They confirm how much a deal was needed to end the unimaginable suffering of nearly 2.5 million Palestinians who fell prey to the worst genocide the world has seen since World War II, conducted by the Israeli occupation army over 471 days.

Israel’s relentless and indiscriminate bombing of Palestinians continued up until the last minute before the truce went into effect, two hours later than originally agreed, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted that Hamas should first provide a list of the names of the three Israeli hostages to be released on the first day.

The bombing, in which 19 Palestinians were killed – nearly all civilians who included women and children – were clearly aimed at conveying a clear message of what is to come in the first six weeks, or 42 days of the truce. It also reflected the fragility of the agreement, and the need for maximum pressure on the current extremist government in Israel to stop looking for excuses to resume the war serving a domestic agenda and the personal interests of the current Israeli prime minister.

Already dragged to this truce against his will and that of his coalition demanding who have consistently promoted forever war, by continuing to bomb Gaza until the last minute Netanyahu wanted to show Hamas he would not shy away from returning to the indiscriminate killing of Palestinians in case of any violation or delay in carrying out the complicated details of the agreement mediated by Egypt, Qatar and the United States, announced a week ago.

Although the details of that agreement do not differ at all from the proposals made by former US president Joe Biden in late May, it was the political pressure exerted on Netanyahu by the newly elected US President Donald Trump that forced him to accept the terms of the deal and start carrying it out despite the fact that Israel’s illusory goals have not been realised: military action neither eliminated Hamas nor brought back the vast majority of Israeli hostages taken in the course of Hamas’ operation on 7 October 2023.

The biggest challenge in the next six weeks will be to monitor and carry out the details of the truce as agreed by the three parties that mediated it as well as the international community and key Middle East countries.

Meanwhile, Egypt, Qatar and the United States have agreed to be not just the mediators of the truce agreement but also the guarantors of its implementation through an “operation room” based in Cairo that will closely monitor the situation on the ground in every detail.

Those details include both the cessation of any form of hostilities during the first six weeks of the truce, whether by Israel or Hamas, but also the redeployment of Israeli occupation forces outside populated areas in Gaza, the beginning of the withdrawal from the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza and the so-called Netzarim Corridor aimed at dividing Gaza in two parts, the return of displaced Palestinians to their homes in the north and speeding up the entry of urgently needed humanitarian aid and fuel.

The statement made by Netanyahu on Saturday evening, hours before the truce went into effect, was extremely discouraging, feeding further fears that the Israeli prime minister has already started looking for excuses to violate the deal reached with great difficulty after months of negotiations.

While the agreement clearly states that Israel should immediately start redeploying its troops along the border between Egypt and Gaza, totally withdrawing from that area 50 days after the deal goes into effect, Netanyahu on Saturday said that he would not redeploy Israeli troops in Rafah or reduce their numbers, but that he would actually bolster up those troops.

That kind of statement and repeated threats on willingness to resume the war at any time with backing from the incoming US president feed the fears and doubts of observers that Netanyahu will only seek to carry out the first stage of the truce deal, freeing 33 Israeli hostages, the majority of whom are alive, before resuming the war refusing to proceed to the second stage of the deal that demands a permanent end of the war and full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.

Egypt, together with nearly every country in the world, has joined Palestinians in their joy for the respite in the endless, insane Israeli killing machine that resulted in the death of nearly 47,000 Palestinians and the injury of more than 120,000 along with earthquake-like effects levelling most buildings. That’s why it is hoped that the new US president will not only aim to earn credit for reaching a ceasefire deal before his inauguration as he pledged, but also to use US leverage to bring the Israeli government to carry out all three stages of the truce.

Egypt’s ambition goes even further, hoping that the recent Gaza truce deal will be the first step towards resuming the long dead Middle East peace process that could result in the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.

In all his recent speeches on the ongoing war in Gaza, President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi said Egypt’s aim was not only to end the current war in Gaza, but equally importantly to reach a permanent settlement that would guarantee that we would not witness a bloody war against Palestinians once every few years.

Hopefully the positive trust between the Egyptian president and President Trump will contribute to working on that difficult but noble goal, serving the interests of the region, the United States and the entire world.

* A version of this article appears in print in the 23 January, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly