Israel and Hamas have ‘reached an agreement to release hostages in exchange for hostages and prisoners and a return to a sustainable calm,' says Qatari Foreign Ministry
Qatar, Egypt and the US vowed Wednesday to guarantee the implementation of a Gaza cease-fire agreement between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, which is expected to come into effect on Jan. 19.
The three countries announced that “the parties to the conflict in Gaza have reached an agreement to release hostages in exchange for hostages and prisoners and a return to a sustainable calm ultimately achieving a permanent cease-fire between the parties,” according to a Qatari Foreign Ministry statement.
“The agreement is expected to come into effect as of 19 January 2025,” the joint statement added.
“The agreement reached by the two parties includes three stages.
“The first stage, which lasts for 42 days, includes a cease-fire, the withdrawal and redeployment of Israeli forces outside densely populated areas, the release of hostages and exchange of prisoners and detainees, the exchange of the remains of the deceased, the return of internally displaced persons to their places of residence in the Gaza Strip, and facilitating the departure of patients and wounded to receive treatment,” the statement said.
The first stage “also includes intensifying the safe and effective entry and distribution of humanitarian aid on a large scale throughout the Gaza Strip, rehabilitating hospitals, health centers, and bakeries, bringing in civil defense supplies and fuel, and bringing in shelter supplies for displaced persons who lost their homes due to the war.”
The three countries affirmed that their policy as guarantors of this agreement “is to help ensure that all three of its stages will be fully implemented by both parties.”
The mediators “will work together to ensure that the parties implement their obligations in the agreement and that the three stages continue in full. The guarantors will also work in coordination with the UN, other providers of assistance, and partners from around the world to support the rapid and sustained surge of humanitarian aid into Gaza under the terms outlined in the agreement.”
Qatar, Egypt and the US also called on other countries “to join and support these efforts under mechanisms we have established to help implement the agreement.”
