Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas signed an agreement on Thursday to cease fire and free Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, in the first phase of U.S. President Donald Trump’s initiative to end the two-year war in Gaza that has upended the Middle East.
“This means that ALL of the Hostages will be released very soon, and Israel will withdraw their Troops to an agreed upon line as the first steps toward a Strong, Durable, and Everlasting Peace,” US President Donald Trump wrote on social media. “All Parties will be treated fairly!”
Israelis and Palestinians alike rejoiced after the deal was announced, the biggest step yet to end two years of war in which over 67,000 Palestinians have been killed, and return the last hostages seized by Hamas in the deadly attacks that started it.
Officials on both sides confirmed they had signed the deal following indirect talks in the Egyptian beach resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
Under the deal, fighting will cease, Israel will partially withdraw from Gaza, and Hamas will free all remaining hostages it captured in the attack that precipitated the war, in exchange for hundreds of prisoners held by Israel. At the White House, Trump said he believed it would lead to “lasting peace.”
Fleets of trucks carrying food and medical aid would be allowed to surge into Gaza to relieve civilians, hundreds of thousands of whom have been sheltering in tents after Israeli forces destroyed their homes and razed entire cities to dust. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet convened ahead of an expected meeting by his full government to ratify the deal, Israeli media reported. Netanyahu said the ceasefire would take effect after ratification.
The accord, if fully implemented, would bring the two sides closer than any previous effort to halt a war that has evolved into a regional conflict, drawing in Iran, Yemen, and Lebanon, and deepened Israel’s international isolation.
Much could still go wrong. Even after the deal was signed, a Palestinian source said the list of Palestinians to be released had yet to be finalised. The group is seeking freedom for some of the most prominent Palestinian convicts held in Israeli jails, as well as hundreds of people detained during Israel’s assault.
Further steps in Trump’s 20-point plan have yet to be discussed, including how the shattered Gaza Strip is to be ruled when the fighting ends, and the ultimate fate of Hamas, which has so far rejected Israel’s demands it disarm.