Phase one of the ongoing ceasefire in Gaza is due to come to an end as the holy Muslim month of Ramadan is set to begin [Getty/file photo]
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Friday that the Israel-Hamas ceasefire and captive release deal “must hold”, with just hours to go before an initial phase expires.
His comments came after Hamas called for international pressure on Israel to enter the next phase of the ceasefire, as Egypt said negotiations had resumed in Cairo.
The truce’s first phase is due to expire on Saturday morning, after largely halting more than 15 months of bombardment in war-torn Gaza.
“The ceasefire and hostage release deal must hold. The coming days are critical. The parties must spare no effort to avoid a breakdown of this deal,” Guterres said in New York.
The truce led to the exchange of hostages held by militants in Gaza for Palestinians held in Israeli jails.
It also enabled greater aid flows into the territory, where more than 69 percent of buildings were damaged or destroyed, almost the entire population was displaced and widespread hunger occurred because of the war, according to the United Nations.
But talks on a second phase had been delayed.
They were supposed to begin 16 days into the first stage, and an analyst, Max Rodenbeck, of the International Crisis Group think tank, said the second phase – aiming to bring a permanent end to the war – cannot be expected to start on Saturday.
“But I think the ceasefire probably won’t collapse also,” he said.
The preferred Israeli scenario is to free more hostages under an extension of the first phase, rather than a second phase, Defence Minister Israel Katz said.
Hamas said in a statement that “with the end of the first phase of the ceasefire” the group “affirms its full commitment to implementing all the provisions of the agreement in all its stages and details”.
The group called for global pressure on Israel “to immediately enter the second phase of the agreement without any delay”.
The State Information Service of mediator Egypt said in a statement on Thursday: “The relevant parties have begun intensive talks to discuss the next phases of the truce agreement, amid ongoing efforts to ensure the implementation of the previously agreed understandings”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “instructed the negotiation delegation to depart for Cairo” on Thursday, his office said shortly after Hamas handed over the remains of Tsachi Idan and three other hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians in Israeli detention.
Ramadan begins
In Gaza and throughout the Muslim world, this weekend is also the start of the holy month of Ramadan.
Amid the rubble of a war-devastated neighbourhood of Khan Younis, southern Gaza, traditional Ramadan lanterns hung.
In a violation of the truce, Israel’s military said an air strike on Friday targeted two men “approaching troops” in southern Gaza, as a hospital in Khan Yunis said it had received the body of one person killed in a strike.
Israel has killed over 61,000 Palestinians since the start of the war in Gaza on 7 October 2023, devastating much of the territory while health officials continue to recover bodies from unde
