A peace deal has been reached: 737 days after Hamas attacked Israel, both sides of the conflict have agreed to a peace deal, promising to return all hostages in the war to their homes and families. On Oct. 13, President Donald Trump, along with several other world leaders, announced that the U.S. helped facilitate a Gaza ceasefire deal that returned around 2,000 prisoners to Palestine. This came after the U.S helped negotiate an agreement to return the 20 surviving Israeli hostages in Gaza to Israel, along with the bodies of the other remaining hostages.
On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas launched severe attacks that infiltrated Israel during the Nova Music Festival. The attack resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, mainly civilians. Over the last two years, Israel and Hamas have been unable to come to a peace agreement, subjecting both sides to needless suffering and massive casualties. As a result, an estimated 67,000 people have been killed in total.
After signing this historic agreement, Trump said in a statement
that, “Together we’ve achieved what everybody said was impossible. At long last, we have peace in the Middle East.”
The announcement follows countless attempts at trying to negotiate a ceasefire. But many questions remain, including disarming Hamas, demilitarizing the Gaza strip, who will pay to rebuild Gaza and whether Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, will be re-elected. But, the ceasefire promises to close a period of time filled with hatred and
terrorism.
