Everything else aside, this is an absolutely fantastic development and I really hope the ceasefire holds and all hostages are released.<p>I just fear this will cause western media and politicians to and declare the crisis to be over (after it had began on Oct. 7, of course absolutely out of the blue and without any context...) and go back to pretending everything is back to normal. Never mind that Gaza is still in ruins, the west bank is still being annexed, Israel still has the dual role of "all authority, no obligations" over the Palestinians, while making it pretty clear they have no vision for them at all, apart from "maybe they just vanish into thin air tomorrow".<p>And never mind that Israel still has a fundamentalist, authoritarian government that is actively at work undermining democratic structures and civil rights even inside the state - that too with no word of objection from its allies.<p>We'll see where all of that goes.<p>I also found Trump's signalling in the whole issue odd. His base and his cabinet is full of the most hard-line pro-israel figures imaginable, but then he goes forward and quotes Jeffrey Sachs and ostensibly pressures Netanyahu into accepting the ceasefire.<p>Is this just his usual "appear unpredictable by all means" spiel or does he have a strategy there?
Hamas was offered a ceasefire under exactly the same terms in May, and refused it. Since then:<p>* Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of the Hamas political wing, was killed in Tehran<p>* Yahyah Sinwar, the leader of the Al-Qassam Brigades, was killed in Gaza<p>* Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Lebanese Hezbollah, was killed in Beirut<p>* Hashem Safieddine, Nasrallah's successor, was killed a week later<p>* Large swathes of Hezbollah's command and control were wiped out in the pager attack<p>* Bashar al-Assad, Iran's most important military client, fled Syria<p>The Al-Qassam Brigades are shattered. Mohammad Sinwar, its current leader, is reported by ISW not to have communications with most of its new recruits, who are scavenging improvised weapons from unexploded ordinance. Iran's "Axis of Resistance" lies in tatters, their foreign/military strategy, of which Hamas was a key component, now seems totally repudiated. Hamas has lost most of its remaining infrastructure, supply chains, and support.<p>They should have taken the deal when it was first offered.
So I suppose it's just back to the status quo? What has really changed that will make a difference in 2-3 years from now? Israel has sowed a whole fresh generation of "I will sacrifice everything to wipe Israel" Palestinian youth.
Don't think I'm taking sides. I'm trying to simply look at it from a neutral bird point of view.<p>I think this cease fire somehow legitimises, to the public eye, Netanyahu's strategy of intense attack.<p>It gives the message of "we won't stop until we get the hostages back" and gives the world a reminder of what this is all about, at least according to what he claims.<p>Again, just trying to observe the message
Yes, eventually.
I have tears in my eyes. Enduring more than a year with a preposterous populist government and endless deaths, this nightmare is finally over.
I recommend engaging in this thread with the caveat that HN is obviously a technology community, and Israel has one of the world's most engaged technology communities.
Well it seems everybody was cheering too early: <a href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2025-01-16/ty-article-live/netanyahus-office-hamas-trying-to-renege-on-understandings-reached-in-doha-talks/00000194-6d27-d545-a39e-ed6ff0840000" rel="nofollow">https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2025-01-16/ty-article-li...</a>
Why did it take for the incoming arrival of a new US president (Trump) and for the existing president (Biden) to LOSE to get <i>this</i> ceasefire deal to happen when the first proposal was rejected? [0]<p>Of course it "needs to be take longer" since lots of money was made by government contractors in this war and why would it need to end earlier if Biden was throwing money on Israel instead of reaching a ceasefire deal much earlier with the first deal.<p>All would have been avoid had it not been for Biden's weak leadership which was shown on display in-front of the world for the last 4 years.<p>There is no denying or spinning that.<p>[0] <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/gaza-mediators-search-final-formula-israel-hamas-ceasefire-2024-02-07/" rel="nofollow">https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/gaza-mediators-sea...</a><p>EDIT: Of course no-one can begin to answer this question, since the answer is there was no reason to prolong this war.
I credit Trump's pressure on Hamas - Hamas eventually softened a lot of their positions because they realized they had no choice.<p>And I wish Biden had done a better job of supporting Israel, this war could have ended a lot sooner if Hamas had realized that the entire world was pressuring them to surrender. Instead the message got diluted with support for Palestinians, which Hamas interpreted as support for themselves.<p>Did you hear a single call by any country for Hamas to surrender? I didn't.<p>Edit: I got a very quick -4 mod on this, I assume because people don't like to realize Trump is doing more for both Israel <i>and</i> the Palestinians than Biden, and the Democrats lost the election partly because of their lack of support for Israel.
Hamas just changed the terms of the deal, demanding the release of hardened terrorists. The deal will now likely fall apart. They are a terrorist organization, and behave as such. This “deal” is just another avenue to wage psychological warfare, in their view. The war in Gaza will likely continue.
> Trump's Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff was in Qatar along with White House envoys for the talks, and a senior Biden administration official said Witkoff's presence was critical to reaching a deal after 96 hours of intense negotiations.
How is this hacker news? From the HN guidelines:<p>Off-Topic: Most stories about politics, or crime, or sports, or celebrities, unless they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon. Videos of pratfalls or disasters, or cute animal pictures. *If they'd cover it on TV news, it's probably off-topic.*
> Negotiations on implementing the second phase of the deal will begin by the 16th day of phase one, and this stage was expected to include the release of all remaining hostages, a permanent ceasefire and the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.<p>Am I missing something or did they really only agree to _just_ a ceasefire?
The headline reports the net result, however the real story here is Trump's man Steven Witkoff laying down the rules of this particular game to the Israelis.
I have never seen so many downvoted comments that aren’t dead in a thread before. If anyone had examples of other threads of this ilk I’d be curious to see them.<p>I’m completely ignorant as to the public sentiment on this topic, no social media besides this site.
Sooo, now we can get the process of extracting Netanyahu and his gang out of Israel rolling and handing him over to the international criminal court ... right?
I suggest looking up the dictionary definitions of the words "war" and "genocide" and seriously considering which of the two is more appropriate for this situation.
*Genocide. It’s not a war.<p>As a dev, I hate jargon to dress up trivial products or when distressing things are watered down. Usually I keep my feelings to myself but in this case, allowing a genocide to be watered down would make me complicit.<p>P.S. I understand this will be downvoted. But HN karma is a small price to pay to call out the softening of a literal genocide. Imagine standing by when someone calls Germany’s genocide “punishments”.
Yeah right.<p>In other news: Israel strikes Gaza within hours of ceasefire accord with Hamas, residents say<p><a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-hamas-ceasefire-accord-followed-by-airstrikes-gaza-residents-say-2025-01-16/" rel="nofollow">https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-hamas-cease...</a>
I hope the leaders of this genocide are brought to be accountable. Apartheid Israel have killed 10s of thousands, stole their land and dehumanised the Palestinian people; all supported by the so-called enlightened West (especially the US). This leaves a huge black spot on their morality.
It's unbelievable that Trump has managed to facilitate this before he even steps into office. It is a brutal display of power, but that is sometimes needed, just like when a parent needs to intervene in a conflict between children.
A meta level comment for dang, I’m upvoting every comment that is being gang-downvoted…independent of the position. This topic, with roots going back millennia, deserves to have all opinions captured and presented, if nothing more than as a snapshot/wave collapse of where the opposing sides sat in 2025.<p>Noting that, ceasefires are wonderful things.
I welcome this ceasefire with caution. Israel are still currently bombing Gazan homes and the death toll is still growing. There is always a risk it is temporary for further tactical gain.<p>A poll showed 60% of Israelis wanted a ceasefire but the 40% who want the war to continue are making a big noise. Violence was never going to take down a resistance group, we all knew this.<p>I don’t think there can be a future with Hamas in charge. Only a peace deal will will secure safety for both sides. But this negotiation between Hamas dismantling and a two-state solution is not the rhetoric coming out of Israel.<p>Only sanctions will gain a two-state solution and actual peace for Israel and Palestine.
Time to pay the piper.<p>IMO Iran is the winner (least damaged) out of all this. Their proxies are smashed, but the core strength is still the same.<p>Israel has blown all its international credibility. The International Court of Justice verdict will be very interesting. If it goes against Israel then BDS will (should) become the policy for all countries.
This is one of those conflicts where there are no good guys. Both sides have way too many people who want to see the other side burn more than they want peace. For outsiders like me, not picking sides is the best course of action.