Â鶹´«Ă˝

“She’s not the same girl,” her mother told Israeli media.

In Gaza, The New York Times reported, Palestinians are dreaming of packing up their tents and returning to their homes — or the rubble that’s left of them — and reuniting with relatives or visiting their graves.

The cease-fire deal that Israel and Hamas have agreed to, which went into effect Sunday, is the best possible outcome: a solution negotiated by both parties. The deal, reached with the involvement of the Biden administration and the Trump administration, is far from perfect. It is a short-term solution, which will free just some of the Israeli hostages and leave open the possibility of resumed warfare. The second phase of the cease-fire still needs to be worked out, and the deal doesn’t begin to address long-term questions about Gaza’s recovery.

But the cease-fire will provide much-needed respite, letting Gazan civilians return home and reuniting female, child, elderly and ill hostages with their families.

Under the terms of the deal, Hamas will return 33 “humanitarian” hostages over six weeks. It is not known how many are alive. These include the two children who remain in Gaza — 2- and 5-year-old Kfir and Ariel Bibas — and the 10 remaining women, including soldiers and civilians. The first three of those women — Emily Damari, Romi Gonen, and Doron Steinbrecher — were released. Two hostages with dual American-Israeli citizenship — Sagui Dekel-Chen and Keith Siegel — are expected to be released in this phase.

Israel will release around 1,900 Palestinian prisoners, according to Israeli media. The exact number is unknown because it depends how many hostages are returned alive. These prisoners will include women and minors and also hundreds of prisoners serving life sentences, including for murder and terrorism. The first 90 prisoners were released Sunday.

Israel will withdraw troops from Gaza’s population centers and bring them closer to Israel’s border, though Israel will temporarily keep soldiers in strategic locations including the Philadelphi Corridor along the border between Egypt and Gaza.

There will be an influx of aid into Gaza, including 600 trucks of humanitarian aid daily, 60,000 temporary homes, and 200,000 tents.

Many in Israel are justifiably worried that releasing convicted terrorists will cause future bloodshed and incentivize more kidnapping. After all, in 2011, Israel released 1,027 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for one Israeli soldier. One of those prisoners was Yahya Sinwar, who masterminded Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack, in which terrorists killed 1,200 people in Israel and kidnapped 251, sparking the current war. Israel has said murderers will not be returned to the West Bank or East Jerusalem. Israel will need to improve its security and intelligence capabilities to prevent future attacks. But 15 months of war that decimated the Gaza Strip should also serve as deterrence for those who would plan another attack.

There are also huge questions about what comes next. The cease-fire’s second stage is envisioned as including another exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners. ... There are currently 91 hostages held in Gaza who were kidnapped on Oct. 7 and another two Israelis and one body of an Israeli soldier that Hamas has held for a decade. It is estimated that Israel is holding more than 10,000 Palestinians in prisons, including those convicted of crimes and those in administrative detention who have not been charged. In the second phase, Israeli troops would withdraw from Gaza and Israel and Hamas would declare a “permanent cessation of hostilities.”

There is, understandably, fear on both sides that negotiations will fail to reach the second stage. That would leave the remaining Israeli hostages stranded in Gaza indefinitely and subject Gaza’s Palestinians to more war and displacement. One right-wing member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government left his governing coalition when the first phase of the cease-fire went into effect, and others could exit if Israel agrees to permanently end the war, potentially toppling the government.

The argument for continuing the war is that Israel has failed to eradicate Hamas. But if Israel has not been able to do that in 15 months, it suggests the goal may not be achievable. Continued fighting will cause more pain and suffering for civilians caught in the crossfire. President Trump and other mediating countries should work with Israel and Hamas to ensure they reach an agreement that allows the cease-fire to hold beyond six weeks.

The third stage of the deal would include the return of bodies of Israeli hostages and the development of a reconstruction plan for Gaza.

Even if these latter stages move forward, there are huge unresolved issues, first and foremost who will govern Gaza.

Hamas, which claimed victory from the cease-fire despite the killing of its senior leadership, cannot be allowed to continue leading the enclave. New local leadership is needed with technocratic expertise. The Palestinians will need international aid to rebuild schools, homes and hospitals. The United Nations estimates that 69% of Gazan structures are damaged, including 245,000 homes, while the World Bank estimates the cost of the damage at $18.5 billion, the Associated Press reported.

Diplomats and policymakers need to continue hashing out these difficult questions. But in the meantime, after months of death and destruction, let us take a moment to rejoice as Gazans begin returning to their homes and hostages return to their families’ loving embrace.