Israel, Hamas sign Gaza ceasefire deal
Israel said Thursday that all parties have signed the first phase of a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal, in a major step to end a war that has killed tens of thousands of people. The agreement in Egypt follows a 20-point peace plan for Gaza announced last month by US President Donald Trump, after […]
Thousands of jubilant Israelis gathered in a Tel Aviv square on October 9, hopeful for the return of hostages held in Gaza since two years of fear and worry, after Israel and Palestinian factions reached a hostage release and truce deal in a major step towards ending the war. Photo by JOHN WESSELS / AFP
Israel said Thursday that all parties have signed the first phase of a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal, in a major step to end a war that has killed tens of thousands of people.
The agreement in Egypt follows a 20-point peace plan for Gaza announced last month by US President Donald Trump, after more than two years of war sparked by Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel.
Trump was expected to be in Jerusalem on Sunday, the office of his Israeli counterpart said, after the US leader said he might also go to Egypt and consider going to Gaza.
A ceasefire was to take hold in devastated Gaza “within 24 hours”, Israeli government spokeswoman Shosh Bedrosian said.
“The final draft of phase one was signed this (Thursday) morning in Egypt by all parties to release all the hostages,” she told journalists.
“Now phase one stands very clear: all of our hostages, the living and the deceased, will be released 72 hours later, which will bring us to Monday,” she said.
The Israeli military is expected to withdraw from Gaza and release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the hostages.
The deal also envisions a surge of aid into Gaza, where the UN has declared famine.
The Israeli army said it was preparing to pull back troops in Gaza, in line with the agreement.
Trump’s plan also calls for the disarmament of Hamas and for Gaza to be ruled by a transitional authority headed by the US president himself, though these points have yet to be addressed in discussions.
A source within Hamas told AFP the group will exchange 20 living hostages all at the same time for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners as part of the deal’s first phase.
‘Tears of joy’
The announcement sparked joy in Gaza, much of which has been flattened by bombardment and most of whose residents have been displaced at least once over the past two years.
“Honestly, when I heard the news, I couldn’t hold back. Tears of joy flowed. Two years of bombing, terror, destruction, loss, humiliation, and the constant feeling that we could die at any moment,” displaced Palestinian Samer Joudeh told AFP.
In Israel, thousands of people gathered in a Tel Aviv square to celebrate, some holding photos of hostages still in Gaza and waving Israeli and US flags.
Many wore stickers reading: “They’re coming back.”
“We have been waiting for this day for 734 days. We cannot imagine being anywhere else this morning,” said Laurence Ytzhak, 54.
The deal was thrashed out in indirect negotiations behind closed doors in a conference centre in Sharm El-Sheikh, an Egyptian resort town on the Red Sea.
Hamas submits list
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would bring the hostages home “with God’s help”, while Hamas has submitted a list of Palestinian prisoners it wants released from Israeli jails in the first phase.
The list names 250 Palestinians sentenced to life imprisonment and 1,700 others arrested by Israel since the war began, according to the Hamas source.
High-profile inmate Marwan Barghouti – from Hamas’s rival, the Fatah movement – is among those the group wanted to see released, according to Egyptian state-linked media.
However, when asked by a journalist at a briefing whether Israel had agreed to release Barghouti, government spokeswoman Bedrosian said: “I can tell you at this point in time that he will not be part of this release.”
The talks were taking place under the shadow of the second anniversary of the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Militants also took 251 people hostage into Gaza, where 47 remain, including 25 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign in Gaza has killed at least 67,183 people, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, figures the United Nations considers credible.
The data does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but indicates that more than half of the dead are women and children.
Meanwhile, Gaza’s civil defence agency, a rescue force operating under Hamas’s authority, reported several strikes on the territory after the announcement of the deal.
Key reactions
World leaders on Thursday welcomed the announcement of the ceasefire and hostage-release deal.
The Palestinian president, Mahmud Abbas, said he hoped that the deal “would be a prelude to reaching a permanent political solution”, leading to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.
UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, called for all hostages to be released “in a dignified manner”.
“The fighting must stop once and for all,” he said, urging the immediate, unimpeded entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, called the announcement “a huge relief” and said it was ready to flood Gaza with desperately needed food and medicine.
The agency had enough food to feed all of Gaza for three months, he added.
Also, the Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreysus said the World Health Organisation “stands ready to scale up its work to meet the dire health needs of patients across Gaza, and to support rehabilitation of the destroyed health system.”
“The best medicine is peace,” he said.
Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi hailed the announcement as a “historic moment” that “opens the door of hope for the peoples of the region for a future defined by justice and stability.”
The United Arab Emirates, one of the original backers of the deal, said it hoped the agreement would be a “positive step towards ending the humanitarian suffering in the Gaza Strip”.
King Abdullah II of Jordan, on his part, said a ceasefire was “a key step to ending the war” and promised continuing support for Palestinians’ “pursuit of freedom and statehood on their national soil”.
Riyadh said it hoped the deal would “lead to urgent action to alleviate the humanitarian suffering”.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan singled out US counterpart Donald Trump, thanking him for demonstrating “the necessary political will to encourage the Israeli government toward the ceasefire”.
On their part, European leaders in Brussels, as well as in Italy, Germany and France, called the announcement an opportunity for lasting peace.
Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, one of Europe’s most vocal critics of Israel’s offensive in Gaza, said the civilian population should now be supported and “the atrocities experienced… never repeated”.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer of the UK called the deal a “crucial first step” and said it “must now be implemented in full, without delay”.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia hoped the deal would be signed off and implemented, while Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said China hoped for a “permanent and comprehensive” ceasefire as soon as possible.
“China advocates adhering to the principle that ‘Palestinians should govern Palestine’,” he added.