Israel, Hamas reach ceasefire deal

A ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas is expected to begin Sunday, bringing relief to nearly 2 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip after 15 months of war and allowing for the return of hostages to Israel held in captivity since Hamas’s attack on Oct. 7, 2023.

The deal was announced Wednesday, with President-elect Trump the first senior official to celebrate the achievement shortly after noon, and President Biden making remarks from the White House two hours later.

“The fighting in Gaza will stop and soon the hostages will return home to their families,” Biden said, adding that Americans are expected to be released in Phase 1 of a three-phase deal. 

While the Israeli government still needs to approve the terms of the deal, a Qatari official said it is likely to be implemented Sunday, with the exact timing to be announced later. 

The deal would open the door for a possible end to more than a year of fighting since Hamas’s attack against Israel, and Israel’s subsequent war against the U.S.-designated terrorist group in the Gaza Strip. 

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said later Wednesday that some details were still being worked out, adding it was hopeful the deal would be “finalized tonight.”

The Israeli Security Cabinet will have to vote to accept the terms of the deal, and then a second vote will go before Israel’s parliament, the Knesset. If it passes both those votes, there will also be time for appeals against the deal to be brought to Israel’s Supreme Court.

The deal comes days before Biden leaves the White House and Trump becomes president for a second time, and each man sought to put his imprint on the news.

“WE HAVE A DEAL FOR THE HOSTAGES IN THE MIDDLE EAST. THEY WILL BE RELEASED SHORTLY. THANK YOU!” Trump wrote on Truth Social minutes after reports of an agreement.

Trump had warned of “all hell” breaking loose in the Middle East if Hamas did not release hostages before he is sworn into office, and his special envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, worked closely with Biden’s negotiators.

The contours of the deal are nearly identical to Biden’s May proposal to begin a ceasefire and lead to a pathway to end the war. That proposal was endorsed by the United Nations Security Council during a vote in June.

The first phase of the deal begins with a six-week ceasefire and for Hamas to release 33 hostages out of an estimated 94 people — alive and dead — that it has held since the Oct 7 attack. Civilian women, women soldiers, children, the elderly, and the sick are expected to be released in the first phase. 

Israel will begin to withdraw its military from the Gaza Strip during this time, specifically from what are described as “population centers.” Neyanyahu’s office said that due to his insistence, “Hamas folded on its last-minute demand to change the deployment of IDF forces in the Philadelphi Corridor,” the border area between Gaza and Egypt. 

During the six-week ceasefire, negotiators from Israel and Hamas — mediated by the U.S., Egypt and Qatar — will work toward transitioning into a second phase, working out terms to extend the ceasefire permanently and end the war.

Biden, during his remarks, said that if negotiations to get to a second phase of the deal take longer than six weeks, the ceasefire should be extended. 

“Negotiations will go forward for as long as it takes,” Biden said. 

When Phase 2 begins, there will be an exchange for the remaining living hostages, to include Israeli soldiers and the men of military age. Hamas holds at least one living American Israeli, Edan Alexander, who was serving in the Israeli military when he was kidnapped on Oct. 7. 

Israeli forces will withdraw from Gaza and the “temporary ceasefire will become permanent,” Biden said. A third phase of the deal will include the release of the remains of hostages killed. 

“The road to this deal has not been easy, I’ve worked in foreign policy for decades, this is the toughest negotiations I’ve ever experienced,” Biden said.

“We reached this point because of pressure Israel put on Hamas, backed by the United States.”

During the initial ceasefire, humanitarian aid is expected to flood the strip. The Qatari official said hospitals, health centers and bakeries will be rehabilitated.

Israel has faced intense criticism for throttling the distribution of humanitarian aid and failing to ensure safe routes for delivery. Israel officials argue it has facilitated hundreds of aid trucks to enter the Gaza Strip and coordinated pickups with humanitarian groups. The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant over charges they used starvation as a weapon of war. 

The ceasefire deal takes effect one day before Trump is sworn into office, and the negotiations marked a rare area of cooperation between the Biden and Trump teams. Trump sent Witkoff to participate in the talks with Biden’s envoy, Brett McGurk. 

It’s not entirely clear how further negotiations will carry out under Trump, whose vow to unleash “hell” in the Middle East if a deal was not reached before he took office was seen as putting more pressure on all sides.

The Times of Israel reported that Witkoff held a “tense” meeting with Netanyahu that helped advance the ceasefire talks.  

Trump took credit for the deal, posting on Truth Social that, “We have achieved so much without even being in the White House. Just imagine all of the wonderful things that will happen when I return to the White House, and my Administration is fully confirmed, so they can secure more Victories for the United States!”

Sen. James E. Risch (R-Idaho), chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, noted the reports of a deal during the confirmation hearing for Trump’s nominee for secretary of State, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).

“Before we all celebrate, obviously, we’re all going to want to see how that executes,” Risch said. 

Rubio, addressing the possibility of a ceasefire during his hearing, gave credit to both the Biden team and the Trump transition team for working side by side.

Asked if he supported a Palestinian state, the end goal for the Biden administration’s diplomatic efforts in the region, Rubio would not commit.

“Part of that [ceasefire] deal has this very tenuous but important six-week period, [to transition] to a civil administration, that could serve as a foundation to build upon. We don’t know yet,” Rubio said. 

Updated at 3:14 p.m. EST