Latest:
- A ceasefire agreement was reached to stop the fighting in Gaza and free the Israeli hostages.
- The agreement could enter into force as early as Sunday.
- Hamas calls the deal “an achievement for our people” after 15 months of war in Gaza.
- The deal still needs cabinet and government approval in Israel; votes scheduled for Thursday.
Israel and Hamas have reached an agreement to pause fighting in Gaza, release hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and create a path that could end the bloodshed in the tiny enclave and reduce tensions across the Middle East.
The complex agreement, which still needs approval from the Israeli government to become official, outlines the initial phase of a six-week ceasefire and includes the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip. It also calls for the release of hostages taken by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, as well as more humanitarian aid for the Palestinian people.
If the agreement is formally ratified in Israel, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said the terms could come into force as early as Sunday. US President Joe Biden did not provide details, but said an agreement had been reached.
“The fighting in Gaza will end and the hostages will soon return home to their families,” Biden said in a statement.
“For the Palestinian people, a credible path to their own state. And for the region, the future of normalization, integration of Israel and all its Arab neighbors, including Saudi Arabia.”
Journalist Abubaker Abed reports from Deir al-Balah, Gaza, where he says relief is palpable after mediators in Qatar say Hamas and Israel have agreed to a ceasefire. But, Abed says, despite the joy, there is still anxiety in Gaza as people wait for the deal to take effect.
The deal does not guarantee peace between Israel and Hamas, but it offered a long-awaited glimmer of hope that the violence could soon come to an end. The news was met with jubilation on the streets of Gaza on Wednesday, where the Israeli attack cost tens of thousands of lives, and fragile hope among Israeli families waiting to learn the fate of loved ones held hostage in Gaza for 466 days.
In a statement Wednesday, Hamas called the deal “an achievement for our people.”
“The agreement is a turning point in the fight with the enemy, on the way to achieving the goals of our nation’s liberation and return,” the press release states.
People took to the streets in Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah in Gaza on Wednesday as news spread that negotiators had reached a potential agreement on a phased ceasefire.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the final details of a ceasefire deal with Hamas were still being worked out. Israel’s cabinet and government are scheduled to vote on the deal on Thursday.
In the Israeli attack on Gaza, more than 46,000 Palestinians were killed and more than 110,000 were wounded, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. The attack also displaced most of Gaza’s population and reduced much of the territory to rubble.
The bombing began after Hamas-led militants crossed the country’s southern border on October 7, 2023, killing an estimated 1,200 people and taking another 250 hostages in an attack that ignited the war.
It is the deadliest conflict in decades of unrest between the two.
The deal would take place in 3 phases
If successful, the truce will end fighting that leveled much of the densely populated Gaza Strip and forced most of the pre-war population of 2.3 million to flee their homes.
The change could help cool the temperature across the Middle East in general, after the war spread to Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Iraq and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
The armistice would take place in three phases:
- Phase 1 involves the release of 33 Israeli hostages, including all women, children and men over the age of 50.
- Phase 2 was expected to include the release of all remaining hostages, a permanent ceasefire and the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. Negotiations would begin on the 16th day of the first phase.
- The third phase is expected to deal with the return of all remaining bodies and the beginning of the reconstruction of Gaza under the supervision of Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations.
The agreement also calls for an increase in humanitarian aid to Gaza, with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stressing that “the priority now must be to alleviate the enormous suffering caused by this conflict.” Both the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross have said they are preparing to massively scale up their aid operations.
An emotional day in Gaza
Excited Palestinians took to the streets late Wednesday to celebrate the news of the agreementt. Amjad Shawa, coordinator of the Palestinian NGO Network, said he was happy but still nervous that the deal would fail as others have failed.
“People are already celebrating the ceasefire and I’m celebrating the end of this war and the opening of a new chapter in our lives,” Shawa told the CBC As it happens from Deir Al-Balah.
“If it doesn’t happen, it will be a really big disaster within a big disaster that we’re living in.”
Israel and Hamas have reached an agreement to pause the war in Gaza and release hostages, the Qatari prime minister announced on January 15, 2025. Israelis say they are ready to welcome their loved ones home.
Al Thani, Qatar’s prime minister, said the agreed deal had a mechanism to prevent it from falling apart.
“We know that these kinds of agreements are very complex and will have problems,” Al Thani said on Wednesday. “We are ready and will remain committed to solving those problems.”
The pact follows months of painstaking negotiations led by Egyptian and Qatari mediators, with support from the United States, and comes days before US President-elect Donald Trump takes office. The presidential inauguration on Monday was widely seen as an unofficial deadline for a deal to be reached. Trump has warned that “all hell” will break loose if the hostages are not released by the start of his second term.
The news of the agreement caused an international reaction from world leaders, who advocated a permanent truce between Israel and Hamas.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said, “Canada is prepared to do everything it can to ensure the success of this agreement.”
“This ceasefire gives us hope. Hope that we can now turn our attention to a genuine, lasting political solution to this conflict – a two-state solution with Israelis and Palestinians living side by side in safety, security and dignity,” he said. he said at an unrelated news conference in Ottawa.
Israeli families of hostages welcome truce
Sharone Lifschitz, whose father, Oded, is imprisoned in Gaza, told the AP by phone that she was stunned and grateful, but he won’t believe it until he sees all the hostages return home.
“I so desperately want to see them if by some miracle my father survived,” she said.
Israel and Hamas have reached an agreement that calls for a cease-fire in Gaza and the gradual release of hostages captured in the deadly attacks on October 7, mediators said on Wednesday, according to reports by Reuters and The Associated Press.
Meanwhile in Israel, the Hostage Families Forum, which represents many of the relatives of Israeli hostages held in Gaza, said it welcomed the deal “with enormous joy and relief.”
“We are closer than ever to being reunited with our loved ones,” the group said in a statement shortly after the agreement was announced.
A longer-term vision for post-war Gaza has yet to be determined, and it is unclear who will lead Gaza.
Israel has denied any involvement by Hamas, which has ruled the enclave since 2007 and has officially vowed to destroy Israel. But Israel has been almost as opposed to rule by the Palestinian Authority, a body established under the Oslo interim peace accords three decades ago, which has limited governing power in the West Bank.
