Officially, the Gaza ceasefire went into effect at noon local time on Oct. 10, when Israeli forces completed their withdrawal to the lines specified for the first phase of the Gaza peace agreement, leaving Israel in control of 53% of Gaza, according to press reports. The areas that the IDF will remain in control, including a buffer zone along the entire Gaza border, including the Philadelphi Corridor—the Egypt-Gaza border area—along with Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya in the Gaza Strip’s far north, a ridge on the eastern outskirts of Gaza City, and large portions of Rafah and Khan Younis in southern Gaza, the Times of Israel reported.
The fragility of the ceasefire was underscored only six hours after it went into effect, however, when two people in Khan Younis were killed by an Israeli drone strike.
The disarmament of Hamas is one of a number of outstanding contentious issues, however. Israel has long insisted that Hamas surrender all of its weapons if Israel’s two-year war on Gaza is to end, as well as demanding that the group relinquish governance of the Palestinian enclave and dissolve itself as an organization, Al Jazeera noted. For its part, Hamas has publicly rejected calls to give up its weapons, but experts say that the group has expressed openness in private to hand over some of its arsenal.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened a return to war, today, if Hamas doesn’t capitulate on disarmament and other Israeli demands. “Hamas will be disarmed, and Gaza will be demilitarize,” he said. “If this is achieved the easy way, great. And if not, it will be achieved the hard way.”
Al Jazeera cited Israeli Army Radio, reporting that Israel will allow Palestinian residents of Gaza who left the enclave during the war to return home through the Rafah crossing. It added that 600 aid trucks, carrying food, medical equipment, shelter supplies, fuel and cooking gas, will be allowed to enter Gaza daily through the United Nations, accredited international organizations and the private sector. The report said that truck traffic will flow from the south to the north of the Gaza Strip via Salah al-Din and al-Rashid streets. A Hamas source confirmed to the Al Aqsa Channel that the Rafah gate will be opened in both directions.
