Qatar announces agreement between Israel and Hamas on ceasefire in Gaza, exchange of prisoners | News about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Mediator Qatar says Israel and Hamas have reached an agreement agreement stop the 15-month war in Gaza and exchange Israeli prisoners for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons.

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani announced the agreement on Wednesday in Doha. He said the ceasefire would take effect on Sunday, January 19.

Hamas earlier told Al Jazeera Arabic that its delegation had submitted its approval for the ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement to mediators.

But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said some aspects of the proposal were “unsettled”.

“Several clauses in the framework remain unresolved and we hope that the details will be finalized this evening,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.

Netanyahu is expected to convene his cabinet on Thursday, according to Israeli media reports.

Three phases

The agreement will be implemented in three phases, Sheikh Mohammed said. In an initial six-week phase, Israeli forces would gradually withdraw from central Gaza, and Palestinians would be allowed to return to their homes in northern Gaza.

During those six weeks, Hamas will release 33 Israeli prisoners, including all female soldiers and civilians, children and the elderly, he said.

Talks on the second phase will begin by the 16th day of the first phase and are expected to include the release of remaining prisoners and the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, Reuters news agency reported, citing an official briefed on the talks.

The third phase is expected to include the return of dead bodies and the start of reconstruction in Gaza, Reuters reported.

Mediators the United States and Egypt also confirmed that a deal had been reached, and US President Joe Biden said the proposal followed the “precise contours” of the plan he outlined in late May.

“This is the result not only of the extreme pressure that Hamas was under and the changed regional equation after the cease-fire in Lebanon and the weakening of Iran – but also of persistent and painstaking American diplomacy,” Biden said.

Before the official announcement, US President-elect Donald Trump wrote on social media that “the EPIC ceasefire agreement could only have happened as a result of our Historic victory in November”.

“I am delighted that the American and Israeli hostages will return home to be reunited with their families and loved ones.”

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi wrote on X that he welcomed the ceasefire deal in Gaza and stressed the importance of prompt delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza.

‘People are dying hour by hour’

The announcement came as the Israeli military continued his deadly attacks across the Gaza Strip.

At least 59 people were killed in Israeli strikes on Wednesday, medical sources told Al Jazeera.

The situation for the 2.3 million Palestinians living in Gaza remains dire air and ground attacks continue and most aid was blocked by Israel.

The Gaza Health Ministry said on Wednesday that Israeli attacks have killed at least 46,707 Palestinians since the start of the war, 62 more than a day earlier. The number of wounded also rose to at least 110,265 people, it said.

Al Jazeera journalist Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, said the attacks had been relentless in recent days.

“During the last 72 hours, more people have been attacked in residential buildings,” he said.

They included a family targeted in an overnight attack in Deir el-Balah that killed at least 12 people, including children, and an airstrike on Bureij refugee camp, where Israeli bombs killed at least five people.

The Israeli military also ordered new forced displacements, this time for Palestinians living in the Jabalia area of ​​northern Gaza, where a siege lasting more than 100 days has so far left more than 5,000 people dead or missing.

Israeli shelling on Wednesday cut power to an Indonesian hospital in northern Gaza as attacks on health facilities continue after the Israeli army set Kamal Adwan Hospital on fire last month and arrested its director.