Live Updates: Israel and Hamas Agree to Gaza Cease-Fire Deal, Officials Say
Negotiators from Israel and Hamas have agreed to a cease-fire in Gaza after over 15 months of devastating war in the territory, according to a senior official from one of the mediating countries and two senior Israeli officials.
The cease-fire is set to take effect immediately, according to a White House official. Its first phase will last six weeks, and hostages will start being released during that phase, though it was not clear that could begin. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the deal.
The deal needs to be formally ratified by the Israeli cabinet, the officials said and there are also technical details that still need to be worked out. Two other officials said there was last-minute wrangling over the Egypt-Gaza border, which Israeli forces currently control.
. Basem Naim, a Hamas official, also confirmed the agreement, although the Palestinian militant group has yet to release a formal statement.
President-elect Donald J. Trump also announced that a hostage deal had been reached, writing on social media that “THEY WILL BE RELEASED SHORTLY.” Mr. Trump had threatened severe consequences unless Israel and Hamas reached an agreement before his Jan. 20 inauguration, which some officials credited with helping to advance the negotiations.
If implemented, the cease-fire would allow for the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza and Palestinian prisoners in Israel, after more than a year of devastating war that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and destroyed much of the enclave.
Neither Israel nor Hamas had publicly endorsed the agreement, but the Palestinian group said on Tuesday that the negotiations had entered their “final stages,” and Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Saar, said on Wednesday evening that he was returning early from a trip abroad to join cabinet discussions about the hostages. Hamas said in a statement on Wednesday evening that it had responded to the proposed deal, without clarifying further.
In order to implement the deal, Hamas’s negotiating team at the talks in Doha, Qatar, had to obtain the consent of the group’s commanders in Gaza, including Muhammad Sinwar, whose brother Yahya led the group before being killed by Israel in October.
Officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy.
Here’s what else to know:
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Negotiations: The latest round of talks is being held in Qatar, a key mediator alongside Egypt and the United States. Majed al-Ansari, the spokesman for the Qatari Foreign Ministry, said on Tuesday that the two sides had overcome major disagreements
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Right-wing opposition: In Israel, some hard-line members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government have also voiced opposition to the deal. But on Wednesday, Gideon Saar, the Israeli foreign minister, said he believed that a majority would sign off on an agreement if it came to a cabinet vote.
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Hostage talks: The deal on the table comes after months of shuttle diplomacy have failed to end the war in Gaza, which began after Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that killed 1,200 people and saw 250 taken hostage. Around 105 captives were later released in a weeklong cease-fire in November 2023 in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners.
Abu Bakr Bashir and Gabby Sobelman contributed reporting.
Maya C. Miller
Reporting on Congress
Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the minority leader, welcomed the news of a deal that would free hostages and “reduce violence in Gaza and harm to innocent civilians.” In a statement on X, he said, “A cease-fire is very good news for Israel, for America, for the Palestinian people and particularly for the hostage families who have waited so long in agony. We will not rest until every hostage comes home.”
The cease-fire is set to take effect immediately, according to a White House official. The first phase is to last six weeks, during which hostages will start being released. It was not clear what day that begins.
Some residents of the Gaza Strip expressed relief upon hearing news that Israeli and Hamas negotiators agreed to a cease-fire deal. “Praise God, this tragedy is over,” Mohammad Fares, 24, a resident of Gaza City displaced in southern Gaza, said, with celebratory whistling and gunfire ringing out in the background. “We’re all overcome with joy, but this joy is incomplete because we will be returning to destroyed homes.”
Biden and his team have labored to get this deal done before he leaves office in just five days. This is reminiscent of Jimmy Carter’s final days: He finally won the release of the American hostages held in Iran for 444 days — though in that case, the Iranians held the planes taking the hostages home until moments after Ronald Reagan’s inauguration, as a final insult.
Another major difference from 44 years ago is that, unlike in 1981, the incoming president’s team has worked together with the outgoing president’s team to make this happen.
The provisional agreement follows a roller-coaster year of diplomacy that saw Israeli and Hamas officials, as well as Arab mediators, shuttle across the region. Palestinians and Israelis — particularly the families of Israeli hostages in Gaza — have careened from hope to despair as repeated efforts by Qatar, Egypt and the Biden administration failed to bridge gaps between Israel and Hamas. Many had doubted that a deal could be reached at all given seemingly irreconciliable demands by both sides.
Johnatan Reiss
Reporting from Tel Aviv
The office of President Isaac Herzog of Israel said he was briefed on Wednesday by the Red Cross “on the preparations for the transfer of the hostages and the various challenges they face.”
A White House official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed that a cease-fire deal has been reached.
President-elect Donald J. Trump got ahead of the the Biden White House announcement about a cease-fire deal. “WE HAVE A DEAL FOR THE HOSTAGES IN THE MIDDLE EAST. THEY WILL BE RELEASED SHORTLY. THANK YOU!” he wrote. But Trump’s win in the election and coming return to Washington, as well as his team’s work, was according to multiple people a factor in the deal getting done.
Johnatan Reiss
Reporting from Tel Aviv
Gideon Saar, Israel’s foreign minister, will cut short his diplomatic visit to Europe to attend cabinet meetings Wednesday night concerning the Gaza deal, according to his spokesman.“He will return to Israel tonight to participate in the discussions and votes on the matter expected to take place in the security cabinet and government,” his spokesman said.
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The current outline of a cease-fire deal in Gaza is broadly similar to a three-phase framework publicized by President Biden in late May, according to several officials familiar with the talks. Negotiators have yet to confirm the start date and other technical issues, officials said, and the agreement could still be derailed.
On Wednesday, Yossi Fuchs, cabinet secretary for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, posted on X that the latest proposal was the same as the one from May.
Under that May proposal, Israel and Hamas would first observe a six-week cease-fire in which Hamas would release women, older men, and ill hostages in exchange for the release of Palestinians jailed by Israel, and 600 trucks carrying humanitarian relief would enter Gaza daily.
The proposal also calls for Hamas to release three female hostages on day one of a deal, four more on day seven, and another 26 over the following five weeks, according to a copy of the document obtained by The New York Times. At the same time, Israel would be required to release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners during the initial six weeks.
If implemented, a minimum of 60,000 temporary homes and 200,000 tents would also be brought into Gaza during the initial phase.
During the second phase of a deal, Israel and Hamas would declare a “permanent cessation of hostilities,” Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza and the remaining living hostages would be swapped for Palestinian prisoners. But the details have been a major point of contention: For months, Hamas demanded Israel commit to ending the war, which Israel resisted.