Photo: January 13, 2024 protest in Washington, D.C. A massive global movement emerged in solidarity with the Palestinian people as they withstood two years of genocide.
Two years after Israel launched its genocidal war against the Palestinian people in Gaza, the Palestinian resistance has announced an agreement to end the war. The deal was officially signed today, October 9, and is expected to go into effect later today pending approval by the Israeli government.
The agreement follows several days of negotiations in Egypt over the Trump plan. Under its terms, the Israeli military will begin withdrawing from heavily populated areas within 24 hours to allow the Palestinian resistance to locate and release Israeli captives. Within 48 to 72 hours, all living Israeli captives are expected to be released, likely by Sunday or Monday, in exchange for 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. This includes 250 prisoners who, because of their leadership roles in political organizations, are subjected to life sentences by the Israeli prisons, as well as 1,700 who were abducted from Gaza since October 7, 2023.
The deal also allows for 400 to 600 trucks of humanitarian aid to enter Gaza daily under UN and international supervision. Talks on the second phase of Trump’s plan are expected to begin immediately. Negotiations continue on the list of Palestinian prisoners to be released and the timeline for implementation.
All of the Palestinian factions have joined together to welcome the signing of the agreement. They salute and honor the immense sacrifice of the Palestinian people. Notably, they made the point that global public opinion has shifted irreversibly to the side of the Palestinian people.
The streets of Gaza are filled with celebration. Children and families gathered to celebrate the end of the war. Journalists, many of whom have been direct targets of the Israeli occupation, moved through the tent camps bringing news of the ceasefire to those cut off from communication. The joy of the Palestinian people has been shared by all who have stood with them and struggled to end the genocide against Palestine.
Trump now seeks to present himself as a peacemaker. He is expected to travel to Tel Aviv on Sunday, where he will celebrate this moment as his achievement. In truth, he gave Israel the green light to break the ceasefire and resume the genocidal war in March 2025, supported the bombing of Iran, and backed the siege and invasion of Gaza City. We must be clear in our understanding that the Palestinian factions were ready to reach an agreement as early as October 2023 and have maintained that position and willingness for the past two years. It was Israel and the United States that sabotaged every attempt at an agreement in pursuit of the complete ethnic cleansing of Gaza. Netanyahu and the Israeli regime were prepared to continue their war of extermination in Gaza for many more months, if not years. Trump’s sudden shift in the past few weeks, and his insistence that he would force Israel to return to the negotiating table, demonstrates, in fact, that the White House has always had decisive power over the course of events in Gaza. All feigned helplessness or ignorance by the US government regarding Israel’s aggressions and escalations are simply false. The White House could have prevented this genocide before it even began.
The PSL affirms that this ceasefire was won by the resilience of the Palestinian people and the global movement for Palestine, which forced a historic turning point in public opinion in support of the Palestinian cause. In the coming months and years, there will be an ever-stronger movement insisting that the United States end all support for the apartheid state of Israel.
The implementation of this agreement depends on guarantees from the Trump administration, which remains fully aligned with Israel’s genocidal regime. There is reason, therefore, to remain alert to all possible attempts by Israel or the US to undermine the process. But this agreement must be seen in the context in which it was reached. The Palestinian people have endured unimaginable destruction and suffering over the past ten months, including the systematic attempt to annihilate all human life and infrastructure in Gaza City; the last area of the Strip with standing residential buildings. For two years this genocide has continued, following 17 years of blockade, siege, mass imprisonment, and recurring invasions.
This ceasefire represents the ability of the Palestinian people to survive and resist under impossible conditions, over the US and Israeli partnership that sought total extermination. It marks the first step toward halting the genocide.
The sacrifice and mass loss of Palestinian lives is indescribable; only with the cessation of Israeli aggression can that loss be fully understood. What is certain is that the global shift in support of Palestine is irreversible.
The unprecedented isolation of Israel and the ethnonationalist movement known as Zionism, both on the world stage and among populations worldwide – particularly within the United States, previously the biggest base of support for Israel — is a decisive factor in the long-term struggle for Palestinian liberation. The Israeli occupation cannot endure without the full support of the U.S and its imperialist allies, and for the first time such support has now produced significant political costs to their own domestic standing.
The steadfast resistance and resilience of the Palestinian people have firmly placed the question of Palestinian sovereignty back at the center of global politics.
Across the United States and around the world, people are preparing to take to the streets to mark this historic moment, to demand that Trump and Netanyahu uphold the ceasefire, and to affirm our commitments to stand by the Palestinian people. We will continue to build the international BDS movement and the fight to get AIPAC out of U.S. politics. We will demand an end to the occupation, an end to all U.S. aid to Israel, the lifting of the siege of Gaza, and a free Palestine.
