Oliver Towfigh Nia
17 January 2025•Update: 17 January 2025
BERLIN
Germany on Friday called on Israel and Hamas to strive for a “permanent cease-fire” in Gaza following the announcement of a truce agreement which is intended to take effect on Sunday.
“This moment is now crucial. We call on everyone involved (...) to take all steps so that this agreement can now be implemented,” Foreign Ministry's deputy spokeswoman Kathrin Deschauer told journalists in Berlin.
This is a step-by-step plan on the path "towards the possibility of a permanent cease-fire. It's about taking the first steps successfully and ensuring that everyone who bears responsibility stays on this path,” she added.
After months of indirect negotiations, an agreement was reached on Wednesday. The agreement between Israel and Hamas provides for a multi-stage process that will lead to the cessation of fighting in the Gaza Strip and the release of Israeli hostages.
In an initial reaction, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock had already called for both sides to agree to the negotiated agreement.
“Everyone has the responsibility to accept this deal now,” she said in an interview with private broadcasters RTL and n-tv.
Israeli airstrikes have killed 101 Palestinians since the announcement of a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas, according to an official tally on Friday.
Qatar announced a cease-fire agreement Wednesday to end more than 15 months of deadly Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip.
Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said the three-phase deal would take effect Sunday.
The deal includes a prisoner exchange and sustained calm, aiming for a permanent truce and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
Nearly 46,800 Palestinians, most of them women and children, have been killed and more than 110,000 injured in Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, according to local health authorities.
The war has left more than 11,000 people missing, with widespread destruction and a humanitarian crisis that has claimed the lives of many elderly people and children in one of the worst global humanitarian disasters ever.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants in November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
