Gaza ceasefire deal signed by mediators after hostages freed

Sarah Yerkes of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace tells DW that hopes that US President Donald Trump's plan would bring peace to the Middle East are premature.

"I think this is just one ... very important first step," the Middle East and US foreign policy analyst says, adding that many of the details still need to be "hammered out."

According to Yerkes, the fact that neither Israel nor Hamas joined the summit is an issue.

"There's so many details, including whether or not Hamas will agree to disarm, which is one of the crucial pieces of this that have yet to be decided," she said.

Yerkes added that she believed that Netanyahu would go ahead with plans to annex "large portions" of the occupied West Bank.

"For Netanyahu, what he cares about is the West Bank anyway."

She said Netanyahu was "making it look like he's a peacemaker when in reality he's moving forward with everything he's been doing in the West Bank for years."

As for Gaza's reconstruction, the Middle East analyst is hopeful the enclave will return to being a place where Palestinians could thrive.

"I am optimistic that in the long run, Gaza will return to being a habitable place."

The Israeli army says that the bodies of four hostages held in Gaza have been brought back to Israel.

The four coffins arrived at the National Institute for Forensic Medicine in Tel Aviv, where their identification process will take place.

While all living hostages have been returned to Israel, the Palestinian militant group Hamas still holds the bodies of 24 others.

The United Nations on Monday announced that it would reallocate about $11 million (€9.5 million) in emergency funding to help scale up humanitarian assistance in the Gaza Strip before winter sets in.

A deputy UN spokesperson said the move followed a similar reallocation of $9 million last week as UN humanitarian organizations race to insure sufficient fuel supplies and life-saving necessities will be ready to go into the devastated enclave as the situation on the ground allows.

Despite general relief over the ceasefire, UN Humanitarian Affairs Coordinator Tom Fletcher was quick to point to one major part of the war that has not stopped: the civilian humanitarian crisis in Gaza. 

Fletcher noted that "without fresh contributions" from member states, "critical aid cannot keep flowing to people who rely on it." 

Israel, which had blocked almost all aid into Gaza for months, has now begun to allow larger quantities into the enclave.

A UN analysis has described the situation in Gaza as a man-made disaster and accused Israel of deliberately creating famine conditions for the civilian population, a claim Israel denies.

More than 67,000 Palestinians were killed during the two years of war that followed a Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.

Even though the ceasefire plan has been signed, success is not guaranteed because competing demands remain to solve the conflict.

Israel wants Hamas to disarm, and Hamas wants Israel to pull its troops out of all of Gaza. The future of Gaza's government, which has been in Hamas' hands for two decades, also remains to be worked out.

Here are issues that remain unsolved.

"Egypt will work with the United States in coordination with partners in the coming days to lay the foundation for the reconstruction of the Strip, and we intend to host an early recovery, reconstruction and development conference," Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi said on Monday.

El-Sissi has asked US President Trump, who told world leaders that "rebuilding is maybe going to be the easiest part," to support the conference.

In Sharm El-Sheikh on Monday, Trump said: "We know how to build better than anybody in the world."

The World Bank and Egypt's postwar plans envision reconstruction and recovery costs in Gaza upwards of $53 billion (€46 billion). 

US President Donald Trump announced "peace in the Middle East" as he officially signed off his plan for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

"Together we have achieved what everybody said was impossible," Trump said, alongside the leaders of Egypt, Qatar and Turkey, all of whom were key mediators in bringing about the deal.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi praised Trump for sealing the ceasefire in Gaza, saying the deal "closes a painful chapter in human history and opens a new era of peace and stability" for the region.

El-Sissi also announced that the US president will be awarded Egypt's top civilian honor. 

As people in the Gaza Strip return home after a fragile ceasefire, many find only rubble and loss, writes DW correspondent in Jerusalem, Tania Krämer. With homes destroyed and futures uncertain, the scars of war run deep — and the hope for peace remains fragile.

Here's the article in full.

During a bilateral meeting in Egypt, President Trump said that the second phase of peace negotiations between Hamas and Israel was already underway.

"It's started far as we're concerned," Trump told reporters while sitting next to Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah el-Sissi. "As you know, the phases are all a little bit mixed up with each other," Trump said, adding that the Gaza Strip "needs a lot of cleaning up."

If you're just joining us, here are three helpful things to remember. One,Hamas has released all living Israeli hostages, and Israel has released nearly 2,000 Palestinians it had held under a US-led ceasefire deal.

US President Trump, whose administration brokered the deal, addressed the Israeli parliament, hailing the "historic dawn of a new Middle East." Trump then flew to Egypt to host a summit on Gaza, with at least 20 world leaders in attendance. 

And the return of bodies of just four hostages by Hamas has families accusing the militant group of violating the ceasefire agreement, with the Hostage and Missing Families Forum calling for an "immediate suspension" of the peace deal until every deceased hostage is returned. 

 

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi praised US President Donald Trump ahead of a summit aimed at supporting the ceasefire reached in Gaza.

According to el-Sissi, Trump was "the only one" who could bring peace to the region.

In return, Trump praised el-Sissi as "very powerful," adding that Egypt has "very little crime" because "they don't play games." El-Sissi had led the military overthrow of Egypt's first democratically elected president in 2013.

Hamas has handed over the coffins of two dead hostages to the Red Cross, the Israeli military said.

The remains of two other hostages are also expected to be transferred to the aid group today.

The militant group earlier this morning freed Israeli hostages in the first step of a long-awaited ceasefire deal. 

 

Red Cross officials were on their way to pick up a number of coffins bearing the remains of deceased hostages, the Israeli military said in a statement.

The Israeli military said the organization is "on its way to the meeting point" in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, where "several coffins" will be transferred into Red Cross custody.

Earlier Monday, Hamas said it would only return four of the 28 bodies held in the enclave on Monday.