishing mechanisms for sustained humanitarian access, stable arrangements for security and public order and a path to longer-term stability and governance in Gaza and other Palestinian areas.

Also, global and regional powers must exert significant leverage on the warring parties to abide by their obligations under all the agreements signed towards peace in the region.

Most importantly, urgent steps must be taken towards the implementation of a two-state solution which Israel had backtracked from despite the Oslo Accord it signed on September 13, 1993. Israel, EU, China and other global and regional leaders must implement the international consensus that a two-state solution is the only acceptable route to peace in the region. This stand is underlined by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who stated that a two-state solution is the “only path” to peace.

For a start, we call on the US, European Union, China and Middle East nations to lead in funding the urgently needed reconstruction of Gaza and parts of the West Bank. In addition, it is imperative for them to help in enthroning an administration that unites all the Palestinian factions under the leadership of the internationally recognised Palestinian Authority, which will be saddled with the Gaza reconstruction.

We also call on all parties to ensure that this current ceasefire does not become merely an interlude before another devastating round of war. All hands must be on deck to ensure that never again will Palestine, or any part of the world, witness such unprecedented destruction.

Palestine and Palestinians saw entire neighbourhoods and cities levelled, critical infrastructure, agricultural land, cultural and religious sites destroyed, rendering large swathes of the Strip uninhabitable. This is the time for the global community to muster the necessary moral and strategic responsibility and usher in a new era of economic growth and lasting peace with a much more equitable future for the region.