A prisoner exchange is due to take place on Monday after a deal was reached during negotiations in Egypt last week.
The talks ended with an announcement that Israel and Hamas signed off on the first phase of the US-led peace plan. The plan includes all Israeli hostages being released and Israel withdrawing its troops to an agreed-upon line.
Leaders from more than 20 countries will attend an international summit this week to discuss the proposal to end the war.
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Last week was a significant milestone in the journey towards peace as indirect negotiations between Hamas and Isarel took place in Egypt.
The talks ended with an announcement that Israel and Hamas signed off on the first phase of the US-led peace plan. The plan includes all Israeli hostages being released and Israel withdrawing its troops to an agreed-upon line.
Under the ceasefire agreement, Hamas is due to release the 2o remaining living hostages by noon on Monday local time. Israel will then release 1,700 Palestinians who have been detained in Gaza.
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October 7 marked two years since the Hamas attack on Israel that saw 1,139 people killed and approximately 200 taken hostage. Two years on over 67,000 Palestinians have been killed and almost 170,000 injured through Israel’s retaliation. Famine has been declared in Gaza, and a United Nations enquiry has described Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocide.
The horrors are difficult to digest, impossible to fathom. And the reality of the war is challenging to continue to engage with. As empathic, global citizens, we are torn between passionately advocating for peace and a sense of overwhelm and hopelessness at the vastness of the tragedy.
As we recently passed the two-year milestone of the current conflict, we must continue to unite in hope if we want to avoid apathy.
Israel and Hamas both endorsed many parts of United States 20-point plan to end the war with the talks in Egypt signaling the most tangible movements towards peace since the conflict began.
As of Monday, the ceasefire has held in Gaza for a fourth day, and thousands of Palestinians are traveling north, hopeful of returning to Gaza City if peace is maintained.
If the ceasefire brings peace to Gaza, rebuilding the nation and the people, will be a mammoth undertaking.
With famine recently declared, Christian Aid Program Manager, Katie Roxburgh, explains how children are experiencing the worst impacts of starvation.
“Around about a third of those who have died from starvation have been children, and children are obviously impacted, among the worst in the population,” she says.
“People are passing out, having excessive weight loss, there’s weakness of muscles, hair loss, eyesight has gone, and those are the kind of stories that we’re hearing from some of the volunteer teachers in those spaces, is that while there are these space where children are able to go to learn, it’s extremely difficult for children to muster up the energy because of the lack of food that they are getting.”
After two years of living under constant bombardment, Katie explains that the fear of death is almost as terrifying as death itself. A staff member who works with one of Christian Aid’s partners who supports women and girls in Gaza told Katie has she sees the white light that people see begore they die every night before going to sleep since the start of the ground invasion.
“She says it’s utterly terrifying, and no one is able to sleep,” says Katie.
“She told me that if the bombs don’t kill her, she thinks the fear will, just this constant bombardment of noise that feels so close to her and kind of getting closer and closer.”
~ Katie Roxburgh, Program Manager, Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory, Christian Aid
For our ACT Alliance local partners and their families, and for communities in Gaza, peace is desperately needed.
While questions remain about the future of reconstructing and governing Gaza, we hold onto hope that peace may be around the corner.
You can give today to help families in Gaza receive life-saving support including emergency food, medical assistance and safe learning spaces for children.
Photo 1 & 3 Credit: Christian Aid/Omar Al-Qattaa
Photo 2 Credit: Majdi Fathi/Christian Aid