US President Donald Trump has announced that Israel and Hamas have “both signed off” on the first phase of a peace plan for Gaza.
“This means that ALL of the Hostages will be released very soon, and Israel will withdraw their Troops to an agreed upon line as the first steps toward a Strong, Durable, and Everlasting Peace,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The announcement comes after three days of indirect talks in Egypt – mediated by officials from Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and the US – aimed at bringing an end to the two-year conflict.
Both Israel and Hamas also confirmed an agreement had been reached.
However, Trump’s post did not provide clarity on other known sticking points in negotiations – notably the disarmament of Hamas and the future governance of Gaza.
But the deal still appeared to be the closest the two sides have come to ending the war which has killed tens of thousands, and drawn in countries including Iran, Lebanon and Yemen.
ReutersIn a post on X, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it a “great day”, adding that he would “convene the government tomorrow to ratify the agreement and bring all of our precious hostages home”.
Netanyahu and Trump held a “moving” call, during which they congratulated each other on the “historic achievement” of the agreement, according to the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog said: “At this moment the heart of Israel beats as one with the hostages and their families.”
Israel says there are currently 48 hostages in captivity, up to 20 of whom are still alive and 28 are dead.
Hamas confirmed that the agreement included an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, a hostage-prisoner exchange and the entry of aid, adding that they “value the efforts of US President Donald Trump, who seeks to bring about a definitive end to the war”.
Hamas also called on Trump, the guarantor countries and other Arab states to compel Israel “to fully implement the agreement’s requirements and not allow it to evade or delay the implementation of what has been agreed upon”.
A senior White House official told CBS, the BBC’s US news partner, that “our assessment is that hostages will begin getting released on Monday”, a timeline later corroborated by Trump.
A senior Palestinian official told the BBC that the ceasefire will go into effect immediately after approval by the Israeli government at around 14:00 Jerusalem time (11:00 GMT).
Israel will allow 400 aid trucks to enter Gaza daily during the first five days, with the number to increase gradually in later stages, the official said.
The official said the “yellow line” on the Trump plan map issued by the White House had been adjusted to reflect Israel’s security requirements and Hamas’s need to secure the release of Israeli hostages.
The initial “yellow line” shown on the White House map would have left Gaza about 55% occupied by Israeli forces.
Hamas officials told the BBC that the list of prisoners it had submitted to mediators in Egypt included high-profile figures such as Marwan Barghouti, seen by many Palestinians as a future president. It is unclear whether Israel has agreed to his release.
ReutersIn a post on X, UN Secretary General António Guterres said the UN supported the “full implementation of the agreement & will scale up the delivery of sustained & principled humanitarian relief”.
He urged all sides “to abide fully by the terms of the agreement” and “seize this momentous opportunity”, adding that “the suffering must end”.
Later, Trump told Fox News that the agreement would usher in a “different world”, saying this is more than Gaza, this is “peace in the Middle East”.
“Gaza, we believe is going to be a much safer place… and other countries in the area will help it reconstruct because they have tremendous amounts of wealth,” Trump said.
Earlier on Wednesday, expectations that a deal could be imminent were heightened after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio entered an event with Trump and handed him a note.
The message appeared to ask that Trump approve a Truth Social post about Gaza so that “you can announce first”.
Trump said that note informed him that “we are very close to a deal”. He exited the room shortly thereafter, saying he had to focus on the Middle East.
Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to the 7 October 2023 attack, in which Hamas-led gunmen killed about 1,200 people and took 251 others as hostages.
At least 67,183 have been killed by Israeli military operations in Gaza since then, including 20,179 children, according to the territory’s health ministry. Its figures are seen as reliable by the UN and other international bodies, although Israel disputes them.
The ministry has said another 460 people have died from the effects of malnutrition since the start of the war, including 182 since a famine was confirmed in Gaza City in August by the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC).
Netanyahu has repeatedly denied starvation is taking place in Gaza and said Israel was facilitating deliveries of food and other aid.
