The brittle Gaza ceasefire between Israel and Hamas continues against all odds, given the depth of distrust and animosity between the warring parties.
Since its enactment nearly three weeks ago, Hamas has released more than a dozen Israeli hostages captured on October 7 2023, in return for some 400 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails. Should the process move forward as relatively smoothly as it has so far, more hostages and prisoners are set to be freed during the remainder of the first stage of the truce.
This is cause for a degree of optimism. However, negotiating the length, terms and implementation of the second and third stages of the ceasefire will prove very rocky.
