Israel, Hamas reach ceasefire, hostage agreement, as Gaza Catholics rejoice

(OSV News) -- After more than a year of war and thousands killed or wounded, negotiators representing Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire deal.

A six-week initial ceasefire phase and the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip are included in the accord.

The agreement, announced Jan. 15 following several months of negotiations brokered by Egypt, Qatar and the United States, also included a deal that would see the release of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

Although negotiators have reached an agreement, the deal has yet to be ratified by the Israeli parliament. As of publishing time, neither Israel or the Palestinian Authority had issued an official statement announcing the deal.

Speaking at the Jan. 15 press briefing at the White House, President Joe Biden acknowledged that the deal has been a team effort of the outgoing and incoming administration.

"In these past few days, we've been speaking as one team," Biden said.

"We're handing off to the next team a real opportunity for a brighter future in the Middle East," Biden says. "I hope they take it."

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, a group representing the families of 98 Israeli hostages taken by Hamas, welcomed news of the agreement "with overwhelming joy and relief."

While hailing the deal as a significant step forward, the group acknowledged "deep anxiety and concerns" over the "possibility that the agreement might not be fully implemented, leaving hostages behind."

"We urgently call for swift arrangements to ensure all phases of the deal are carried out," the group said. "We will not rest until we see the last hostage back home," they said as people were seen rejoicing on the streets of Tel Aviv, Reuters news agency reported.

SIR, the news service of the Italian bishops' conference, reported celebrations also erupting in Gaza following news of the ceasefire.

Father Gabriel Romanelli, pastor of Holy Family Parish in Gaza, said that people were beginning "to nurture the hope of returning to their homes -- for those who still have them -- and understanding what is left and how to rebuild."

"For everyone, it also means returning to live without the constant nightmare of planes, bombs, fighting, and violence," he told SIR. "Everyone hopes the truce holds, although we know it will be a very long and complicated path."

Father Romanelli said the parish will celebrate a Mass of thanksgiving for the ceasefire and that the faithful will continue to pray "for all those working to provide relief to the people."

In a statement published not long after news of the agreement, Biden, who will officially end his term Jan. 20, confirmed that he "laid out the precise contours of this plan" which was endorsed "unanimously by the UN Security Council."

While he welcomed the news, the president remembered the lives of those killed during Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack and the "many innocent people killed in the war that followed," also referring to the suffering of Palestinians during his subsequent White House press briefing as "hell."

"Too many innocent people have died; too many communities. have been destroyed," Biden said.

President-elect Donald Trump, who is set to be sworn in as president in less than a week, took to his social media platform, Truth Social, and seemingly took credit for the "EPIC ceasefire agreement."

The deal, he said, "could have only happened as a result of our Historic Victory in November, as it signaled to the entire World that my Administration would seek peace and negotiate deals to ensure the safety of all Americans, and our Allies."

Trump said his upcoming administration would work closely with Israel to ensure that Gaza "NEVER again becomes a terrorist safe haven" and that "we will continue promoting PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH," he said, capitalizing certain words.

"This is only the beginning of great things to come for America, and indeed, the World," Trump wrote. "We have achieved so much without even being in the White House."

Although the Vatican has yet to release a statement regarding the deal, the announcement comes after Pope Francis made multiple calls for an end to the conflict in the Holy Land, and in other parts of the world.

"Let us pray that the fighting will cease on every front, and that there will be a decisive effort for peace and reconciliation," the pope said during his Angelus address Jan. 1, adding that "War is always a defeat," and thanking those "in the many areas of conflict who work for dialogue and negotiations."

Following an event in Rome, Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi of Bologna, president of the Italian bishops' conference, who also serves as the pope's special envoy for peace in Ukraine, reacted to news of the ceasefire, and expressed his hope that "it will serve to prevent further suffering."

"Let us trust in peace," the cardinal said, according to SIR.

Hamas' brutal attack on southern Israeli communities on Oct. 7, 2023, killed 1,200 Israelis, with over 250 taken hostage, and a subsequent Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip killed 46,600 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, run by Hamas. Women, children and older people account for just over half of identified victims.