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Israel, Hamas reach Gaza ceasefire deal in 15-month war: mediators

Agreement still needs to be approved by Netanyahu's cabinet and does not guarantee lasting truce

Israel and Hamas have reached a deal that will pause the war in Gaza and see hostages released, according to mediators cited in reporting from Reuters and The Associated Press. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, however, has cautioned that final details are not yet resolved.

Israel and Hamas have reached a deal to pause the war in Gaza and release hostages, mediators said Wednesday, according to reports from Reuters and The Associated Press.

It comes more than 15 months into a deadly campaign that has killed more than 46,000 Palestinians in the war-torn enclave.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said the final details were still being sorted out in the ceasefire deal with Hamas, without actually saying whether a deal had been reached.

The deal, not yet formally announced, outlines a six-week initial ceasefire phase and includes the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and release of hostages held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian detainees held by Israel, an official briefed on the negotiations told Reuters.

The agreement still needs to be approved by Netanyahu's cabinet, but is expected to go into effect in the coming days. It also does not guarantee a permanent truce.

Three officials from the U.S. and one from Hamas confirmed that a deal had been reached, while a senior Israeli official said details are still being ironed out. All three U.S. officials requested anonymity to discuss the contours of the deal before the official announcement by mediators in Doha.

A man waves Palestinian flags.
A man waves Palestinian flags as Palestinians react to news of a ceasefire deal with Israel on Wednesday in Deir Al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip. (Ramadan Abed/Reuters)

U.S. president-elect Donald Trump confirmed that a deal had been reached to release hostages held in Gaza.

"We have a deal for the hostages in the Middle East. They will be released shortly," Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform Wednesday.

You can read the main points of the draft deal here.

Phase 1 of the deal, which will span 42 days, will include the release of 33 Israeli hostages, including all women, children and men over 50.

Negotiations on implementing the second phase will begin by the 16th day of Phase 1 and it is expected to include the release of all remaining hostages, a permanent ceasefire and the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.

The third phase is expected to address the return of all remaining dead bodies and the start of Gaza's reconstruction, supervised by Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations.

 

'Breakthrough' in truce talks came earlier this week

The agreement follows months of on-off negotiations conducted by Egyptian and Qatari mediators, with the backing of the United States, and comes just ahead of the Jan. 20 inauguration of Trump.

Mediators gave Israel and Hamas a final draft of an agreement on Monday, an official briefed on the negotiations told Reuters, after a midnight "breakthrough" in talks attended by envoys of both outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden and Trump.

Mediators had met repeatedly in recent months but intensified their work in hopes of finalizing an agreement before Biden leaves the White House on Monday.

In the past, hostages were said to be one key sticking point in the negotiations. Israel insisted on retaining a military presence in Gaza, but Hamas refused to release captives until the troops pulled out.

 

WATCH | Israel, Hamas reach truce deal, mediators say: 

Israel and Hamas have reached an agreement that calls for a ceasefire in Gaza and the phased release of hostages captured in the deadly Oct. 7 attacks, mediators said Wednesday, according to reports from Reuters and The Associated Press.

Canada has long called for a ceasefire, the return of hostages and an urgent flow of humanitarian aid. The country joined Australia and New Zealand in July to demand a ceasefire, saying the countries were still "unequivocal in our condemnation of Hamas" but that civilians in Gaza "cannot be made to pay the price."

Last year, Canada also voted in favour of a non-binding United Nations resolution calling for a humanitarian pause — representing a shift away from its long-standing practice of voting with Israel on major resolutions at the UN.

Holding placards, people react to the ceasefire announcement in Tel Aviv
Relatives and friends of people killed and abducted by Hamas and taken into Gaza, react to the ceasefire announcement Wednesday as they take part in a demonstration in Tel Aviv, Israel. (Oded Balilty/The Associated Press)

 

Inauguration day in the U.S. 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.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said negotiators wanted to make sure Trump would continue to back the deal on the table, so it was "critical" to have Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff attend talks, along with Biden's envoy Brett McGurk.

Israel launched its air and ground assault on Gaza after fighters led by Hamas stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel has said roughly 100 hostages are still being held in Gaza, but it is unclear how many are alive.

The Health Ministry in Gaza has said Israel's attacks have killed more than 46,000 Palestinians, making it the deadliest war in decades of conflict between the two. Israel's campaign has also pushed most of Gaza's 2.3 million people from their homes and left most of the coastal enclave, including its health-care infrastructure, in ruins.

 

WATCH | Aid agencies say Gaza desperately needs a ceasefire:

Several officials say they are on the cusp of reaching a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. The agreement is said to include the return of some hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and potentially see Israel pull back its forces in Gaza.

For those left in the strip, Israel's tightened blockade has cut off access to basic necessities like food and medicine. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC — an initiative controlled by United Nations bodies and major relief agencies — said in November "there is a strong likelihood that famine is imminent" in parts of the northern strip.

Men packed tightly in a crowd push one another as they try to reach for food with pots in their hands.
Palestinians struggle to reach for food at a distribution centre in Khan Younis earlier this month. (Abdel Kareem Hana/The Associated Press)

 

Israel has rejected claims of famine. It called the IPC a "true master class in misinformation, bias and dishonest reporting," according to a statement from the United Nations.

There have been various temporary pauses in fighting so military aid could be delivered, and in November 2023, there was a days-long truce as some hostages in Gaza and detainees in Israel jails were released.

The 15-month war has also led to violence in Lebanon.

Israel invaded part of the country this fall to try and weaken Hezbollah — a militant group which had launched near-daily aerial attacks against Israel since Oct. 7, 2023, on account of its allyship with Hamas.

More than 3,960 people had been killed in Lebanon as of late November, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. Israel said the violence claimed the lives of more than 70 people in Israel — more than half of them civilians — and dozens more soldiers in southern Lebanon.

The two previously agreed to a brokered truce to begin on Nov. 27, but both sides later broke the pledge.

Author: Sara Jabakhanji, Rhianna Schmunk · CBC News ·

Source: CBC News:

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