The emotions surrounding the freeing of hostages after 471 days in captivity at the bomb-ravaged Al-Saraya Square in the Gaza Strip were indescribably poignant. As the trio was whisked away in Red Cross vehicles to an Israeli hospital, the relief was palpable as it was around the world too as the first promising signs that the ceasefire will hold were seen and were reinforced by the release of a first set of 90 Palestinian women and minors into Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Nothing brings out the senselessness of war more heartrendingly than when the fighting stops and the people, be they the innocents of Gaza who were pulverised in the crossfire between their militant rulers and their aggressors in the Israeli armed forces who were unleashed to avenge the barbarity of Hamas in igniting this 15-month war with a day’s strike on Israel, get to experience the hope of a lasting peace.
The threat may be far from over as Hamas will try to rearm as the Israelis pause to take count even as their hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu assumes a menacing tone in warning of resuming military action — read indiscriminate bombing of urban places — if Hamas does not respect all the conditions laid out for a six-week truce before the more complicated stage of the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza kicks in.
The very fact that peace prevails for the moment as a first set of Palestinian prisoners were exchanged for the three hostages held in Gaza tunnels for so long is nothing short of a miracle. Donald Trump predictably jumped the gun in taking credit, claiming his threat of there being hell to pay if Hamas continues to rule Gaza. And yet he must be given credit for the deal beginning on such a positive note, despite all the misgivings.
The outgoing US President Joe Biden and his chief emissary Antony Blinken had thrown everything into hectic negotiations towards getting a ceasefire in place a day before the US president was to depart the White House. Netanyahu had bowed to the inevitable as the pressure grew on him, including with the far-right members of his coalition government not just threatening but indeed walking out of his Cabinet.
The disproportionate numbers in the hostages-for-prisoners swap that can run into hundreds of Palestinians for one Israeli or international hostage may not be popular in Israel. However, this signals a willingness to sacrifice something for the lives of Israelis. The greater challenges lie ahead as negotiations must begin for ending the presence of Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip. The fact that Hamas is already putting up a show of force in its militants, waving rifles and motoring around Gaza in pickup trucks, heightens tensions and uncertainty.
Only international intervention in giving shape to an authority to run an interim administration in Gaza can this war really come to an end. The fact is Gaza is miles away from such a measure and Donald Trump in the White House is likely to support Israel if it ever must act again to contain the menace of Hamas.
However justifiable Hamas’ anger may be over Israel as a State and its killing of nearly 47,000 Palestinians — including women and children besides combatants — in the latest 15-month war in which much of Gaza has been bombed into unrecognisable shape, it must see reason in the hunt for peace. Fragile as the peace may seem, Gaza lives in a time of great hope.
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