The Ceasefire

The Israelis have reached a ceasefire agreement with Hamas. Andrew Mills, Nidal Al-Mughrabi and Maayan Lubell report at Reuters:

DOHA/CAIRO/JERUSALEM, Jan 15 (Reuters) – Negotiators reached a phased deal on Wednesday to end the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, an official briefed on the negotiations said, after 15 months of bloodshed that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and inflamed the Middle East.
The complex accord, which has not yet been formally announced, outlines a six-week initial ceasefire phase and includes the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip and release of hostages taken by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, the official told Reuters.

U.S. President Joe Biden later confirmed a deal had been struck, and the prime minister of Qatar, one of the key mediators, said the ceasefire would take effect on Jan. 19.

Palestinians celebrated in streets across Israeli-besieged Gaza – where they have faced an acute humanitarian crisis with severe shortages of food, water and fuel – as explosions from new Israeli air strikes continued.

I have little opinion on this. It’s Israel’s war and Israel’s problem.

I doubt that “ceasefire” will mean much. Not only is Hamas not the only terrorist organization at work in Gaza and the West Bank, whatever authority Hamas had over the other terrorists must surely be gone by now. And changing from a Hamas fighter to an Islamic Jihad fighter is simpler than changing your knickers.

I will be interested to learn how many hostages actually remain alive. Based on the description we may not know after the conclusion of “Phase 1”.

I also think we have been somewhat passive in this whole matter. Apparently, holding dual Israeli-U. S. citizenship doesn’t mean a great deal.