Israel, Hamas agree to ceasefire deal to stop fighting and return hostages
Accord has yet to be approved by Israeli cabinet, does not guarantee lasting truce
The latest:
- A ceasefire deal has been reached to stop the fighting in Gaza and release Israeli hostages.
- The agreement could take effect as early as Sunday.
- Hamas calls the arrangement an "achievement for our people" after 15 months of war in Gaza.
- Deal still needs cabinet and government approval in Israel; votes set for Thursday.
Israel and Hamas have reached a deal to pause the fighting in Gaza, release hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and create a path that could end bloodshed in the tiny enclave and diffuse tensions across the Middle East.
The complex accord, which still needs Israeli government approval to be made official, outlines a six-week initial ceasefire phase and includes the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip. It also calls for the release of hostages taken by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, as well as more humanitarian aid for the Palestinian people.
If the agreement is formally ratified in Israel, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said the terms could go into effect as early as Sunday. U.S. President Joe Biden did not provide those specifics, but said a deal had been reached.
"Fighting in Gaza will stop, and soon the hostages return home to their families," Biden said in a statement.
"For the Palestinian people, a credible pathway to a state of their own. And for the region, a future of normalization, integration of Israel and all its Arab neighbours, including Saudi Arabia."
The deal does not guarantee peace between Israel and Hamas, but offered an anxiously awaited glimpse of hope that the violence could soon come to an end. The news was met Wednesday with jubilation in the streets of Gaza, where Israel's onslaught has cost tens of thousands of lives, and with fragile hope among Israeli families waiting to learn the fate of loved ones held hostage in Gaza for 466 days.
In a statement Wednesday, Hamas called the deal an "achievement for our people."
"The agreement is a milestone in the conflict with the enemy, on the path to achieving our people's goals of liberation and return," the statement read.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said the final details were still being sorted out in the ceasefire deal with Hamas. The Israeli cabinet and government are set to vote on the agreement on Thursday.
Israel's attack on Gaza has killed more than 46,000 Palestinians and injured over 110,000 others, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The assault has also displaced most of Gaza's population and reduced much of the territory to rubble.
The bombardment began after Hamas-led militants stormed across the nation's southern border on Oct. 7, 2023, killing roughly 1,200 people and taking another 250 hostage in the attack that ignited the war.
It is the deadliest conflict in decades of unrest between the two.
Deal would come in 3 phases
If successful, the ceasefire will end fighting that has levelled much of the densely-populated Gaza Strip and forced most of the pre-war population of 2.3 million people from their homes.
The shift could help lower the temperature across the Middle East at large, after the war spilled over into Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Iraq and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
The ceasefire would come in three phases:
- Phase 1 entails the release of 33 Israeli hostages, including all women, children and men over 50.
- Phase 2 was expected to include the release of all remaining hostages, a permanent ceasefire and the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. Negotiations would begin on the 16th day of phase one.
- Phase 3 is expected to address the return of all remaining bodies and the start of Gaza's reconstruction supervised by Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations.
The agreement also calls for a surge in humanitarian assistance to Gaza, and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stressed the "priority now must be to ease the tremendous suffering caused by this conflict." Both the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross said they were preparing to massively scale up their aid operations.
An emotional day in Gaza
Elated Palestinians took to the streets late Wednesday to celebrate news of the agreement. Amjad Shawa, director of the Palestinian NGO Network, said he was joyful but still nervous the deal would fall through as others had before.
"Already, people are celebrating the ceasefire and myself, I am celebrating ending this war and opening a new page of our life," Shawa told CBC's As It Happens from Deir Al-Balah.
"If this does not happen, it will be a really big catastrophe within the big catastrophe that we are living in."
Al Thani, the Qatari prime minister, said the agreed-upon deal has a mechanism in place to prevent it from falling apart.
"We know that these kinds of agreements are very complex and will have some issues down the line," Al Thani said Wednesday. "We are ready and we will stay committed to address those issues."
The pact follows months of tortuous, on-off negotiations conducted by Egyptian and Qatari mediators, with the backing of the United States, and comes days before U.S. president-elect Donald Trump takes office. The presidential inauguration on Monday was widely seen as an unofficial deadline to reach a deal. Trump had warned "all hell" would break out if hostages were not freed by the time his second term began.
News of the deal garnered international reaction from world leaders, who pushed for a lasting truce between Israel and Hamas.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said, "Canada stands ready to do whatever it can to ensure the success of this agreement."
"This ceasefire gives us hope. Hope that we can now focus our attention on a true, lasting political solution to this conflict — a two-state solution with Israelis and Palestinians living side-by-side in safety, security and dignity," he said at an unrelated news conference in Ottawa.
Israeli families of hostages welcome truce
Sharone Lifschitz, whose father, Oded, is being held in Gaza, told the AP by phone she was stunned and grateful, but won't believe it until she sees all the hostages come home.
"I'm so desperate to see them if by some miracle my father has survived," she said.
Meanwhile in Israel, the Hostage Families Forum, which represents many relatives of Israeli hostages held in Gaza, says it welcomes the agreement "with overwhelming joy and relief."
"We are closer than ever to reuniting with our loved ones," the group said in a statement shortly after the agreement was announced.
A longer-term vision for post-war Gaza has yet to be determined and it is not clear who will lead Gaza.
Israel has refused any involvement by Hamas, which has led the enclave since 2007 and is officially sworn to Israel's destruction. But Israel has been almost equally opposed to rule by the Palestinian Authority, the body set up under the Oslo interim peace accords three decades ago that has limited governing power in the West Bank.
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With files from Reuters and The Associated Press