A photo documenting the moment the buses carrying the Palestinian prisoners who were released in the exchange deal with the Palestinian resistance arrived in the town of Beitunia, west of Ramallah. Source: Mohammad Nazzal
After over fifteen months of indiscriminate bombing, starvation, siege, bombardment, and killing of Palestinians in Gaza, a ceasefire has been achieved.
On Jan 16, the Prime Minister of Qatar, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim bin Jabr Al Thani, announced that a ceasefire had been achieved after over a year of negotiations between Egypt, Qatar, and the United States, as well as Hamas and Israeli officials.
The ceasefire plan was first introduced by former President Joe Biden on May 27, 2024, and negotiations to achieve this plan came close many times only to fall apart at the last second.
After winning the Presidential election back in November 2024, President Donald Trump announced that he wanted to secure a ceasefire and hostage exchange deal before he assumed office on Jan. 20. Surely enough, he kept his word, and sent his Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, to Qatar to speed up negotiations and secure the deal.
Half a week after Witkoff went to Qatar, Hamas and Israel were able to come to an agreement.
Throughout the last year of office for the Biden Administration, they claimed that they were working “around the clock” to secure the deal. However, I find that hard to believe. I think it was the last of their worries and that they did not care about achieving a ceasefire.
How is it that Biden claimed to be working around the clock and couldn’t accomplish anything, yet Trump, who hadn’t even assumed office at that point, was able to achieve it within a few days? This clearly shows who has the upper hand over Israel.
Biden wanted to take the credit for the ceasefire because it was achieved on his last day of office, however, he doesn’t deserve it in the slightest. Biden will always be known as the butcher of Gaza and Genocide Joe.
This isn’t to say that Trump is a saint or will be any better for the Palestinian people, as every president elected in the U.S. has unwavering loyalty and support for the genocidal entity of Israel.
The ceasefire and hostage exchange deal is broken up into three phases. The first phase began on Jan 19, and is supposed to last forty-three days. It will start with a temporary ceasefire, with negotiations to ensure a permanent ceasefire taking place around the first week of February.
Israeli forces are expected to fully withdraw from the Gaza Strip during the first phase. Six hundred food and aid trucks will enter the strip daily, Palestinians will be allowed to travel for medical treatment, and in total thirty-three Israeli hostages will be released.
For every Israeli civilian that Hamas releases, Israel will release thirty Palestinian prisoners, and for every Israeli soldier, fifty Palestinian prisoners will be released.
The first day of the ceasefire oversaw the release of three Israeli civilian hostages in exchange for ninety-five Palestinian prisoners, mostly women and children.
On Jan. 25, Hamas released four Israeli soldiers, and in return, 200 Palestinian prisoners serving life-sentences were released, including Mohammad Al-Arda who was part of the Freedom Tunnel Six.
In 2021, six Palestinian prisoners escaped a high-security Israeli prison by digging with just one spoon. They were roaming free for a few days but were unfortunately captured again.
This is the largest prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas since the 2011 Wafa Al-Ahrar prisoner exchange, in which Israel released over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners for one Israeli soldier held by Hamas named Gilad Shalit.
This prisoner exchange is called Toufan Al-Ahrar, meaning Flood of the Free, while Wafa Al-Ahrar means Faithful to the Free. It is expected that Israel will release anywhere between 1,000-3,000 Palestinian prisoners throughout the three phases of the ceasefire agreement.
While a ceasefire in Gaza has been achieved and implemented so far, the fight is far from over. Even though a ceasefire has been called in Gaza, there is no ceasefire in the West Bank. Cities such as Jenin, Naklus, Tulkarm, and Qalqilya are still under attack with no stop in sight.
A ceasefire is the floor, liberation is the ceiling.
I am praying for the immediate release of all our Palestinian prisoners suffering in Israeli prisons, and I am praying for the people of Gaza who have sacrificed so much during this genocide. May they find healing and peace.
Free Palestine.