United Nations, Jan 16 (IANS) UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has welcomed the deal for a ceasefire and release of hostages in Gaza, calling it a “critical first step” towards peace in the region.

"I welcome the announcement of the deal for ceasefire and hostage release”, he said on Wednesday soon after the agreement between Israel and Hamas was announced by Qatar's Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.

Guterres commended Qatar, Egypt and the US for brokering the deal.

Al Thani said that under the first phase of the agreement that would come into force on Sunday, Israeli forces would withdraw from populated areas in Gaza and Hamas would release 33 hostages over 42 days when there would be a ceasefire.

The negotiations for the release of the remaining hostages and an enduring ceasefire would continue.

The deal to end the 15-month conflict came five days before the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump, who had threatened “all hell would break out” if the hostages were not released by then.

"Humanitarian situation is at catastrophic levels," Guterres said.

"Our priority now must be to ease the tremendous suffering caused by this conflict," he said.

About 45,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed in the Israeli onslaught in retaliation for the Hamas terrorist attack in which about 1,200 Israelis were killed and about 250 were taken hostage on October 7, 2023.

Nearly half the 2.1 million people of Gaza have lost their homes and most of the zone's infrastructure has been destroyed.

"It is imperative that the ceasefire removes the significant security and political obstacles to delivering aid across Gaza so that we can support the major increase in urgent life-saving humanitarian support," Guterres said.

"This deal is a critical first step, but we must mobilise all efforts to also address broader goals," he said.

"I urge the parties and all relevant partners to seize this opportunity to establish a credible political process to a better future for Palestinians Israelis and the broader region, ending the occupation (of Palestine territories) and achieving a negotiated two state solution, with Israel and Palestine leading side by side in peace and security," he said.

The deal was foreign policy victory in his last week in office for President Joe Biden and he took credit for it calling it the result of it is the result of "of dogged and painstaking American diplomacy".

He said that it was helped by "the extreme pressure that Hamas has been under and the changed regional equation after a ceasefire in Lebanon and the weakening of Iran".

Trump also took credit, writing on Truth Social, “This EPIC ceasefire agreement could have only happened as a result of our Historic Victory in November, as it signaled to the entire World that my Administration would seek Peace and negotiate deals to ensure the safety of all Americans, and our Allies”.

Although Biden called it a “joke” when a reporter asked if Trump had a role, he said: "I told my team to coordinate closely with the incoming team to make sure we're all speaking with the same voice, because that's what American presidents do."

(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in and followed at @arulouis)

Guterres welcomes Gaza ceasefire, hostage release deal as 'critical first step'