Name: Israel and Hamas Agree to Ceasefire Deal
Uploaded: 2025-01-16T11:49:09.000Z
Description: Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire deal to pause the devastating war in the Gaza Strip, multiple officials announced Wednesday.

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Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire deal to pause the devastating war in the Gaza Strip, multiple officials announced Wednesday.

The deal promises the release of dozens of hostages held by the Hamas terrorist group in phases and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israel, and it will allow hundreds of thousands of people displaced in Gaza to return to what remains of their homes. It also would flood badly needed humanitarian aid into a territory ravaged by 15 months of war.

The prime minister of Qatar, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, said the ceasefire would go into effect on Sunday. He made the announcement in the Qatari capital of Doha, the site of weeks of painstaking negotiations.

U.S. President Joe Biden then touted the deal from Washington, saying the ceasefire will stay in place as long as Israel and Hamas remain at the negotiating table over a long-term truce. Biden said his administration and President-elect Donald Trump’s team were “speaking as one” in the negotiations.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement that final details were being ironed out and that it hoped “details will be finalized tonight.”

Israeli President Isaac Herzog called on Netanyahu’s government to approve the ceasefire in a nationally televised speech. Hamas said in a statement that the ceasefire was “the result of the legendary resilience of our great Palestinian people and our valiant resistance in the Gaza Strip.”

Once the deal officially begins, it is expected to deliver an initial six-week halt to fighting that is to be accompanied by the opening of negotiations on ending the war altogether.

Over those six weeks, 33 of the nearly 100 hostages are to be reunited with their loved ones after months in in captivity with no contact with the outside world, though it’s unclear if all are alive.

It remained unclear exactly when and how many displaced Palestinians would be able to return to what remains of their homes and whether the agreement would lead to a complete end to the war and the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza—key Hamas demands for releasing the remaining captives.

Many longer-term questions about postwar Gaza remain, including who will rule the territory or oversee the daunting task of reconstruction after a brutal conflict that has destabilized the broader Middle East and sparked worldwide protests.

Hamas triggered the war with its Oct. 7, 2023, cross-border attack, which killed some 1,200 Israelis and took 250 others hostage. Israel responded with a fierce offensive that has killed over 46,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials. They do not distinguish between civilians and terrorists.

More than 100 hostages were freed from Gaza in a weeklong truce in November 2023.

The United States, along with Egypt and Qatar, have brokered months of indirect talks between the bitter enemies that finally culminated in this latest deal. It comes after Israel and the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire in November, after more than a year of conflict linked to the war in the Gaza.

U.N. and international relief organizations estimate that some 90 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been displaced, often multiple times.

“The best day in my life and the life of the Gaza people,” Abed Radwan, a Palestinian father of three, said of the ceasefire deal.

In Israel, hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside Israel’s military headquarters in Tel Aviv, calling for a deal to be completed. Many held posters of hostages held by Hamas, others hoisted candles in the air.

U.S. President Joe Biden, who has provided crucial military aid to Israel but expressed exasperation over civilian deaths, announced the outline of the three-phase ceasefire agreement on May 31. The agreement eventually agreed to followed that framework.

He said the first phase would last for six weeks and include a “full and complete ceasefire,” a withdrawal of Israeli forces from densely populated areas of Gaza and the release of a number of hostages, including women, older adults and wounded people, in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Humanitarian assistance would surge, with hundreds of trucks entering Gaza each day.

The second and most difficult phase would include the release of all remaining living hostages, including male soldiers, and Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza. The third phase calls for the start of a major reconstruction of Gaza, which faces decades of rebuilding from devastation caused by the war.

Hamas had been demanding assurances for a permanent end to the war and complete withdrawal of all Israeli forces from Gaza. Israel, meanwhile, has repeatedly said it would not halt the war until it destroys the Hamas terrorist group’s military and governing capabilities.

The various players have conducted months of on-again, off-again negotiations. But with Biden’s days in office numbered and President-elect Donald Trump set to take over, both sides had been under heavy pressure to agree to a deal.

Trump celebrated the soon-to-be-announced agreement in a posting on his Truth Social social media platform: “WE HAVE A DEAL FOR THE HOSTAGES IN THE MIDDLE EAST. THEY WILL BE RELEASED SHORTLY. THANK YOU!”

Jonathan Panikoff, director of the Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative at the Atlantic Council, said Biden deserves praise for continuing to push the talks. But Trump’s threats to Hamas and his efforts to “cajole” Netanyahu deserve credit as well.

“The ironic reality is that at a time of heightened partisanship even over foreign policy, the deal represents how much more powerful and influential U.S. foreign policy can be when it’s bipartisan,” Panikoff said.

Hezbollah’s acceptance of a ceasefire in Lebanon after it had suffered heavy blows, and the overthrow of President Bashar Assad in Syria, were both major setbacks for Iran and its allies across the region, including Hamas, which was left increasingly isolated.

Israeli authorities have already concluded that more than a third of the roughly 100 remaining people held captive are dead, and there are fears that others are no longer alive. A series of videos released by Hamas showing surviving hostages in distress, combined with news that a growing number of abducted Israelis have died, put added pressure on the Israeli leader.

There is still no plan for who will govern Gaza after the war. Israel has said it will work with local Palestinians not affiliated with Hamas or the Palestinian Authority. But it is unclear if such partners exist, and Hamas has threatened anyone who cooperates with Israeli forces.

The United States has tried to advance sweeping postwar plans for a reformed Palestinian Authority to govern Gaza with Arab and international assistance. As part of those plans, the United States hope Saudi Arabia would normalize relations with Israel in return for U.S. security guarantees and aid in setting up a civilian nuclear program.

<em>The Associated Press contributed to this report.</em>

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