Three-Stage Gaza Ceasefire Delayed, IDF Says Hamas Did Not Meet Agreements: Top Points
A possible end of the 15-month war between Israel and Hamas could lead to broader stability in West Asia and allow hostages to return to families and Gazans to their homes.
The ceasefire expected to end 15 months of war between Hamas and Israel in Gaza set to begin Sunday morning was delayed and attacks by the Israeli forces continued, Israeli forces said.
The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) said Sunday that it continued to carry out attacks in Gaza, insisting that a ceasefire with Hamas had still not come into effect as the group had not provided a list of hostages to be released.
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“The IDF continues to strike within the Gaza area at this time. According to the prime minister’s directives, the ceasefire will not come into effect until Hamas fulfils its commitments," military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a televised statement.
Hamas, in response, said that a list of hostages to be released under a ceasefire deal with Israel would be handed over “any moment", but that “complexities" in Gaza and Israeli bombing were causing delays.
The ceasefire promises to bring a sense of relief in West Asia where Israel not only fought Hamas to avenge the October 7, 2023 massacre that left over 1,200 Israelis dead but its relentless strikes and bombings killed over 46,000 Palestinians, including women and children along with militants and turned most of the coastal enclave into blackened rubble.
The ceasefire will take place in three-stages and comes a day before the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump (who claims he played a major role in bringing about the truce). Outgoing US President Joe Biden, who played a key role in the mediation talks in Doha and Qatar, said after the announcement earlier this week that he hopes hostages will return home and the killing of Palestinian civilians will stop.
Hamas captured 251 hostages during its attack on Israel in October 2023. It is still holding 94 people captive, though Israel estimates that only 60 are still alive.
In exchange for the hostages, Israel is expected to free around 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, some of whom have been imprisoned for several years.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his Saturday night speech warned that any violation of the ceasefire would mean that Israel will find new ways to attack “the enemy", referring to Hamas.
“Both President Trump and President Biden have given full backing to Israel’s right to return to the fighting, if Israel reaches the conclusion that the second stage negotiations are ineffectual. I greatly appreciate this," he said.
“If we need to go back to the fighting, we will do so in new ways and with great force," he further added.
But in Gaza, Palestinians hoped for a day without war and ahead of the truce, displaced Gazans prepared to return home.
“I will go to kiss my land," said Nasr al-Gharabli, who fled Gaza City for a camp farther south. “If I die on my land, it would be better than being here as a displaced person," Gharabli told AFP.
Here’s What To Know About The Gaza Ceasefire:
- The ceasefire was supposed to begin at 0630GMT, halting 15 months of war, but Israel said that Hamas did not meet the conditions agreed upon before as Israeli military carried out strikes.
- Hamas, which has controlled Gaza for almost two decades, has survived despite losing its top leadership and thousands of fighters. Israel has vowed it will not allow Hamas to return to power and has cleared large stretches of ground inside Gaza, in a step widely seen as a move towards creating a buffer zone that will allow its troops to act freely against threats in the enclave.
- Israel’s justice ministry said 737 Palestinian prisoners and detainees would be freed as part of the deal’s first phase — none before 4:00 pm (1400 GMT) on Sunday.
- Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said the Palestinian Authority (PA), which has partial administrative control in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, had completed preparations “to assume full responsibility in Gaza" after the war. Israel has expressed no definitive stance on post-war governance beyond rejecting any role for either Hamas or the PA.
- Hamas’s 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures. Of the 251 people taken hostage, 94 are still in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead. Israel’s retaliatory campaign has destroyed much of Gaza, killing 46,899 people, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.
- Hamas would release 33 Israeli hostages, including women, children, elderly, and the wounded, while Israel would free an unspecified number of Palestinian prisoners. Israeli officials believe not all 33 hostages are alive. Three hostages will be freed on the first day, with further exchanges spread over six weeks. During this phase, Israeli troops will leave populated Gaza areas, allowing Palestinians to return to their neighborhoods.
- Stage two aims for “a permanent end to the war," said US President Joe Biden. Remaining hostages, including men, would be freed in exchange for more Palestinian prisoners. Of the 1,000 Palestinian prisoners to be released, about 190 are serving sentences of 15 years or longer. Israeli troops would also fully withdraw from Gaza.
- The third and final stage focuses on rebuilding Gaza, a process expected to take years, along with the return of the bodies of any remaining hostages.
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