After months of negotiations, Netanyahu was forced to sign a ceasefire that he had strongly rejected since July 2024. The agreement begins to operate on Sunday, January 19th, and would consist of three phases. In the first, which would last 42 days, a ceasefire would be imposed and Hamas pledged to hand over 33 hostages. In return, Israel would release ‘several hundred’ Palestinian prisoners held in Zionist jails.
The agreement includes the phased withdrawal of invading troops from Gaza, from major urban centres and from the Netzarim corridor, which currently divides the strip in two. However, some units of the forces will remain on the border. This agreement would allow the return of nearly 2.5 million displaced Palestinians living in refugee camps and the entry of 600 trucks of humanitarian aid per day through the border crossings with Egypt, and would free the Philadelphi crossing, currently controlled by Israel. The second phase would impose a permanent ceasefire, the surrender of all hostages and the withdrawal of 100% of troops. Negotiations in this phase would begin on the 16th day of the first phase. The third phase would consist of resolving the governance of Gaza and its reconstruction.
The world mobilisation and the Palestinian resistance obtained an important triumph as it imposes on the Zionist government that the only way to get the hostages back is with the withdrawal of all Israeli troops. Once again, Israel, even if only momentarily, fails in its expansionist plan: Israel and the arms of the USA and the EU could not liquidate the resistance!
After more than a year of genocide in Gaza, Israel did not achieve any of the objectives it set for itself when it started the aggression following October 7th, 2023: it could not occupy the territory of Gaza, and now it should withdraw all troops; it did not succeed in liquidating Hamas and the other organisations of the Palestinian resistance, and the hostages will only be recovered after the agreement that has just been signed, and for which it must continue to fight to impose it.
The combination of the heroic resistance of the Palestinian people, the expansion of the global mobilisation in repudiation of the genocide, the internal crisis and Netanyahu’s international isolation imposed an agreement on his government that had been presented back in May-June 2024 and which he had so far refused to sign. While Israel’s cabinet must ratify the agreement, the crisis within the government is deepening. Already, National Security Minister Ben Gvir considers the agreement ‘a surrender’ and calls on other officials to resign. The far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, considers the deal ‘bad and dangerous’. On the other hand, Israel’s President Issac Herzog, who appeared to announce the deal, urged members of Netanyahu’s government to accept it.
For his part, the head of US imperialism, Joe Biden, claims to have achieved the signing of the agreement and hypocritically argues that ‘the Palestinian people deserved it’, that ‘the innocent people of Gaza will now have access to humanitarian aid’. Aid that did not arrive because of the criminal siege imposed by Israel, which the United States and the European Union financed and armed to the teeth, weapons with which Netanyahu executed the genocide against the Palestinian people. Trump, who will take office on January 20th, said on his social networking site Truth Social that the White House ‘will continue to work closely with Israel and our allies to ensure that Gaza never again becomes a safe haven for terrorists’.Sustaining mobilisation until full troop withdrawal and defending the integrity of all of Palestine
The third phase of the agreement is the most problematic and will depend on the continued mobilisation and international solidarity of the peoples of the world with the resistance and the Palestinian people, until there is not a single Israeli soldier left in Gaza and in all of Palestine.
From the International Workers’ Unity – Fourth International (IWU-FI), we call on the democratic, working class and youth organisations of the world to support the mobilisation: Out with all Israeli troops from Gaza! Enough bombing! For the immediate opening of all border crossings for the massive arrival of international aid to put an end to hunger and disease! Punishment for Netanyahu and justice for the victims of the genocide! For the reconstruction of Gaza and all of destroyed Palestine, without military intervention by Israel and the imperialist powers! For the free self-determination of Gaza and recognition of its government and its organisations! No to political intervention in Gaza and Palestine! We demand: Not one dollar more to the genocidal machine! Break off economic, political, military and diplomatic relations with Israel! For a free Palestine from the river to the sea!
