Israel, Hamas reach ceasefire and hostage deal

From Germany's Olaf Scholz to France's Emmanuel Macron, European leaders have welcomed the news of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas. 

Read here: European leaders welcome Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has reacted to the ceasefire agreement between Israel and the Islamist militant group Hamas in Gaza.

"The war has exacted a horrific toll on Gaza's children," UNICEF's Executive Director Catherine Russell said in a statement, adding that the scale of humanitarian needs in the enclave is "enormous."

According to the Hamas-led Health Ministry in Gaza, at least 14,500 children have been killed since October 2023, with an estimated 17,000 children remaining unaccompanied or separated from their parents. 

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, the organization that represents the majority of family members of Israeli hostages held in Gaza, welcomed the ceasefire deal, calling it "an important and significant development."

At the same time, the Forum said it was just the beginning. "The announcement does now allow the families to be happy or relieved," the Forum said in a post on its Facebook page. "Our breath will remain held until all of our loved ones are home."

The Tikva Forum, a right-wing group representing a small number of hostages' family members, condemned the deal, saying it would result in many hostages being left behind.

"The deal would also pave the way for the next massacre and for more hostages," the Forum said.

DW spoke with the son of the Gadi Moses, who was abducted from his home during the October 7, 2023, terror attacks on Israel.

Yair Moses said he was cautiously optimistic about the ceasefire and hostage-release deal between Israel and Hamas, saying it was "very hard to think even what this is going to be."

"It will take a long time before people will be back and it will be very hard for us to wait." Since the deal will be implemented in three phases and the 98 hostages in Gaza will be released over the course of the three phases, Moses says he's not fully sure when his father will be back.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held calls with both US President-elect Donald Trump and President Joe Biden to thank them for their support in advancing the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.

In a statement released by Netanyahu's office, the Israeli leader said he "congratulated President-elect Trump for saying the US will work with Israel so that Gaza will never be a shelter for terrorism again."

According to the statement, Trump and Netanyahu have agreed to meet in Washington "soon."

The Israeli statement also noted that Netanyahu had spoken to Biden, thanking him "for his assistance in advancing the hostage deal."

The Israeli military has released a public name for its mission to see the return of hostages, calling it "Wings of Freedom."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in a statement that he will only make an official announcement once the final details have been agreed on.

Netanyahu will have to get approval for the deal from his security Cabinet as well as his full Cabinet before the ceasefire and hostage deal can go into effect. 

Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah el-Sissi underlined the "importance of accelerating the entry of urgent humanitarian aid" into Gaza.

El-Sissi, whose country neighbors Gaza, welcomed the announcement of the ceasefire deal, saying the agreement came after "strenuous efforts over more than a year of Egyptian, Qatari and US mediation."

The Israeli military would begin withdrawing from population centers during the first phase of the deal, but would remain on the Gaza-Egypt border.

Egyptian security sources told the Associated Press news that coordination to open the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing to allow the entry of international aid into Gaza was underway.

Relatives of hostages taken captive after the October 7, 2023, attacks have waited for more than 15 months to receive news about the fate of their loved ones. DW speaks to some of them.

While the first phase of the ceasefire deal is not "a problem," the second one will be "tough," counterterrorism analyst Hans-Jakob Schindler told DW.

"Because when you are in the second phase, you have to think about the third phase, that is sustainable ceasefire, the rebuilding of the Gaza strip," he said.

The first stage entails the release of 33 hostages held by Hamas over the course of six weeks.

In addition to the remainder of the hostages released, the second stage "would see the withdrawal of the Israeli army from most of the Gaza Strip, especially from the real security zone along the Egyptian border," he said.

The question then is who will be responsible for Gaza, Schindler pointed out.

"If the answer is there is no answer, then the chances are very high that after a short period of time, it's going to be Hamas again," he said.

Israel's far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, expressed his opposition to the Gaza ceasefire with Hamas, calling the agreement "dangerous" for Israel's security.

"The deal that will be presented to the government is a bad and dangerous deal for the security of the State of Israel," Smotrich said in a statement.

The hostage release and ceasefire agreement must be approved by Netanyahu's Cabinet before it can go into effect. Israeli media have reported a vote is likely to take place on Thursday.

The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said the organization is prepared to help implement the recently struck Gaza ceasefire and facilitate the exchange of prisoners and hostages.

The ICRC is "ready to facilitate any release operation as agreed by the parties so that hostages and detainees can return home," President Mirjana Spoljaric said in a statement.

She said the organization was "also prepared to massively scale up our humanitarian response in Gaza, where the situation demands it."

"This is only possible with political commitment from all sides to put humanity first and respect the rules of war," Spoljaric added.

The ICRC president noted that "the coming days are critical and we are counting on the parties to hold to their commitments."

"While the agreement is welcome, it is not the end. There are immense humanitarian needs that must be addressed, which will take months, if not years," Spoljaric said.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog has called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli government to approve the deal that will end 15 months of fighting in Gaza when it comes up for a Cabinet vote.

In a televised statement on Wednesday, the president, whose role is largely ceremonial, called the agreement the "right move" to ensure the return of all hostages.

"As the president of the state of Israel, I say in the clearest terms: This is the right move. This is an important move. This is a necessary move," Herzog said.

"There is no greater moral, human, Jewish or Israeli obligation than to bring our sons and daughters back to us — whether to recover at home or to be laid to rest," he added.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stressed the importance of allowing humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.

"It is imperative that this ceasefire removes the significant security and political obstacles to delivering aid across Gaza so that we can support a major increase in urgent life-saving humanitarian support," he said.

Meanwhile, the UN children's agency UNICEF called the agreement "long overdue."

"The war has exacted a horrific toll on Gaza's children —  reportedly leaving at least 14,500 dead, thousands more injured, an estimated 17,000 unaccompanied or separated from their parents, and nearly one million displaced from their homes," according to a UNICEF statement.

"The ceasefire must, finally, afford humanitarian actors the opportunity to safely roll out the massive response inside the Gaza Strip that is so desperately needed," the UNICEF statement added.

The Islamist militant group Hamas credited the "steadfastness" of the Palestinian people and its own "resistance" for the ceasefire deal with Israel to halt the war in Gaza.

"The ceasefire agreement is a result of the legendary steadfastness of our great Palestinian people and our valiant resistance in the Gaza Strip for over 15 months," Hamas said.

The group, designated as a terrorist organization by Germany, the United States, Israel and several other countries, added that the agreement paved "the way toward the realization of our people's aspirations for liberation and return."

Crowds of Palestinians in Gaza have been celebrating as news spreads that a ceasefire and hostage release deal had been reached between Israel and Hamas.

Residents of the Palestinian territory chanted and hugged after the announcement of an agreement aimed at ending more than 15 months of war there.

Although Israel has cautioned that several points "remain unresolved" that it hoped would be addressed Wednesday night, celebrations were already underway in Gaza. The truce is due to take effect on Sunday.

Many of those in the streets took photos to mark the announcement.

"I can't believe that this nightmare of more than a year is finally coming to an end. We have lost so many people, we've lost everything," Randa Sameeh, a 45-year-old displaced from Gaza City to the Nuseirat Camp in central Gaza, told the AP news agency. 

"We need a lot of rest," Sameeh added. "As soon as the truce begins, I will go to the cemetery to visit my brother and family members. We buried them in Deir el-Balah cemetery without proper graves. We will build them new graves and write their names on them."