After 15 months of heavy bombing and intense fighting, Israel and Hamas have reached a ceasefire agreement.
The ceasefire agreement was announce by the leader of Qatar. The U.S and Egypt played a major role in the mediation process. Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani said the agreement would come into effect on Sunday so long as it was approved by the Israeli cabinet.
On October 7th 2024, Hamas launched a cross-border attack on Israel killing about 1,200 people and abducting 251 others.
Israel’s retaliation and an attempt to free is citizens resulted in war with Hamas that killed more than 46,700 people in Gaza. The war has also displaced more than 2.3 million Palestinians amidst widespread destruction and shortage of food, fuel and medicine.
The deal will include 33 hostages including women, children and elderly people exchanged for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
Sheik Mohammed, leader of Qatar said “we hope that this will be the last page of the war, and we hope that all parties will commit to implementing all the terms of this agreement,”
In a closing remark, President Biden said “Even as we welcome this news, we remember all the families whose loved ones were killed in Hamas’s 7 October attack, and the many innocent people killed in the war that followed,” a statement added. “It is long past time for the fighting to end and the work of building peace and security to begin.
