Israel and Hamas have agreed on an accord that is expected to bring an end to the war in the Gaza Strip, the release of hostages and Palestinian prisoners, and a six-week ceasefire. The implementation of the hostage release agreement is set to begin early next week. Both sides have an interest in maintaining the ceasefire and releasing 33 hostages in exchange for over 1,200 Palestinian prisoners.
The real test of the agreement will come in the second phase, when it is about the release of the second group of Israeli hostages, alive or dead, after the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
Trump wrote on his platform Truth Social that the “historic” agreement was only possible due to his election victory. However, the outgoing US President Joe Biden also claims a significant role in the deal’s making.
According to the Reuters news agency, Israel will withdraw its troops from the Pharaoh’s Corridor, which is the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, in a phased manner. The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had previously claimed that thanks to Netanyahu’s persistence, the Hamas had given up on changing the terms of the deployment of Israeli troops in the Pharaoh’s Corridor at the last minute.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was not initially interested in this agreement. The control of the so-called Pharaoh’s Corridor at the Gaza Strip’s border with Egypt was presented as a perpetual security imperative for Israel. The fact that Netanyahu has deviated from this principle under Trump’s pressure shows the weak position of the Prime Minister in the current political situation in Israel.
It is also planned that the IDF will leave the Netzarim Corridor in the center of the Gaza Strip.
The most important consideration that has driven Netanyahu for a long time is his political survival. His arrogance and the focus on his corruption trial contributed to the Hamas attack on October 7. His performance has not significantly improved during the entire war. If Netanyahu had made the effort to negotiate diplomatic solutions for the time after Hamas with the Gulf states and the US, the Israeli military might not have had to sit in Gaza unnecessarily for months.
The Hamas is now better equipped to take control of civil affairs in Gaza and gradually rebuild its military strength. The Israeli public will be surprised to learn what concessions the one who wants to make a mark as a defender of Israel in history had to make during the negotiations. The agreement means that Israel is not only giving up control over the Pharaoh’s Corridor but also over the Netzarim Corridor. The Jewish state is thus losing the ability to effectively monitor the return of more than a million Palestinian civilians to the northern Gaza Strip. Netanyahu has also agreed to allow the entry of 600 trucks with humanitarian aid per day, 100 more than the daily average before the war.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said already on Wednesday that Hamas has now almost as many fighters as it lost in the Israeli attacks. These statements underscore the skepticism of the US regarding the long-term prospects of Israel’s efforts to break the group since the attacks on October 7, 2023.
In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu still needs to bring the agreement through his cabinet, in which the more radical ministers are still against an end to the war. He will likely win the vote, but his government could still collapse.