
People celebrate while watching a television along a street in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip. AFP
The Egyptian presidency said in a statement that the agreement will take effect on Sunday, 19 January and consist of three phases.
The first phase, lasting 42 days, includes a ceasefire and the withdrawal and repositioning of Israeli forces outside densely populated areas.
It also includes exchanging prisoners and detainees and returning the remains of the deceased.
In addition, the first phase comprises allowing internally displaced persons to return to their homes in Gaza and facilitating travel for patients and injured individuals to receive medical treatment.
The first phase involves allowing intense humanitarian aid to enter Gaza safely and effectively and distributing it on a large scale throughout the strip.
It also includes rehabilitating hospitals, health centres, and bakeries, providing civil defence supplies and fuel, and delivering shelter supplies to displaced individuals who lost their homes due to the war.
In this context, Egypt, Qatar, and the US, who have mediated a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas for months, affirmed their commitment as guarantors of this agreement to ensure that both parties fully implement all three phases.
The guarantors will also coordinate with the United Nations, donor countries, and partners worldwide to support a rapid and sustainable increase in humanitarian aid to Gaza under the terms stipulated in the agreement and the established mechanisms for implementing it.
Earlier, Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi welcomed the ceasefire agreement to end the 15-month-old war in the Gaza Strip, praising "the strenuous efforts of Egypt, Qatar, and the US spanning more than a year" to reach this outcome.
In tandem, an Egyptian security source confirmed that coordination is underway to open the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza to allow the entry of humanitarian aid to the Palestinians in the strip.
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