Latest:
- Prime Minister of Qatar announces that a ceasefire agreement has been reached between Israel and Hamas.
- Hamas calls the agreement “an achievement of our people” after 15 months of war in Gaza.
- Netanyahu's office says final details are still being worked out; The government vote will take place on Thursday.
- Biden says all American hostages will be released in the first stage of a three-phase ceasefire.
Israel and Hamas have reached an agreement to halt the war in Gaza and release the hostages, Qatar's prime minister announced on Wednesday.
More than 15 months have passed since the deadly campaign that 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 in Doha on Wednesday, where negotiations took place.
In a statement Wednesday, Hamas called the agreement “an achievement of our people.”
“The agreement is a milestone in the conflict with the enemy toward achieving our nation's goals of liberation and return.”
However, despite the violent reactions following the announcement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said the final details of the ceasefire agreement with Hamas were still being worked out. There was no word on whether an agreement had been reached.
The complex agreement sets out a six-week initial ceasefire phase and includes the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip and the release of hostages taken by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
The agreement still needs to be approved by Netanyahu's cabinet, but is expected to come into force in the coming days. It also does not guarantee a lasting truce.
Deal has an anti-collapse mechanism
Al Thani said the agreed deal had a mechanism to prevent it from collapsing.
“We know that these types of agreements are very complex and will cause some problems,” Al Thani said on Wednesday. “We are ready and will remain committed to addressing these issues.”
US President Joe Biden confirmed the ceasefire agreement on Wednesday, adding that all American hostages would be released in the first phase of the ceasefire.
“The fighting in Gaza will stop and the hostages will soon be returned to their families,” he said.
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 50 years of age.
Israel will also gradually reduce forces in the Philadelphia Corridor bordering Egypt in a first phase, with a complete withdrawal of forces no later than the 50th day, according to a copy of the agreement seen by Reuters. The corridor had been a stumbling block in previous efforts to reach a ceasefire agreement, as Egypt demanded Israel withdraw after occupying it in May.
Negotiations to implement Phase 2 will begin on the 16th day of Phase 1 and are expected to include the release of all remaining hostages, a permanent ceasefire and the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip.
The third stage is expected to include the return of all remaining bodies and the start of reconstruction of Gaza under the supervision of Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations.
An emotional day in Gaza
Excited Palestinians took to the streets late Wednesday to celebrate news of the agreement, while others were trained on phones and radios to obtain details of the deal. Amjad Shawa, coordinator of the Palestinian NGO Network, said he was happy but still nervous that the deal would not be finalized, as others had been before.
“People are already celebrating the ceasefire and I, I'm celebrating the end of this war and the opening of a new page in our lives,” Shawa told CBC How does this happen? from Deir al-Balah.
“If this doesn't happen, it will be a truly great disaster within the great disaster that we are 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 phased ceasefire agreement.
The agreement comes after months of negotiations led by Egyptian and Qatari mediators with the support of the United States and comes just before Trump's inauguration on January 20.
The families of the hostages welcome the truce
Mediators handed Israel and Hamas the final draft of the agreement on Monday, an official briefed on the negotiations told Reuters, after a midnight “breakthrough” in talks that included envoys of both outgoing US President Joe Biden and Trump.
Meanwhile, in Israel, the Hostage Family Forum, which represents many relatives of Israeli hostages held in Gaza, says it welcomes the agreement “with great joy and relief.”
“We have been eagerly awaiting this moment, and now, after 460 days of detaining our family members in Hamas tunnels, we are closer than ever to being reunited with our loved ones,” the group said in a statement shortly after the agreement was announced.
Months of ceasefire talks led to an agreement
Mediators have met multiple times in recent months but have stepped up their work in hopes of finalizing an agreement before Biden leaves the White House on Monday.
The agreement “ironically shows how effective real pressure can be to change the behavior of the Israeli government,” said Nancy Okail, head of the US Center for International Policy.
She blamed Netanyahu for waiting so long to reach such an agreement and accused Biden of failing to raise the stakes for the Israeli prime minister in his continued opposition to the proposed terms.
In the past, hostages were considered a key sticking point in negotiations. Israel has insisted on maintaining a military presence in Gaza, but Hamas has refused to release prisoners until troops withdraw.
Israel and Hamas have reached an agreement calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and the gradual release of hostages captured in the deadly Oct. 7 attacks, according to reports from Reuters and the Associated Press.
Inauguration Day in the US was widely seen as the unofficial deadline for reaching an agreement. 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 that negotiators want to make sure that Trump will continue to support the agreement on the table, which is why it was “crucial” that Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Biden's envoy Brett McGurk participated in the talks.
According to Israeli data, Israel launched its air and ground attack on Gaza after Hamas-led militants entered southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing approximately 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages back to Gaza.
Israel says about 100 hostages are still being held in Gaza, but it is unclear how many are still alive.
Gaza's Health Ministry said more than 46,000 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks, making it the deadliest in decades of conflict between the two sides. The Israeli campaign also pushed most of Gaza's 2.3 million residents from their homes and left much of the coastal enclave in ruins, including health care infrastructure.