A four-day temporary pause agreement in the war between Hamas and Israel will enable the release of about 50 people who have been held captive in Gaza since the Hamas fighters stormed southern Israel on October 7, in exchange for 150 Palestinians held in Israeli jails.
The Qatar-mediated deal that commenced in the early hours of Wednesday morning Israeli cabinet backed it. Meanwhile, the Israeli government has announced a one-day extension in fighting for every release of an additional 10 Israeli captives held by Hamas.
The Hamas authorities also confirmed the deal and urged the Israeli government to stop all military actions in Gaza and that hundreds of trucks carrying humanitarian, medical, and fuel aid would be allowed into the territory.
The hard-earned and long-awaited Hamas-Israel truce finally turned into a reality as the weeks-long hostility, ruthless bombardment, and shelling flattened vast parts of Gaza, which is home to about 2.3 million people.
Prompting the worst humanitarian crisis in Palestinian territory, the latest wave of violence killed at least 14000 Palestinians, wounding thousands of others, forcing nearly 1.7 million people out of their homes.
The recent conflict killed about 1200 Israelis creating the worst hostage crisis in history, on the other hand. Meanwhile, Hamas’s planned surgical strike basically destroyed Israel’s story of an unbeatable nation and pushed the Palestine intifada movement to the next stage while alerting the world as well as Israel about the urgency of a peaceful and just resolution of the Palestine dispute.
That is the only solution to the Middle East problem as well as the sole recipe for lasting peace in the region. The temporary pause in the ongoing conflict is of great importance as the Gaza Strip has now turned into a major warzone and millions of Palestinians not only face serious risk to their safety and security in the wake of brutal Israeli aerial bombing and ground offensive.
Non-availability of food, fuel, water, and medical supplies has caused utmost problems for common civilians. After the truce has become effective, humanitarian aid has flown into Gaza unrestrictedly without any condition, that the voluntary evacuation of the masses, patients, and injured must be permitted to leave the conflict zone.
The international community including Qatar and Egypt plus major nations that facilitated the historic deal and the United States must work to manifest this temporary pause into a long-lasting peace deal, the release of all Israeli hostages and freedom of all Palestinian prisoners along with paving the way for the logical conclusion of the decades-long Palestine dispute.
Traditionally, unjust occupation, simmering conflict, and unceasing oppression of weak communities could never guarantee a peaceful and prosperous future for any nation.
It is not possible that Israel kept occupation of Palestinian territory, enslaved over 3 million Palestinians, or forcefully pushed them out of their land and the Jewish nation built a safe, secure, and prosperous state over Arab land.
The Israelis themselves experienced and the world has witnessed that peace is not possible without the implementation of the two-state solution and the creation of a separate and viable Palestinian state.
It is a movement of decision and sagacity for the Netanyahu regime to barter peace and safety for his nation in reward for an autonomous Palestine otherwise the events of October 7 will repeatedly escalate in the future.
The global community must seize this opportunity if it desires permanent peace in the Middle East region and should realize that the two-state solution is the only viable path to reach that destination.
From now on, the behavior of Israeli leadership and their Western allies will determine the possibility of permanent peace and fear-free political landscapes of the Middle East in the future.
