Israel and Hamas take their first step towards peace

Aid set to surge into Gaza as remaining hostages are released

- JAMES C. REYNOLDS BEL TREW

Israel and Hamas took a historic first step towards peace yesterday, signing an agreement for a ceasefire, hostage exchange and partial Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

Donald Trump said he hoped to visit the Middle East in the coming days and that hostages would be released at the start of next week, as the region dared to hope for an end to the violence after two unprecedented and bloody years.

The armistice notably only secures agreement for the “first phase” of a more comprehensive peace deal, and large knots — including agreement on a two-state solution - remain to be untangled.

As part of the deal, expected to be ratified by Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet late yesterday, Israel will halt its operations and partly withdraw troops from Gaza, leaving space for Hamas to begin the process of releasing the remaining hostages, and for Israel, in turn, to release Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.

Trucks carrying food and aid will also be allowed to surge into Gaza to relieve civilians, hundreds of thousands of whom have been sheltering in tents after Israeli forces razed much of the enclave.

A source familiar with the negotiations told The Independent that Hamas would start releasing the 20 hostages believed to still be alive as soon as Sunday and as many as five aid crossings would be opened to deliver badly needed supplies. Discussions on a second stage of the agreement are expected to begin the following day.

President Trump said that “all of the remaining hostages” should be “released on Monday or Tuesday” in what he described as a “complicated process” that will mark “a day of joy”.