Israel and the Palestinian armed group Hamas have reached a ceasefire that will end Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip and lead to the release of some hostages held by the militant group for more than a year, mediators and officials said on Wednesday. The ceasefire will reportedly take effect on this Sunday, January 19, and will last at least 42 days.
US officials say the deal will stop the fighting in Gaza and allow much-needed humanitarian aid to reach Palestinian civilians.
Humanitarian aid into Gaza has been obstructed by Israeli officials for more than a year, in gross violation of international humanitarian law and apparently as a method of warfare.
Other aspects of the agreed deal reportedly include the return of Palestinians forcibly displaced by Israeli forces to their homes throughout the Gaza Strip. The deal includes a full and complete ceasefire and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
Under the deal, Hamas is expected to release the hostages it has held since it launched an attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. In return, Israeli authorities will release Palestinian prisoners and carry out a phased troop withdrawal from Gaza.
An unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe has been raging in Gaza for mor than fifteen months, with people dying from widespread attacks, starvation, dehydration, disease and hypothermia. Relentless operations by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have caused mass casualties and widespread destruction.
Israel launched its war on Gaza following a cross-border attack by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups in October 2023, which killed more than 1,200 people, mostly civilians. More than 240 hostages were abducted and taken back to Gaza. Nearly 100 hostages are still being held by Hamas, about a third of whom are believed to be dead.
Between October 7, 2023 and January 14, 2025, more than 46,600 Palestinians have been killed and more than 110,000 others wounded, most of them civilians, according to Gaza health officials. An estimated 15,000 children are among the dead. More than 10,000 people, including thousands of children, are missing and presumed dead.
However, according to an analysis by researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), the death toll from Israel's war in Gaza is far higher than official figures.
The analysis, published earlier this month in The Lancet, estimates that more than 64,000 Palestinians died as a result of violence in Gaza between October 2023 and June 2024, suggesting that the death toll is under-reported by at least 40 percent.
The data does not include Palestinians who died from causes indirectly related to the war, such as starvation, dehydration and disease, nor does it include missing persons. Some 59 percent of the dead were women, children or the elderly, according to the peer-reviewed study.
According to UN officials, at least a quarter of the injured in Gaza - some 27,000 Palestinians - are estimated to require lifelong specialized rehabilitation and supportive care, including those with severe limb injuries, amputations, spinal cord injuries, traumatic brain injuries and severe burns.
The confirmed fatalities include at least 371 aid workers, 269 UN staff, 1069 health workers and 195 journalists.
On Wednesday, UN Secretary-General AntĂłnio Guterres urged all parties to the Gaza war to finalize a ceasefire and the release of hostages, as mediators said they were in the final stages of a deal.
“For months, there has been no ceiling to the suffering and no bottom to the horrors,” Guterres told the UN General Assembly of the situation in Gaza during a speech laying out his 2025 United Nations priorities.
“In Gaza, we have been relentless in calling for an immediate ceasefire. The immediate and unconditional release of the hostages. And immediate action to protect civilians and ensure the delivery of life-saving aid,” he said.
Guterres noted that “of course” nothing could justify the Hamas attacks on October 7, adding: “And nothing can justify the dramatic levels of death and destruction inflicted on the Palestinian people. “
The Secretary-General warned that impunity was endemic around the world, citing serial violations of international law, international humanitarian law, the UN Charter and "systematic attacks on our very institutions."
While the war in Gaza has been characterized by serious war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Israeli forces, a growing number of independent legal experts and international organizations - including Amnesty International - have concluded that Israel's actions in Gaza against Palestinians as a group amount to genocide.
International humanitarian law requires Israel to ensure that the basic needs of the people of Gaza are met. This includes ensuring that the people of Gaza have access to sufficient water, food, health care, and other basic necessities for survival. According to the Genocide Convention, acts amounting to genocide include the deliberate infliction on a group or part of a group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction.
Since Israel imposed a full siege on the Gaza Strip on October 9, the amount of aid entering the enclave has never been nearly enough to meet the needs on the ground. For more than a year, Israel has deliberately failed to provide or even facilitate the delivery of critical supplies to the 2.1 million people still surviving in Gaza.
Ahead of the ceasefire announcement, the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) on Wednesday reiterated its call for full compliance with international human rights norms and standards throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) in order to realize the full range of Palestinians' human rights.
OHCHR said that Israel must ensure full compliance with international humanitarian law (IHL) in Gaza and launch independent, effective and transparent investigations into all Israeli attacks that appear to violate the basic principles of IHL, holding those responsible to account.
Looking ahead, it will probably take years to prosecute thousands of Israeli government officials, military officers, and soldiers accused of committing some of the worst crimes known to humankind during the Gaza war.
These alleged crimes include collective punishment of civilians, use of starvation as a method of warfare, denial of humanitarian aid, indiscriminate killing of civilians, disproportionate attacks, forced displacement, torture, enforced disappearances, and other atrocity crimes.
Israeli courts and the International Criminal Court (ICC) will hardly be able to cope. National courts in other countries operating on the principle of universal jurisdiction and international criminal tribunals will likely have to shoulder some of the caseload to end impunity in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.