A ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas for the Gaza Strip has come into effect. The deal is hoped to bring about a pause to Israeli bombardment, a break in the siege and an exchange of captives.
Here are the key people linked to the deal:
Donald Trump, US president
The US has been Israel’s biggest military and political backer during two years of attacks on Gaza that have killed more than 67,000 people, with Trump and his predecessor Joe Biden sending more explosives than any other country to Israel while repeatedly blocking diplomatic efforts to end the bombing.
Trump’s 20-point “peace plan” released last month provided the framework behind the current Gaza deal.
Steve Witkoff, US Middle East envoy
Witkoff was sent by Trump to join the final talks in Egypt. The New York real estate developer turned diplomat later moved on to Israel to oversee the US approval of the deal.
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli prime minister
Israel’s longest-serving leader, voted into office six times since the mid-1990s, has overseen the latest, and deadliest, Gaza war. The prime minister is subject to an arrest warrant by the international criminal court (ICC) for war crimes, including starvation as a method of warfare. He rejects the court’s authority.
Khalil al-Hayya, Hamas chief negotiator
The senior Hamas official, who has been based in Doha, survived an Israeli raid on Qatar in September. A month after the current war started, Hayya was cited as praising the 7 October attack on Israel – in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage – as a “great act”.
Jared Kushner, Trump son-in-law
Kushner accompanied Steve Witkoff to the final round of talks in Egypt. Trump’s son-in-law was active in the Middle East during the president’s first term and continues to have business interests in the Gulf.
Tony Blair, former British prime minister
Under Trump’s plan, the former British Labour party leader is seen as a potential Gaza interim governor, but he is viewed with skepticism by Palestinian officials.
Distrusted across the Middle East for the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Blair has kept a role in the region for the past two decades.
Ron Dermer, Israeli minister of strategic affairs
A close confidant of Netanyahu, Dermer was appointed to lead the Israeli delegation for discussions in the Red Sea resort Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, earlier this week.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Qatari prime minister
A key figure in the talks, the prime minister (who also holds the foreign ministry portfolio) attended the talks in Egypt as the representative for Qatar, one of the main go-between nations.
