Agreement between Hamas and Israel: what are the differences between a ceasefire, a truce and a humanitarian pause?

A first agreement between Hamas and Israel was announced Tuesday evening. The Israeli government obtained the release of 50 hostages from Hamas, in exchange for 150 Palestinian prisoners and a “humanitarian pause” in Gaza. This pause will begin “in the next 24 hours and will last four days, with the possibility of extension,” said the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs on X. This agreement was made possible by mediation led by Qatar, Egypt and the States -United.

As a reminder, around 240 Israelis were kidnapped during the bloody attack launched on October 7 against Israel by the Islamist movement in power in the Gaza Strip. And more than 5,100 Palestinians are prisoners in Israel, among them Islamist Hamas fighters.

The Palestinian terrorist group welcomed the agreement, but preferred to speak of a “humanitarian truce”, when Israel and Qatar speak of a “pause”. China and Jordan, for their part, mentioned a “ceasefire” in their press releases. Terms which do not refer exactly to the same realities.

A truce or humanitarian pause means “a temporary suspension of hostilities, agreed between the parties to the conflict for purely humanitarian purposes”, defines the International Committee of the Red Cross on its website. A semantic difference nevertheless remains between the two terms, underlines Françoise Bouchet-Saulnier, strategic advisor in international humanitarian law for Médecins sans frontières and author of the Practical Dictionary of Humanitarian Law (Ed. La Découverte). Because “the term “truce” refers to military vocabulary, to stopping fighting”, while the word “pause” is “less militarily loaded”.

The presence of the qualifying adjective “humanitarian” after these two terms proves that one of the objectives of this agreement between Israel and Hamas is “the facilitation of relief operations”. In the case of the current conflict, the qualifier “humanitarian” in fact shows “that the intention of this temporary pause in hostilities is not only intended to ensure security during the release of hostages and the exchange of prisoners, but also to allow the entry and movement of convoys” in the Gaza Strip.

Also read: Hamas-Israel conflict: how the hostage release negotiations went

But for Françoise Bouchet-Saulnier, this adjective is used ambiguously in this operation, because the “humanitarian character of this pause in the conflict is still in the embryonic stage”. “If we must rejoice at the release of hostages and the exchange of prisoners, which are carried out according to humanitarian law,” Françoise Bouchet-Saulnier is concerned “about the fact that the right to help of the population of Gaza, which is unconditional in the law of armed conflict, is in reality subject to the success of political-military negotiations between the parties. Since October 21 and the opening of the Rafah crossing, 1,353 trucks have been able to enter the Palestinian territory, or 42 per day on average, the Palestinian Red Crescent said yesterday on X.

The ceasefire is “a cessation of hostilities decided by the parties involved in the conflict, or decreed unilaterally by one of them,” explains the strategic advisor in international humanitarian law. This term is generally used in the context of “a peace negotiation”. However, the negotiation carried out here by the mediation of Egypt, Qatar and the United States “is more limited”. “It only concerns the release of hostages and a cessation of hostilities for a few days to facilitate the exchange of people and the passage of relief convoys,” continues the expert.

In reality, the choice of the appropriate term “has little importance”, analyzes Françoise Bouchet-Saulnier, “because it is more of a communication strategy”. Each State chooses the term it uses according to “what it wishes to see achieved”. For example, China and Jordan used the term "ceasefire" in their communiqués this morning, "presumably because they hope for a peace negotiation between Hamas and Israel." Conversely, using the terms “truce” or “pause” implies that “the war is not over”. This is the choice that Israel made by speaking of a “pause” in its press release, published on the Prime Minister’s Office website. “Benyamin Netanyahu also affirmed that Israel was going to resume fighting after the release of the hostages,” explains Françoise Bouchet-Saulnier.

For the strategic advisor in international humanitarian law, the important question that arises today is: “Will the agreement be respected?” That is to say, “will security really be ensured during hostage and prisoner exchanges? And will humanitarian convoys finally be authorized in accordance with humanitarian law, without being targeted?” Compliance with these security commitments must therefore be “monitored” and “verified”, she urges.