Destroyed buildings are seen inside the Gaza Strip from southern Israel, Monday, Jan. 13, 2025.
Destroyed buildings are seen inside the Gaza Strip from southern Israel, Monday, Jan. 13, 2025. Photo | AP

Israel, Hamas agree deal for ceasefire in Gaza and hostage release, say officials

Hamas and US officials have confirmed the deal, which will initially halt fighting for six weeks and include negotiations aimed at permanently ending the 15-month-long war.
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Israel and Hamas on Wednesday reached a ceasefire agreement to pause the brutal war in Gaza, which began over a year ago and facilitate the release of hostages, following talks in Doha.

Pressure to put an end to the fighting had ratcheted up in recent days, as mediators Qatar, Egypt and the US intensified efforts to secure a deal.

Hamas told Al Jazeera that its delegation approved the ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement, which was presented to mediators.

A US official also confirmed the deal, but Israel has yet to respond.

On Wednesday, a source close to the talks said Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani was "meeting Hamas negotiators in his office for (a) final push" to seal the deal.

The source, briefed on the talks, later told AFP that a "Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal (was) reached following (the) Qatari PM's meeting with Hamas negotiators and separately Israeli negotiators in his office."

Outgoing US President Joe Biden said on Wednesday the three-step truce agreement includes a "full and complete ceasefire" as part of phase one and a "permanent end to the war" in an unfinalised second phase.

"Phase One will last six weeks. It includes a full and complete ceasefire, withdrawal of Israeli forces from all the populated areas of Gaza and the release of a number of hostages held by Hamas," Biden said in a White House speech.

Biden added that Israel, During the next six weeks, will negotiate the necessary arrangements to get phase two, which he will bring "a permanent end" to the war.

According to Axios, Hamas leader Mohammed Sinwar had approved the deal, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office is yet to give a greenlight. "There is a breakthrough in the hostage deal negotiations in Doha. Hamas' military leader in Gaza Mohammed Sinwar gave his ok," an Israeli official told Axios.

Destroyed buildings are seen inside the Gaza Strip from southern Israel, Monday, Jan. 13, 2025.
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The announcement comes after months of failed bids to end the deadliest war in Gaza's history, and days ahead of the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, who immediately hailed the deal before it was officially announced by the White House.

"We have a deal for the hostages in the Middle East. They will be released shortly. Thank you!" Trump said on his Truth Social network.

The agreement still needs to be approved by Netanyahu’s Cabinet, but is expected to go into effect in the coming days. Another Israeli official told Axios that the deal could be announced by Thursday at the latest.

The deal is expected to deliver an initial six-week halt to fighting that is to be accompanied by the opening of negotiations on ending the war altogether. Over six weeks, 33 of the nearly 100 hostages are to be reunited with their loved ones after months in captivity with no contact with the outside world, though it’s unclear if all are alive.

It remained unclear exactly when and how many displaced Palestinians would be able to return to what remains of their homes and whether the agreement would lead to a complete end to the war and the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza — key Hamas demands for releasing the remaining captives.

The deal, coming after weeks of painstaking negotiations in the Qatari capital, promises the release of dozens of hostages held by Hamas in phases, the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israel and would allow hundreds of thousands of people displaced in Gaza to return to what remains of their homes. It also would flood badly needed humanitarian aid into a devastated territory.

Destroyed buildings are seen inside the Gaza Strip from southern Israel, Monday, Jan. 13, 2025.
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Brutal genocide and underreported deaths

Notably, human rights group Amnesty International released a report on December 5, 2024, which found that Israel has been committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. It doccummented Israel's actions and intent during its offensive on the occupied Gaza Strip from Oct. 7, 2023.

The report examined the killing of civilians, damage to and destruction of civilian infrastructure, forcible displacement, obstruction or denial of life-saving goods and humanitarian aid, and restriction of power supplies, concluding that Israel committed genocide.

Similarly, an independent United Nations-appointed rights expert had accused Israel of committing "genocide" in Gaza in August 2024.

"Israel is genociding the Palestinians one neighbourhood at the time, one hospital at the time, one school at the time, one refugee camp at the time, one safe zone at a time," Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the rights situation in the Palestinian territories had said on X.

Meanwhile, a peer-reviewed statistical research published in The Lancet medical journal has estimated that the death toll in Gaza during the first nine months of the war was around 40% higher than recorded by the Palestinian territory's health ministry.

The study's death toll estimate was 64,260, which would mean the health ministry had under-reported the number of deaths to that point by 41%. It said 59.1% were women, children and people over the age of 65.

That toll represented 2.9% of Gaza's pre-war population, or approximately one in 35 inhabitants, the study said.

The toll was only for deaths from traumatic injuries, so did not include deaths from a lack of health care or food, or the thousands of missing believed to be buried under rubble.

The war began following Hamas' cross-border attack on Oct. 7, 2023, during which some 1,200 Israelis were killed and 250 others were taken hostage. Israel responded with a brutal bombing campaign and ground offensive in Gaza, which has killed over 46,000 people—mainly women and children—according to Palestinian health officials.

The war has also displaced an estimated 90% of Gaza’s population and sparked a humanitarian crisis.

Notably, more than 100 hostages were freed from Gaza in a weeklong truce in November 2023.

Many longer-term questions about postwar Gaza remain, including who will rule the territory or oversee the daunting task of reconstruction.

Still, the announcement offered the first sign of hope in months that Israel and Hamas may be winding down the most deadly and destructive war they’ve ever fought, a conflict that has  destabilised the broader Middle East and sparked worldwide protests.

Destroyed buildings are seen inside the Gaza Strip from southern Israel, Monday, Jan. 13, 2025.
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