Since today is the big day this question could be about the upcoming 4 years but it is not rather it is about the ceasefire deal in the Middle East which began yesterday.

The AP reports Majid al-Ansari said in a post on X that the ceasefire will start at 8:30am local time Sunday. He advised people to exercise caution when the agreement goes into effect and to wait for directions from officials.

Under the first phase of the ceasefire, 33 hostages are set to be released over the next six weeks, in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. The exchange will begin Sunday at 4pm. During each exchange, prisoners will be released by Israel after the hostages have arrived safely. The remainder, including male soldiers, are to be released in a second phase that will be negotiated during the first. Hamas has said it will not release the remaining captives without a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal.

The plan says that during phase one, some 1,900 Palestinian prisoners will be released, in exchange for 33 Israeli hostages, both alive and dead. Among the prisoners, 1,167 are residents in Gaza who were held by Israel but were not involved in Oct. 7. All women and children under 19 from Gaza held by Israel will be freed during this phase. All Palestinian prisoners who were convicted of deadly attacks will be exiled, either to Gaza or abroad, and barred from returning to Israel or the West Bank. Some will be exiled for three years and others permanently, according to the plan.

Despite the ceasefire news, sirens sounded across central Israel on Saturday, with the army saying it intercepted projectiles launched from Yemen. The Iran-backed Houthis have stepped up their missile attacks in recent weeks. The group says the attacks are part of their campaign aimed at pressuring Israel and the West over the war in Gaza. There were also continued Israeli strikes into Gaza. The Palestinian Health Ministry said at least 23 people were killed in the previous day.

So will this ceasefire last?

Likely not…..

The ceasefire agreement regarding the Gaza Strip can be welcomed as a modest reprieve from the immense suffering that the residents of that territory have endured for the past 15 months.

The Israeli military assault on the Strip has inflicted deaths that according to the official count has passed more than 46,600. This tally likely undercounts actual deaths by more than 40 percent, with the majority of fatalities being women, children, and the elderly.

This is in addition to all the other suffering from continuing military operations. There have been more than 111,265 reported injuries, including life-changing disabilities in an environment in which Israel has largely destroyed the healthcare system.

The agreement also commits Israel to allowing an increased number of trucks bearing badly needed humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. Other benefits include the release of a number of Israeli hostages that Hamas took in its attack in October 2023. Also to be released are several hundred Palestinians whom Israel has imprisoned. The Palestinians can be considered hostages, too. Although some of those to be released have been given sentences of imprisonment, many of the Palestinians Israel incarcerates are held indefinitely without charge, incommunicado, and without legal representation.

https://responsiblestatecraft.org/gaza-ceasefire-2670860243/

I have not decided if the swearing in is worth my attentio9n.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”