itstargetnews
- Qatari Prime Minister announces cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas.
- Netanyahu’s office says final details are still being ironed out; the government should vote by Thursday.
- Biden says all American hostages will be freed in the first phase of a three-phase ceasefire.
Israel and Hamas have reached an agreement to pause the war in Gaza and release the hostages, the Qatari prime minister announced on Wednesday.
It comes more than 15 months into a deadly campaign that has killed more than 46,000 Palestinians in the war-torn enclave.
The agreement will enter into force on Sunday, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said at a press conference on Wednesday.
However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that the final details of the cease-fire agreement with Hamas were still being worked out, without specifying whether an agreement had actually been reached.
The deal, which has not yet been officially announced, outlines the initial phase of a six-week ceasefire and includes the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the release of hostages held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian detainees held by Israel, an official familiar with the talks told Reuters.
The deal still needs to be approved by Netanyahu’s cabinet, but is expected to take effect in the coming days. It also does not guarantee a permanent truce.
Al Thani said the agreed deal has a mechanism to prevent it from collapsing.
“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.”
Israel and Hamas have reached an agreement to end the war in Gaza and release the hostages, according to mediators cited in reports by Reuters and the Associated Press. However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office cautioned that the final details have not yet been settled.
US President Joe Biden confirmed the ceasefire agreement on Wednesday, adding that all American hostages would be freed in the first phase of the ceasefire.
The fighting in Gaza will stop, and the hostages will soon return home to their families, he said.
You can read the main points of the draft contract here.
The first phase of the agreement, which will last 42 days, will include the release of 33 Israeli hostages, including all women, children and men over the age of 50.
Israel will also gradually reduce forces in the Philadelphia corridor bordering Egypt during the first phase, with forces fully withdrawn no later than day 50, according to a copy of the agreement seen by Reuters. The corridor has been a stumbling block in past efforts to reach a ceasefire agreement, with Egypt demanding that Israel withdraw after seizing it in May.
Negotiations to implement the second phase will begin by the 16th day of the first phase and are expected to include the release of all remaining hostages, a permanent ceasefire and the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
The third phase is expected to deal with the return of all remaining dead bodies and the beginning of the reconstruction of Gaza, under the supervision of Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations.
Palestinians in Gaza celebrate the news
Jubilant Palestinians took to the streets late Wednesday to celebrate news of the agreement, while others were tuned to their phones and radios for details of the deal. 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.”
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.
The agreement follows months of negotiations led by Egyptian and Qatari mediators, with support from the United States, and comes just before Trump’s January 20 inauguration.
Mediators gave Israel and Hamas a final draft of the deal on Monday, an official familiar with the negotiations told Reuters, after a midnight “breakthrough” in talks involving envoys from outgoing US President Joe Biden and Trump.
Months of ceasefire negotiations led to an agreement
Mediators have met repeatedly in recent months but have intensified their work in hopes of finalizing an agreement before Biden leaves the White House on Monday.
In the past, hostages were said to be one of the key points of contention in the negotiations. Israel has insisted on maintaining a military presence in Gaza, but Hamas has refused to release the prisoners until the troops withdraw.
Israel and Hamas have reached an agreement that calls for a ceasefire 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.
Inauguration Day in the US was widely seen as an unofficial deadline for reaching a deal. Trump has warned that “all hell” will break loose if the hostages are not released by the start of his second term.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said negotiators wanted to make sure Trump would continue to support the deal on the table, so it was “critical” that Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff attend the talks, along with Biden’s envoy Brett McGurk.
Israel launched an air and ground attack on Gaza after Hamas-led fighters invaded southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages back in Gaza, according to Israeli figures.
Israel said approximately 100 hostages were still being held in Gaza, but it was unclear how many were alive.
Gaza’s health ministry said Israeli attacks have killed more than 46,000 Palestinians, making it the deadliest war in decades of conflict between the two nations. The Israeli campaign also drove most of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents from their homes and left most of the coastal enclave, including its health infrastructure, in ruins.
