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Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, picks her favorite stories in this week’s newsletter.

A agreement A truce between Israel and Hamas was due to begin on Sunday morning, ending 15 months of brutal war in Gaza and paving the way for their liberation. captives he is still being held by a Palestinian terrorist group in a broken wall.

The six-week contract – the first phase of the multi-party contract that was terminated Mediation led by the US last week after months of unsuccessful efforts to reach an agreement – it was due to take effect at 08.30am (6.30am GMT).

If the deal goes through, Hamas will later on Sunday release three of the 98 hostages in Gaza. In response, Israel released 90 Palestinian prisoners.

But in a sign of the weakness of the plan, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said an hour before the deal was to go into effect that it would not begin until Hamas gave Israel the names of the hostages who were to be released on Sunday. .

Hamas said in a statement later that it was committed to ending the war and that the delay in naming was due to “current reasons in the field”.

The agreement offers hope for a pause – and an end – to the bloodiest conflict in the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which has left Gaza in ruins, destroyed the state of Israel, and brought the Middle East to its brink. the whole war.

The war was sparked by a Hamas coup on October 7, 2023 in Israel, in which terrorists killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli officials, and took another 250 in the deadliest days for Jews since the Holocaust.

Israel responded with a devastating attack on Gaza, which has killed more than 46,000 people, according to Palestinian officials, and displaced more than 2.3mn people from the coast and caused a humanitarian disaster.

After more than half a year of failed efforts to end the war, mediators announced last week that Israel and Hamas agreed to a three-phase agreement, which was launched by US President Joe Biden in May last year.

The first phase involves a six-week deal, during which Hamas will release 33 people – including children, women, the sick and the elderly – in exchange for 1,900 Palestinian prisoners.

In the first phase of the agreement, Palestinians who have fled their homes will be allowed to return to their homes, including northern Gaza. There will also be a partial withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza and a large influx of humanitarian aid into the area.

If the agreement is implemented as planned, by the 16th day of the first phase, Israel and Hamas will begin detailed negotiations on the second phase of the agreement, where the remaining prisoners will be released in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, and the end of the war.

The final phase will involve the return of the remaining bodies of the dead hostages, and the beginning of the reconstruction of Gaza, under the supervision of Egypt, Qatar and the UN.

However, there are doubts whether the agreement will be fully implemented, Netanyahu is under intense pressure from the right-wing members of his coalition to restart the war at the end of the first phase of the agreement.

On Saturday evening, right-wing National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said his Jewish Power party would leave the government in opposition to the deal, reducing Netanyahu’s majority in Israel’s 120-seat parliament to just two seats.

Ben-Gvir’s coalition, finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, has also threatened to remove his Religious Zionism party from government if the war does not resume after the first phase of the agreement. If he does, then Netanyahu will not receive his majority in parliament.