More than 15 months after an attack by Hamas on Israel triggered the most brutal war in recent times, a ceasefire agreement promises to deliver a semblance of relief to the 2.3 million people of Gaza and the families of the Israelis who were taken hostage on October 7, 2023. Since the events of that day, more than 46,000 people, most of them women and children, have been killed in the Palestinian enclave in an Israeli war of retribution that many experts believe took on genocidal proportions. Israel, too, has suffered: nearly 1,200 people were killed in the Hamas attacks, and hundreds were taken hostage. Dozens of them remain in captivity. The ceasefire agreement announced on Wednesday by President Joe Biden of the United States of America, his incoming successor, Donald Trump, and the government of Qatar — the primary mediator alongside the US — has sparked hope that the violence in Gaza will end and that Israeli hostages will return home. But this agreement — from when it was conceived by Mr Biden’s team last year to its delivery this week — is also a reminder of the challenges that still await all those who genuinely desire peace and justice.
The Israeli cabinet will vote on the ceasefire deal even as Israel continues to strike Gaza and kill people. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has previously walked back from breakthroughs announced by Mr Biden. What is different this time is the shadow of Mr Trump who had pledged that there would be a ceasefire in place by the time he takes office on January 20. Mr Netanyahu, most analysts believe, will not want to cross Mr Trump, a valuable ally. Still, much remains unclear about what the Israeli prime minister, who faces significant domestic political criticism over his handling of the war, will demand from the US in return. Will he seek Washington’s blessing to annex the West Bank, for instance? The ceasefire declaration — the fighting is meant to stop on Sunday, a day before Mr Trump takes office — has set off celebrations among ordinary Palestinians but when the multi-phase ceasefire deal eventually allows them to return home, most of them will only have rubble to go back to. Most Gaza houses, schools, hospitals and colleges have been bombed to rubble by Israel. Rebuilding them will take years, as will the search for justice. For now, a devastated people deserve the respite that has long been overdue to them. The world needs to make sure that this peace lasts.