Premature to predict implementation of ceasefure between Israel and Hamas

By Vikas Meshram*

After nearly 15 months of war and several arduous rounds of negotiations, Hamas and Israel have agreed to a ceasefire. Amid the ongoing power transition in the United States, where leaders are vying to claim credit for ending the conflict, this agreement offers some respite to the people of Gaza, who have been grappling with a dire humanitarian crisis. Despite repeated efforts by the United Nations and initiatives from Islamic nations in the Middle East, peace talks have yet to yield lasting success. This war has claimed the lives of approximately 50,000 people, and rebuilding the destruction caused across various parts of Gaza might take decades.

While the agreement between Israel and Hamas on a ceasefire is significant, predicting its implementation is premature. Following the October 23 Hamas attack that deeply wounded Israel, the latter has grown weary of continuous fighting on multiple fronts. Yet, Arab nations continue to question Israel's credibility. Concerns arise as negotiations often derail before reaching their final stages, and a constant cycle of discussions and attacks persists. The future will determine the sincerity of both parties in adhering to this agreement.

Political opposition and divisions within the Israeli cabinet over the release of hostages persist. However, there is also a demand to provide relief to the Israeli military, exhausted after this prolonged war. Still, the agreement on a ceasefire has rekindled hopes for peace. While incumbent U.S. President Joe Biden and newly elected President Donald Trump are competing to claim credit for this deal, Iran is celebrating it as a victory for Palestinian resistance.

The recent agreement includes an Israeli military withdrawal from Gaza, the phased release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, and reconstruction efforts in Gaza. Additionally, displaced people from Gaza will be allowed to return. However, obstacles to delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza must still be overcome.

On October 7, 2023, a brutal Hamas attack killed 1,200 Israelis, with approximately 250 individuals taken hostage. Israel's retaliation was inevitable, but no one expected the conflict to last 15 months. Although some hostages were released and others died during fighting, the remaining hostages left the Netanyahu government under intense pressure. Hamas claims that Israeli attacks have killed around 50,000 people, as reported by its health ministry. While it is difficult to ascertain the number of Hamas fighters killed, countless women and children have lost their lives in this war. An estimated 2 million people have been displaced by the Gaza conflict, creating an unprecedented humanitarian crisis. Hospitals and schools, considered safe havens for refugees, were also targeted by Israeli strikes. Israel faces allegations of war crimes in the International Court of Justice.

As the situation begins to shift towards peace after a long time, the international community and the United Nations must oversee the agreement's implementation to ensure sustainable peace in the Middle East. War cannot be a substitute for peace. While Hamas initiated the conflict, those who were not responsible for it paid the highest price.

Doubts remain about whether this agreement will provide a lasting solution to the Palestinian crisis. However, the Palestinians, who have endured the horrors of war and the impact of climate shocks, will undoubtedly gain some relief. The ceasefire news brought thousands onto Gaza's streets, hoping for an end to daily bombings and gunfire. Despite lingering uncertainties, disagreements over the details of Israel's partial withdrawal and the list of hostages to be released were resolved at the last moment. The ceasefire officially began on Sunday.

Although this is not the end of the war, halting the violence is a significant relief for the 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza. The agreement is expected to be implemented in three phases. In the first phase, Hamas will release 33 hostages, while Israel will free about 1,000 Palestinian security prisoners. In the second phase, further exchanges of hostages and prisoners will take place, and both sides will be required to cease hostilities permanently. The third phase will involve discussions on "the future course," including deliberations on who should govern Gaza.

Currently, both sides are focused on the first phase. Problems may arise when the next stage of negotiations begins. At the onset of this war, Israel set two goals for itself—eliminating Hamas and freeing the hostages. In the 15-month war, Israel weakened Hamas's terrorist infrastructure, but the group has survived and reestablished itself as a rebel force.

According to outgoing U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Hamas recruited as many fighters as it lost during the war. Israel's inability to destroy Hamas or aggressively rescue hostages raises serious questions about the IDF's military strategy in Gaza. This could be one reason Benjamin Netanyahu was compelled to accept the ceasefire. However, he has made no commitments to ending the war.

Hamas, on the other hand, demands Israel's complete withdrawal from Gaza. Despite potential obstacles, the ceasefire is a welcome development. It provides Gaza with much-needed relief and a platform for further negotiations. Post-war, Israel, Palestinians, and international mediators must work to bridge the gaps.

Israel is unlikely to accept any terms that leave Hamas as a dominant force in Gaza. Establishing a unified administration led by the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority and focusing on Gaza's reconstruction seems to be a more practical solution. However, for this plan to succeed and peace to prevail, Israel must be willing to withdraw all its forces from the Gaza Strip.

---

*Journalist

Comments

Was Netaji forced to alter face, die in obscurity in USSR in 1975? Was he so meek?

By Rajiv Shah This should sound almost hilarious. Not only did Subhas Chandra Bose not die in a plane crash in Taipei, nor was he the mysterious Gumnami Baba who reportedly passed away on 16 September 1985 in Ayodhya, but we are now told that he actually died in 1975—date unknown—“in oblivion” somewhere in the former Soviet Union. Which city? Moscow? No one seems to know.

Love letters in a lifelong war: Babusha Kohli’s resistance in verse

By Ravi Ranjan* “War does not determine who is right—only who is left.” Bertrand Russell’s words echo hauntingly in our times, and few contemporary Hindi poets embody this truth as profoundly as Babusha Kohli. Emerging from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, Kohli has carved a unique space in literature by weaving together tenderness, protest, and philosophy across poetry, prose, and cinema. Her work is not merely artistic expression—it is resistance, refuge, and a call for peace.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Asbestos contamination in children’s products highlights global oversight gaps

By A Representative A commentary published by the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat (IBAS) has drawn attention to the challenges governments face in responding effectively to global public-health risks. In an article written by Laurie Kazan-Allen and published on March 5, 2026, the author examines how the discovery of asbestos contamination in children’s play products has raised questions about regulatory oversight and international product safety. The article opens by reflecting on lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that governments in several countries were slow to respond to early warning signs of the crisis. Referring to the experience of the United Kingdom, the author writes that delays in implementing protective measures contributed to “232,112 recorded deaths and over a million people suffering from long Covid.” The commentary uses this example to illustrate what it describes as the dangers of underestimating emerging threats. Attention then turns...

Echoes of Vietnam and Chile: The devastating cost of the I-A Axis in Iran

By Ram Puniyani The recent joint military actions by Israel and the United States against Iran have been devastating. Like all wars, this conflict is brutal to its core, leaving a trail of human suffering in its wake. The stated pretext for this aggression—the brutality of the Ayatollah Khamenei regime and its nuclear ambitions—clashes sharply with the reality of the diplomatic landscape. Iran had expressed a willingness to remain at the negotiating table, signaling a readiness to concede points emerging from dialogue.

Authoritarian destruction of the public sphere in Ecuador: Trumpism in action?

By Pilar Troya Fernández The situation in Ecuador under Daniel Noboa's government is one of authoritarianism advancing on several fronts simultaneously to consolidate neoliberalism and total submission to the US international agenda. These are not isolated measures, but rather a coordinated strategy that combines job insecurity, the dismantling of the welfare state, unrestricted access to mining, the continuation of oil exploitation without environmental considerations, the centralization of power through the financial suffocation of local governments, and the systematic criminalization of all forms of opposition and popular organization.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Rajiv Shah Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

The kitchen as prison: A feminist elegy for domestic slavery

By Garima Srivastava* Kumar Ambuj stands as one of the most incisive voices in contemporary Hindi poetry. His work, stripped of ornamentation, speaks directly to the lived realities of India’s marginalized—women, the rural poor, and those crushed under invisible forms of violence. His celebrated poem “Women Who Cook” (Khānā Banātī Striyāṃ) is not merely about food preparation; it is a searing indictment of patriarchal domestic structures that reduce women’s existence to endless, unpaid labour.

The price of silence: Why Modi won’t follow Shastri, appeal for sacrifice

By Arundhati Dhuru, Sandeep Pandey* In 1965, as India grappled with war and a crippling food crisis, Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri faced a United States that used wheat shipments under the PL-480 agreement as a lever to dictate Indian foreign policy. Shastri’s response remains legendary: he appealed to the nation to skip one meal a day. Millions of middle-class households complied, choosing temporary hunger over the sacrifice of national dignity. Today, India faces a modern equivalent in the energy sector, yet the leadership’s response stands in stark contrast to that era of self-reliance.

Search This Blog