Closing summary
We’re going to close this blog for now, you can read our full report here. Here’s the latest on the situation:
Israel’s government approved a ceasefire deal to end the fighting in Gaza and see the return of all remaining Israeli hostages.
The ceasefire should take hold sometime in the next 24 hours, with the hostages being released within 72 hours after it officially begins. In exchange, Israel will free about 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country was on the cusp of achieving a central aim of the war in the release of the hostages. At a meeting with Jared Kushner, president Donald Trump’s son-in-law, and Steve Witkoff, the US special envoy to the Middle East, Netanyahu thanked Trump for his work on the deal.
Trump is set to head to the region on Sunday, possibly to attend a signing ceremony in Egypt. Israel’s Knesset has also invited him to speak before the body.
While the full terms of the deal remain unclear, the announcement was greeted with cautious joy across the region. Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, said he hopes “peace, security and stability will prevail”.
Thanks for sticking with us.
Netanyahu says Israel at a ‘momentous development’, thanking Donald Trump
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country had reached a “momentous development” in its war in Gaza. He said earlier:
In the last two years, we’ve fought to achieve our war aims. And a central one of these war aims is to return the hostages. All of the hostages, the living and the dead. And we’re about to achieve that.
We couldn’t have achieved it without the extraordinary help of president Trump and his team, Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner. They worked tirelessly. …
That, and the courage of our soldiers who entered Gaza, had a combined military and diplomatic pressure that isolated Hamas. I believe these brought us to this point.
WATCH: Remarks by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the government meeting for the approval of the hostages release framework, together with President Trump's Special Envoy to the Middle East, @SteveWitkoff, and with the President's son-in-law, @JaredKushner. pic.twitter.com/zMALibPcEY
— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) October 9, 2025
Netanyahu expressed his personal thanks to Witkoff and Kushner, saying the pair had put forward both “your brains and your hearts”.
We know that it’s for the benefit of Israel and the US, for the benefit of decent people everywhere.
Palestinian president says he is ‘very happy that the bloodshed has ceased’
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas gave a rare interview to an Israeli network on Thursday, expressing hope that peace would prevail between Palestinians and Israelis following the signing of a Gaza ceasefire agreement.
Agence France-Presse reports Abbas spoke to Israel’s Channel 12. He said:
What happened today is a historic moment. We have been hoping – and continue to hope – that we can bring an end to the bloodshed taking place in our land, whether in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, or East Jerusalem.
Today, we are very happy that the bloodshed has ceased. We hope it remains this way, and that peace, security, and stability will prevail between us and Israel.
When asked whether the Palestinian Authority had implemented the reforms mentioned by US president Donald Trump in his 20-point plan to end the war in Gaza, Abbas said that the reform process was already underway:
I want to say honestly – we have launched reforms.
Trump, along with other international leaders and organisations, has urged Abbas to reform the Palestinian Authority.
US to send troops to Israel to monitor Gaza ceasefire, say officials
The United States is sending about 200 troops to Israel to help support and monitor the ceasefire deal in Gaza as part of a team that includes partner nations, nongovernmental organisations and private sector players, US officials have said.
US Central Command is going to establish a “civil-military coordination centre” in Israel that will help facilitate the flow of humanitarian aid as well as logistical and security assistance into the devastated territory, the Associated Press quoted them as saying.
The remarks on Thursday from the officials – who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details not authorised for release – provide some of the first details on how the ceasefire deal would be monitored and that the US military would have a role in that effort.
After Israel and Hamas agreed to the first phase of the Trump administration plan to halt the fighting, a litany of questions remain on next steps, including Hamas disarmament, a withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and a future government in the territory.
One of the officials said the new team would help monitor implementation of the ceasefire agreement and the transition to a civilian government in Gaza.
Updated
Israeli government approves deal for hostages' release
The approval the Israeli government has just given to a ceasefire with Hamas clears the way to suspend hostilities in Gaza within 24 hours and free Israeli hostages held in the Palestinian territory within 72 hours after that.
The Israeli cabinet agreed to the deal early Friday morning, about 24 hours after mediators announced the agreement to free Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners under in the first phase of Donald Trump’s plan to end the war in Gaza.
“The government has now approved the plan for the release of all hostages - the living and the fallen,” a post on Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s account on X said.
Updated
The Israeli government has approved the Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal, the office of prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said early on Friday.
More in a moment.
Updated
Images have been posted online of Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff with Benjamin Netanyahu at the Israeli government’s cabinet meeting over Trump’s Gaza ceasefire plan.
The Israeli government press office posted this on X:
*Prime Minister's Office Announcement*
— Government Press Office 🇮🇱 (@GPOIsrael) October 9, 2025
*Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the government meeting together with President Trump's Special Envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, and with the President's son-in-law, Jared Kushner*
Attached photo credit: Ma'ayan Toaf GPO📸 pic.twitter.com/EaVKun4o2N
Witkoff and Kushner travelled to Egypt earlier this week and joined the indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel aimed at ending the war in Gaza.
Updated
Israeli bombing in Gaza has killed 30 people since deal announced - report
At least 30 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire deal on Wednesday, a Palestinian health official in the devastated territory has told CNN, hours after residents reported clouds of smoke and explosions in the enclave.
An Israeli strike on the Ghaboun family home late on Thursday in northern Gaza’s Al-Sabra neighbourhood trapped more than 40 people under the rubble, Gaza’s Civil Defense said.
At least six people were killed by the attack, Dr Mohammed Abu Salmiya, director of the Al-Shifa Hospital, told CNN. In total, 30 Palestinians have been killed since Wednesday evening, he said.
The Israel Defense Forces said it “struck a Hamas terrorist cell” in northern Gaza that was “operating in close proximity to IDF troops” and “posed an immediate threat”. CNN could not verify that statement.
UN ready to surge aid into Gaza and waiting for green light from Israel after deal
The UN has said that 170,000 metric tons of food, medicine and other humanitarian aid is ready to enter Gaza and that it is seeking a green light from Israel to massively increase aid for more than two million Palestinian people following a deal to pause the war.
In the last several months, the UN and its humanitarian partners have only been able to deliver 20% of the aid needed to address the dire situation in the Gaza Strip, UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said. Following the announcement Wednesday of a ceasefire deal, he said all entry points to Gaza must be opened to deliver aid at “a much, much greater scale”.
In comments reported by the Associated Press, he said:
Given the level of needs, the level of starvation, the level of misery and despair, will require a massive collective effort, and that’s what we’re mobilized for. We are absolutely ready to roll and deliver at scale.
The deal announced on Wednesday by Donald Trump marks the first time in months that UN officials have been hopeful about their ability to scale up deliveries after two years of war, expanding Israeli offensives and restrictions on humanitarian aid have triggered a hunger crisis, including famine in parts of the territory.
Speaking to UN reporters virtually from Saudi Arabia’s capital of Riyadh, he said the UN has been “asking, demanding, imploring for the access, which we hope that in the coming days we will now have”.
Fletcher said the UN is being guided by the 20-point ceasefire plan put forward by the United States, which stresses “the importance of the UN role at the heart of the humanitarian response”.
Updated
The speaker of the Knesset has confirmed Israel’s invitation to Donald Trump to give a speech before members of parliament.
“It is my profound honor and privilege to officially invite the greatest friend and ally of the Jewish people in modern history,” speaker Amir Ohana said in a post on X of Trump, “to deliver a formal address to the nation before the Knesset.”
“Israel awaits The Peace President,” Ohana adds.
It is my profound honor and privilege to officially invite the greatest friend and ally of the Jewish people in modern history, @POTUS @realDonaldTrump, to deliver a formal address to the nation before the Knesset.
— Amir Ohana - אמיר אוחנה (@AmirOhana) October 9, 2025
Israel awaits The Peace President. pic.twitter.com/gJl2rqSgTj
Earlier, Trump said he would address the Knesset, incorrectly stating that it would mark the first time a US president has ever done so (Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and George W Bush all did it).
Trump has said that he will “probably” travel to the Middle East on Sunday, so the timing of the speech remains unclear.
Analysis: ‘Trump is like a juggernaut’: how the Gaza ceasefire deal was done
Many countries and individuals have a right to step forward to claim an authorial role in the deal that it is hoped will bring an end to the two-year war in Gaza.
But it is a sign of the collective nature of the effort of the past few months that so many can credibly claim a role, including Donald Trump, who after many false starts was finally persuaded to focus, end the fantasy of driving tens of thousands of Palestinians from their homeland and instead spell out to Benjamin Netanyahu the versions of victory the Israeli prime minister could and could not have.
The turning point was a meeting in New York on the sidelines of the UN general assembly chaired by Trump, soon after his baroque speech to the gathering. Trump described the sidelines chat as his most important meeting at the UN. In the encounter organised by the United Arab Emirates, he set out for the first time his then 20-point plan for peace in front of a group of Arab and Muslim states that could form the backbone of any stabilisation force that entered Gaza in the event of a ceasefire.
By then Trump, with the help of his son-in-law Jared Kushner and the former British prime minister Tony Blair, had been convinced to change his mind on two critical issues. First, Palestinians should not be driven from Gaza and Israel should not rule the territory. “Gaza should be for Gazans,” one said.
That meant Trump dropping the displacement rhetoric he deployed earlier in the year, when he triggered widespread alarm by speaking of plans to develop a “Gaza Riviera”.
Secondly, Trump was persuaded a “day after” plan for the future of Gaza would not complicate the negotiations on a ceasefire-hostage release agreement by adding new contested ingredients, but was the precondition for success. A UK diplomat explained Blair’s thinking: “Hamas was not going to give up unless it knew the Israelis were going to get out and the Israelis were not going to get out and stop occupying Gaza unless they knew Hamas were not going to be in government. Unless you resolved the question of who governs Gaza you cannot bring the thing to an end.”
That in turn made it easier for the Arab states to put political pressure on Hamas to negotiate since they could point to a route towards Palestinian statehood, something that has always been their precondition for reconciliation with Israel. The Arab states had also put their names to demands that Hamas stand aside and disarm.
One of those involved in persuading the US president said: “People don’t want to hear this but the advantage of Trump is that once he decides to do something he is like a juggernaut. And he really did put pressure on the Israelis.”
You can read Patrick’s full analysis here:
Updated
Donald Trump has been praised by world leaders for getting Israel and Hamas to agree to the first phase of a new ceasefire deal in Gaza. We’ve been here before, but is it different this time? Has Trump proved the doubters wrong? In this week’s edition of our Politics Weekly America podcast, Jonathan Freedland speaks to senior international correspondent Julian Borger about the prospect for peace in the Middle East and the US president’s role in getting to this point.
Updated
Kushner and Witkoff join Israeli government meeting on Gaza ceasefire plan - reports
Multiple media outlets are reporting that prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu met earlier with Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and the US president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and the three are now all in the full cabinet meeting on Trump’s Gaza ceasefire plan.
Updated
Trump says 'nobody's going to be forced to leave' as Gaza is rebuilt
Donald Trump was asked about the composition of the international peacekeeping force in Gaza and reconstruction of the territory. He said exact details remain to be determined but affirmed that Palestinians would not be forced to leave.
Earlier this year, Trump suggested that Palestinians were keen to leave a place he described as “unlucky” and a “symbol of death and destruction”, and – to the horror of world leaders – had even talked of plans to turn the territory into the “Riviera of the Middle East”.
As my colleague Patrick Wintour writes in an analysis today, with the help of his son-in-law Jared Kushner and former British prime minister Tony Blair, over the last few months Trump has been convinced to change his mind on Palestinians being driven from Gaza and on Israel ruling the territory – which has been crucial to the formation of the current peace proposal.
Indeed on Thursday, Trump appeared to walk back those earlier suggestions, telling reporters:
Nobody’s going to be forced to leave. No, it’s just the opposite. This is a great plan. This is a great peace plan. This is a plan that was supported by everybody.
For more on what we know about the deal so far:
Updated
Trump says he didn't 'solve eight wars' to win a Nobel peace prize
Trump was asked about his chances of winning the Nobel peace prize, which is awarded on Friday. The US president claimed he had solved eight wars in less than a year – but added he did not do it to win the prize.
Speaking in the Oval Office, Trump said: “Nobody in history has solved eight wars in a period of nine months and I’ve stopped eight wars. But they’ll have to do what they do. Whatever they do is fine. I didn’t do it for that. I did it because I saved a lot of lives.”
Trump has been touting his credential of “peacemaker-in-chief” for months. In August, he claimed to have ended six wars since becoming president. The Guardian’s Andrew Roth fact-checked that claim at the time. You can read his analysis here:
Updated
Trump to leave for Middle East on Sunday
Donald Trump is planning to leave for the Middle East on Sunday, the US president told reporters during an Oval Office spray with Finnish president Alexander Stubb.
Updated
AP has more on senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya’s speech about the ceasefire deal:
Al-Hayya laid out what he said are the core elements of the ceasefire deal: Israel releasing more than 2,000 Palestinian prisoners, opening the border crossing with Egypt, allowing aid to flow and withdrawing from Gaza.
Al-Hayya said Israel would release 250 prisoners serving long sentences and about 1,700 people detained in Gaza since the war began. All women and children held in Israeli jails will also be freed, he added. He did not offer details on the extent of the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
Al-Hayya said the Trump administration and mediators had given assurances that the war is over, and that Hamas and other Palestinian factions will now focus on achieving self-determination and establishing a Palestinian state.
“We declare today that we have reached an agreement to end the war and the aggression against our people,” Al-Hayya said in a televised speech Thursday evening.
US president Donald Trump’s two special envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, held a meeting with Israeli president Isaac Herzog in Jerusalem on Thursday, the Israeli presidency said according to AFP.
“During their meeting, the president discussed with the envoys the framework of the agreement they led and negotiated to secure the return of the hostages and to bring about an end to the war with Hamas,” the presidency said in a statement.
Updated
If you missed it earlier, here’s the clip from Donald Trump’s cabinet meeting in which he says he expects the Gaza hostages to be released on Monday or Tuesday and that he hopes to attend a signing ceremony in Egypt.
The US president said he believed the deal reached on Wednesday, under which the hostages held by Hamas are to be released as part of the first phase of a broader Gaza plan, will lead to “lasting peace” and heralded what he called the “end of the war in Gaza”.
Trump also claimed that Gaza will be “redone”, adding that the attack on Iran played an “important” role in bringing the conflict to an end.
Israel security minister Ben-Gvir threatens Israeli government collapse if ultimately Hamas remains intact
Israel’s far-right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir warned on Thursday that his Jewish Power party would push to topple prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government unless Hamas is ultimately dismantled.
“If the Hamas government is not dismantled, or if they only tell us that it is dismantled while in reality it continues to exist under a different guise - Jewish Power will dismantle the government,” Ben-Gvir said in a statement ahead of the Israeli cabinet meeting to approve the Gaza ceasefire and hostage release plan.
Israeli’s government will begin its meeting at 10pm local time (3pm ET) to vote on a resolution laying out the terms of a ceasefire and hostage release plan (see my earlier posts on what’s to be discussed in the meeting and the next steps that will follow once it’s approved).
Updated
Hamas chief negotiator says group received guarantees from mediators and US that Gaza war has ended
Exiled Gaza chief and top negotiator Khalil al-Hayya said on Thursday that Hamas has received guarantees from the United States, Arab mediators and Turkey that the war on Gaza “has ended permanently”, Reuters reports.
In a televised speech to the Palestinian public, al-Hayya said:
Today we announce that the agreement has been reached to end the war and aggression against our people and begin implementing a permanent ceasefire and the withdrawal of the occupation forces.
The deal between Israel and Hamas would lead to a a sustained ceasefire, the entry of aid and the opening of Gaza’s border crossing with Egypt, he said.
Al-Hayya said the agreement provides for the release of 250 Palestinians serving life sentences in Israeli prisons, as well 1,700 Gazans who have been imprisoned by Israel since the war began.
Mediators and the United States had provided guarantees that the agreement means “the war is completely over”, he added.
Updated
What happens after Israel's cabinet signs off on the plan?
Once the Israeli cabinet approves and signs off on that plan, its bombing of Gaza will cease – in other words, a full ceasefire – 24 hours later.
Hamas will then have three days to return the hostages (Donald Trump said earlier that he expects the hostages to be released on Monday or Tuesday), and Israeli troops will partially withdraw inside Gaza to an agreed-upon line.
The Israeli foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar, reaffirmed that this is the plan in an interview with Fox News earlier today. “We are committed to Trump’s plan,” he said.
Asked whether the deal meant the end of the war, Sa’ar said, “it’s the implementation of the first phase,” referring to Trump’s 20-point plan. “We don’t have any intention to renew the war.”
A flood of humanitarian aid into Gaza via the reopening of the Rafah crossing from Egypt and prisoner releases by Israel are also then expected to follow (that list is still being finalised).
Hamas has asked the US to make sure that Israel sticks to its commitments and doesn’t delay.
Israeli attacks on Gaza, meanwhile, have continued on Thursday.
Updated
Israeli ministers meet to finalise Gaza ceasefire with Hamas
Israel’s security cabinet meeting has concluded and government ministers are due to convene in the next few hours to vote on a government resolution that would see the release of the remaining hostages in Gaza and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
CNN obtained a copy of the document officials are voting on. It lays out the following:
Within 24 hours of the government approving the plan, Israeli military forces would deploy along the yellow line, the proposed initial Israeli withdrawal line in Gaza.
Within 72 hours after the redeployment, 20 living Israeli hostages and 28 deceased hostages - including four deceased non-Israeli hostages - will be released from captivity in Gaza.
The resolution outlines that the release schedule of the hostages will be “determined with careful consideration to avoid endangering their lives or delaying their release, given the unique circumstances and condition of the hostages”.
If the bodies of the deceased hostages are not all released, then a classified appendix with “additional conditions” will be invoked, the resolution stipulates.
In turn, Israel will begin the release of Palestinian prisoners and detainees who are under the custody of the Israel Prison Service or the Israel Defense Forces. This will include 250 prisoners serving life sentences, who will be released on the agreement that they be expelled to Gaza or abroad and not return to Israel.
Israel will also release 1,700 Gaza residents and 22 minors, all of whom were not involved in the October 7 attacks but were detained after.
The bodies of 360 people that Israel has designated as “terrorists” will also be returned.
Updated
Mission to evacuate north Gaza babies suspended as Israeli assault continues, UN says
Reuters reports that the UN children’s charity said it had to suspend a pre-approved mission to transfer two newborn babies from Gaza City because they did not get Israeli security clearance as military operations continue despite a new ceasefire deal.
The babies are part of a group of 18 newborns in north Gaza hospitals whom UN agencies have been trying to evacuate amid an ongoing Israeli assault on the enclave’s largest urban area.
The two newborns, both less than a month old, were left behind in incubators at Al Helo Hospital because they could not be safely transferred along with their parents who fled north Gaza alongside hundreds of thousands of others, Unicef saod.
“We put them in the back of the car and took them to our office and we were waiting for clearance to leave from there. Unfortunately we didn’t get that clearance,” Hamish Young, senior emergency coordinator for Unicef, said in a message sent to Reuters from Gaza City, speaking over machine gun fire.
Cogat, the arm of the Israeli military that oversees aid flows into Gaza, did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. It has previously disputed claims it does not allow medical transfers.
Unicef shared images of the babies wrapped in heavy blankets in a UN vehicle taken during the 14-hour mission.
Young said that the babies were placed back in incubators in Gaza City’s Al Helo Hospital, which was shelled last month, and that ongoing military activity was preventing any further attempt to move them.
“There are drones and quadcopters still flying around and there’s some heavy machine gun fire. We’re still determined to get these babies back to their parents in the south,” he said.
According to an Israeli official, the ceasefire will go into force within 24 hours of a cabinet meeting late on Thursday as part of the first phase of a US plan to end the war.
The two babies are healthy and can remain with their parents once they are reunited in Deir al-Balah, Unicef said. However, at least one baby waiting for transfer has died and others are sharing oxygen masks in overcrowded hospitals in the south, UN agencies say.
This is from CBS News’s Jennifer Jacobs, regarding Donald Trump’s plans to visit the Middle East in the coming days.
Scoop: A Gaza stop was discussed but that has now officially been ruled out, sources tell me. It's still fluid but the peace deal travel plan is for President Trump to go to Israel and Egypt on Sunday/Monday. He likely will not overnight in the Middle East. @CBSNews
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) October 9, 2025
Also at the cabinet meeting earlier, when asked about Hamas’s ability to locate all of the bodies of the deceased hostages, Trump acknowledged that Hamas may not be able to produce them all.
The US president conceded that some “are going to be a little bit hard to find”.
Updated
The cabinet meeting is now over. Earlier on US secretary of state Marco Rubio said that Trump’s presentation to Arab and Muslim countries on the sidelines of last month’s UN general assembly was a key turning point for efforts to reach a deal for Gaza.
Rubio credited Trump’s “close relationships” with the regional leaders that were “forged” during his trip to the Middle East earlier this year, but said the UN meeting was key in turning the tide.
You convened a historic meeting, not simply of Arab countries, but of Muslim-majority countries from around the world … and created this coalition behind this plan.
Then on that following Monday, you met with the prime minister of Israel here, and that plan was presented. And then, of course, our great negotiating team followed up on it.
Rubio also teased that Trump “had some extraordinary phone calls and meetings that required a high degree of intensity and commitment, and made this happen”. He didn’t say who they were with, only that the stories might be told someday.
Updated
Asked whether he thought Benjamin Netanyahu would be able to stay in power following the first phase of the peace deal between Israel and Hamas, Trump said he thought the Israeli PM was “very popular right now … he’s much more popular today than he was five days ago,” to which his cabinet breaks into laughter.
Updated
Trump also said he didn’t have a view on a two-state solution. “I’m going to go with whatever they agree to,” he said.
Asked what kind of security guarantees the US will make for Gaza, Trump provided no specifics. He said only that he will work with “very wealthy countries” to be involved in making Gaza “as good as possible”.
Asked if he could promise Palestinians that they will be able to stay in Gaza, Trump said: “We’re going to create something where people can live.”
“We’re going to create better conditions for people,” he added.
Asked what assurances he has that Hamas will disarm and that Israel will stop its bombing after the release of hostages, Donald Trump said, “we’ll see,” adding that his team was focusing first on the release of hostages.
After the release of the hostages, “there will be disarming, there will be pullbacks, there will be a lot of things happening,” he said, referring to arrangements that would require Hamas to disarm and Israel’s military to pull back further inside Gaza.
“I think it will take place, and I think you can end up with peace in the Middle East, but we have to get our hostages back. And we weren’t going to do it at the end. We’re going to do it at the beginning,” he went on.
Updated
Trump says he has agreed to address Israel's Knesset
Trump added that he had agreed to speak at the Knesset on his upcoming trip to the Middle East.
“They asked me to speak at the Knesset and I’ve agreed to … If they’d like me to I will do it,” he told his cabinet meeting. “If they want me to I’ll do it.”
Updated
Donald Trump on Thursday said his administration would work with Iran and would like to see them be able to rebuild their country.
He added that Tehran acknowledged that they are in favor of the Israel, Hamas ceasefire and hostage deal.
Updated
Trump says Gaza hostages should be released on Monday or Tuesday
US president Donald Trump said on Thursday that the Gaza hostages should be released on Monday or Tuesday and that he hopes to attend a signing ceremony in Egypt.
Trump opened a a White House Cabinet meeting to discuss the deal reached on Wednesday under which the hostages held by Hamas militants are to be released as part of a first phase of a broader Gaza plan.
He said he believed it will lead to “lasting peace”.
Trump heralded what he called the “end of the war in Gaza” and claimed that Gaza will be “redone”, adding that the attack on Iran played an “important” role in bringing the conflict to an end.
Updated
Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi spoke by phone with US president Donald Trump on Thursday and invited him to attend a ceremony in Egypt marking the Gaza ceasefire deal, a statement from the Egyptian presidency said.
Egypt’s Sisi stressed need to move ahead with implementing all stages of Gaza ceasefire deal, and urged Trump to support and oversee its execution, the statement added.
French president Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday that the coming hours will be decisive for cementing peace in Gaza and that the current conference on the matter held in Paris aimed to work in parallel with the US initiative.
France is hosting a meeting of foreign ministers from Western and Arab countries in Paris on Thursday to discuss an international peacekeeping force and reconstruction assistance for Gaza once the fighting stops.
Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas signed an agreement on Thursday to cease fire and free Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, the first phase of US president Donald Trump’s initiative to end the war in Gaza.
The European Union is ready to discuss how it can contribute to the Gaza peace plan, the bloc’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas said on Thursday ahead of a conference on Gaza in Paris.
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 US president Donald Trump’s initiative to end the war in Gaza.
“This is the best chance we have,” Kallas said.
Hundreds of people have gathered in Hostages Square in Tel Aviv. The yellow stickers, which have so long borne the number of days hostages have been in captivity, were replaced by ones that read: ‘They’re returning’.
Israelis from all over the country came to celebrate the news that Israel and Hamas struck a deal to release the 20 remaining living hostages held in Gaza within 72 hours, and for the remains of 28 to be repatriated as soon as possible.
In return, nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners would be released from Israeli jails, and Israeli troops would withdraw from 47% of the Gaza Strip.
Updated
Hamas has called on Trump and guarantor states to ensure Israel fully implemented the ceasefire.
The Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem told Al Jazeera Arabic the group was seeking guarantees from international mediators that Israel will implement the provisions of the deal, after accusing Israel of “manipulating” parts of the agreement.
“There was talk with friends about a ceasefire at noon this day, but the occupation, for internal considerations, is postponing the announcement to other dates,” said Qassem to Al Jazeera.
Here is a map that shows the area of the initial IDF withdrawal in Gaza:
Updated
Family members of hostages still held in Gaza are in attendance in celebrations in hostage square in Tel Aviv.
Speaking to the Guardian, Itzik Horn, a 73-year-old whose two sons Eitan and Iair were taken hostage by Hamas-led militants from their home in Nir Oz, said that he was cautiously optmistic. Iair had already been released in an earlier hostage release in February, but Eitan was still held in Gaza.
“I felt good when I heard the news, but I will feel much better when I see Eitan and the rest of the hostages. With god’s help, he will return on Monday from hell,” said Horn. “Thanks to president [Donald] Trump, they are returning home.”
Eitan is one of the 20 living hostages that will be released by Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups from Hamas in a hostage-prisoner deal meant to occur by Monday. Hamas will release the living hostages and the remains of 28 other hostages who were killed. In exchange, Israel will release nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and partially withdraw from the Gaza strip.
Horn said that he cannot wait to see his son. He joked that the first thing he will tell Eitan that he “took his diet too far” after videos showed the once heavyset 38-year-old now much thinner from his captivity.
Other family members of hostages said that the return of hostages will finally allow them to begin to process the trauma that they endured during the 7 October attack which saw 1,200 people killed and 251 taken hostage by Hamas-led militants.
“We and the hostages that came back and all of Israel, all of the citizens, cannot heal if they are there,” said Sharon Kalderon, a survivor of 7 October whose brother-in-law and his two children were held as hostages before being released in February.
Kalderon said that her and the other members of the hostage and missing families forum have poured their energy into activism over the last two years as they sought the return of their loved ones. Once their mission is over, they will have to look inwards and face the trauma they had not yet addressed.
“I am still there, still in the safe room on 7 October. I cannot leave the room as long as the [hostages] are still there,” said Kalderon.
In the US, House speaker Mike Johnson is speaking at a press conference at the US Capitol, and spent his opening remarks praising the Trump administration for brokering the first phase of the Israel-Hamas peace deal.
“He’s going to bring peace and security back to Israel and truly lay the foundation for a lasting peace in the Middle East,” Johnson said.
“This is a goal and an objective that’s been stated by presidents and politicians and policymakers and people around the globe for generations.
“President Trump has the strength and the vision and the resolve to do it.”
Iran called on the international community to prevent Israel from violating its obligations in Gaza, its foreign ministry said in a statement on Thursday, after Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas signed an agreement to cease fire.
The foreign ministry said Tehran supports any effort that ends the “genocide” and the war in Gaza.
Russia hopes US president Donald Trump’s plan to end the Gaza war will be successfully implemented and is willing to support efforts to end the bloodshed, president Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.
“We very much hope that these initiatives of the US president will actually be realised in practice,” Putin said at a summit in Tajikistan.
The day so far
It is approaching 5pm in Gaza and Israel. Here is a summary of what we know about the Gaza ceasefire deal so far and updates from today’s blog:
Israel and Hamas have agreed to the initial phase of a ceasefire plan in Gaza, pausing hostilities in the devastated territory and bringing the best hope yet of a definitive end to a bloody two-year conflict that has killed tens of thousands, destabilised much of the Middle East and prompted protests around the world.
Donald Trump announced the agreement on his Truth Social network saying all of the hostages held in Gaza would be released soon and Israel would withdraw troops to an agreed line as the first step to a “Strong, Durable, and Everlasting Peace”.
Hamas said on Thursday it had agreed the US president’s proposal and confirmed the deal included an Israeli withdrawal from the territory and a hostage-prisoner exchange. The Israeli military said on Thursday it was preparing to pull back troops in Gaza, while the office of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the agreement to secure the release of hostages will only take effect after receiving cabinet approval.
The Israeli security cabinet will meet at 5pm local time (2pm GMT/3pm BST), government spokesperson Shosh Badrosian told journalists on Thursday. The security cabinet meeting will be followed by a full government meeting at 6pm local time (3pm GMT/4pm BST).
Foreign ministers from Germany, Spain, Italy, the UK, Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Jordan along with the EU’s chief diplomat Kaja Kallas have been invited to a summit in Paris today convened by French foreign minister Jean Noël Barrot to discuss the Gaza ceasefire plan. Press statements are expected at 4.30pm CET (2.30pm GMT/3.30pm BST).
Israel does not intend to release prominent Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti as part of the agreement reached with Hamas to free Israeli hostages held in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, an Israeli government spokesperson said on Thursday. Earlier, Israel and Hamas agreed in indirect talks that the 48 hostages held by militants in Gaza would be released in exchange for about 2,000 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
Rounds of celebratory gunfire rang into the night sky and people cried tears of joy and disbelief on Thursday as news of a peace deal reached those in devastated Gaza – and in Israel, where relatives have anxiously awaited the release of hostages detained since the war broke out two years ago. Scenes from Hostage Square in Tel Aviv showed Israelis waving Israeli and American flags, while in Gaza, Palestinians waved the Palestinian flag and celebrated in the streets.
World leaders, humanitarian organisations and charities welcomed the news of the Gaza ceasefire deal, but have also expressed caution. The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), one of the largest independent aid groups working in Gaza, said Trump’s plan to increase aid to starving people as part of a ceasefire will fail unless all aid groups can resume operations. French president Emmanuel Macron said he hoped the Gaza ceasefire agreement would lead to “political solution based on the two-state solution”. Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas welcomed the deal and “expressed hope that these efforts would be a prelude to reaching a permanent political solution”.
Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Thursday that militant group Hamas must be destroyed after the return of hostages from Gaza. The far-right politician said he would not vote in favour of a ceasefire deal with Hamas to end the war in Gaza, but stopped short of threatening to bring down Netanyahu’s coalition government.
The World Health Organization (WHO) director general hailed on Thursday the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas as “a big step towards lasting peace”, saying his agency was prepared to “scale up” health assistance in Gaza. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X: “WHO 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.” UN secretary general António Guterres said the United Nations and its partners “are prepared to move – now”.
Turkey will take part in a joint taskforce – alongside Israel, the United States, Qatar and Egypt – that will be established to locate the bodies of deceased hostages in Gaza whose locations are unknown, a senior Turkish official said on Thursday.
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Here are some of the latest photographs coming in via the newswires:
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Erdoğan says Turkey to join 'task force' to monitor Gaza deal
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Thursday said Turkey would participate in a “taskforce” to oversee the implementation of a ceasefire deal reached between Israel and Hamas. Erdoğan said:
We will hopefully join the taskforce that will monitor the implementation of the agreement on the ground.
Turkey, which has been closely involved in the negotiations, sent a team to the talks in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh.
The agreement, which will be signed in Egypt on Thursday, involves freeing the remaining hostages and is seen as a major step towards ending the two-year war that has killed tens of thousands of people and unleashed a humanitarian catastrophe.
Erdoğan said:
It is of great importance to urgently deliver comprehensive humanitarian aid to Gaza, exchange hostages and prisoners, and for Israel to immediately cease its attacks.
He also promised Turkey would help reconstruction efforts in Gaza.
UN secretary general António Guterres welcomed the agreement to secure a ceasefire and hostage release in Gaza on Thursday and said the United Nations is ready to help.
“The United Nations stands ready to provide its full support. We and our partners are prepared to move – now,” Guterres said at the United Nations. He pressed for full and sustained access for humanitarian workers in Gaza.
The Guardian’s international security correspondent, Jason Burke, has put together a helpful explainer on the Gaza ceasefire deal. He explains what has been agreed for the ‘first phase’ and why now at the link below:
Israel does not intend to release prominent Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti as part of an agreement reached with Hamas to free Israeli hostages held in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, an Israeli government spokesperson said on Thursday.
“I can tell you at this point in time that he will not be part of this release,” spokesperson Shosh Bedrosian told reporters, according to Reuters.
Earlier, Israel and Hamas agreed in indirect talks that the 48 hostages held by militants in Gaza would be released in exchange for about 2,000 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
Israel’s security cabinet will meet on Thursday afternoon to approve a plan to secure the release of all hostages held in Gaza, a government spokesperson said.
The security cabinet will meet at 5pm local time (2pm GMT/3pm BST), government spokesperson Shosh Badrosian told journalists.
The security cabinet meeting will be followed by a full government meeting at 6pm local time (3pm GMT/4pm BST).
Reports of an impending pause in hostilities in Gaza “signals a hopeful reprieve on the horizon for families and children – but must be a turning point to secure a definitive ceasefire”, according to Save the Children.
Inger Ashing, chief executive of Save the Children International, said:
Today we watch with hope that a long overdue reprieve may be on the horizon for the children of Gaza. With bombs and bullets silenced, families will be able to think to the future, of rebuilding and recovering.
People deprived of their liberty, including hostages and some of the many detained Palestinians, will be able to return to their families.
We dare to hope that this step provides a collective chance to end the unconscionable suffering that has gone on for far too long.
But safety for children requires more than words, it requires work, and while today’s announcements are a crucial first step for children’s survival – children who have been failed for too long as the world has watched - this survival will only be secured if it is followed by a definitive and lasting ceasefire.
Peacekeeping troops, a legal framework and a no longer dangerous Hamas are all necessary in the future as part of a plan for the Gaza Strip and will be discussed among international partners in Paris, said German foreign minister Johann Wadephul on Thursday.
“Humanitarian and medical aid must now reach Gaza quickly; the people need prospects for reconstruction,” he said on social media platform X.
Turkey will take part in efforts to monitor the implementation of the ceasefire in Gaza agreed by Israel and Hamas, president Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday.
“God willing, we as Turkey will take part in the mission force that will monitor the agreement’s implementation in the field,” he said in a speech in Ankara, adding that Turkey will contribute to the reconstruction of Gaza.
Hani Askari, who works for Christian Aid’s partner, Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, has told the charity he “can’t find the emotions to fit” as Israel and Hamas agreed to ‘first phase’ of a Gaza ceasefire plan to pause fighting and release some hostages and prisoners.
“Part of it is relief and the other part is a heavy ache,” the 35-year-old who is displaced from northern Gaza and currently living in Deir Al-Balah, said. He added:
There’s a sea of pain that doesn’t get traded or released.
Yes, hope flickers for a moment but the exhaustion, the loss, and the fear will still sit deep inside.
Reporting from Hostage Square, Tel Aviv:
Hundreds of people are gathered in Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, where the mood is festive. The yellow stickers which have so long bore the number of days hostages have been in captivity were replaced by stickers with a simple phrase: “They’re returning”.
Israelis the country over have come to celebrate the news that at noon, Israel and Hamas signed a deal which would see the 20 remaining living hostages held in Gaza would be returned in 72 hours – with the remains of 28 repatriated as soon possible. In return, nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners would be released from Israeli jails and Israeli troops would withdraw from 47% of the Gaza strip.
“I’m feeling fantastic, it feels like I’m in a dream. Two years of this, who would have thought that it would finally happen?,” said Margo Orton, a retired nursery teacher who was holding both an Israeli and an American flag.
The jubiliation is plain to see, a band plays while crowds sing a song calling for the hostages to be returned. A man blows the shofar, a ram’s horn, which symbolises a hope for the future, while members of Israeli parliament come to pay their respects.
Many Israelis attribute the release of hostages to US president Donald Trump, whose 20-point plan is now being negotiated in Egypt. Pictures of Trump were hoisted by the crowd while some attendees wore the iconic ‘Make America Great Again’ hat.
“This is Trump, this is all Trump. We thank him for this deal,” said Sharon Kalderon, whose brother-in-law and niece and nephew were held as hostages by Hamas before being released during a previous ceasefire in February.
While the first phase of Trump’s plan has been agreed upon, the thornier, long-term parts of the plan still need to be negotiated. Large gaps remain between Israel and Hamas on the issue of disarming the Palestinian militant group and who will take part in the transitional authority which will rule over Gaza, and how the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza will take place.
A lasting peace in Gaza will need to see the gaps between Israel and Gaza on those points be narrowed. To some attendees of the rally in Tel Aviv however, what happens after the release of the hostages was not their concern.
“I know Israel will be very strong even after the war, they will catch every single [member] of Hamas, you will see. They will carry on in every country to take them down,” said Orton.
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Cyprus and Greece, the two European Union states closest to the Middle East, have welcomed the announcement of the first phase of a ceasefire agreement that would end the conflict in Gaza and release all remaining hostages, whether living or dead.
Cyprus’s foreign minister Constantinos Kombos responded to the news saying full implementation of the deal was “absolutely vital”.
He said:
I commend the US for its leadership and continued diplomatic efforts in this direction
We reaffirm the urgency of lasting peace and security for both Israelis and Palestinians alike, based on the two-state solution. Cyprus commends the US’ leadership and mediating efforts.
The Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis also welcomed the breakthrough, calling it “a step toward hope and stability,” in a post on X. He wrote:
All parties must fully uphold the terms. Greece reaffirms its commitment to a secure and peaceful Middle East and is ready to play its part.
Hamas will release 20 living hostages in one go as part of the first phase of the deal, according to a source close to the Hamas negotiating team, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Israel will release nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners: 250 among those serving life sentences, and 1,700 others detained since the start of the war, a top Hamas official within the group told AFP, on condition of anonymity.
There has been no indication that Israel will disclose the names of those set for release, reports AFP.
The office of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the agreement to secure the release of hostages would only take effect after receiving cabinet approval. Netanyahu’s office said:
Contrary to Arab media reports, the 72-hour countdown will begin only after the agreement is approved in the cabinet meeting, which is expected in the evening hours.
Of the 251 people abducted during Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack, militants still hold 47 in Gaza, including 25 the Israeli military says are dead.
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Turkey will take part in a joint taskforce – alongside Israel, the United States, Qatar and Egypt – that will be established to locate the bodies of deceased hostages in Gaza whose locations are unknown, a senior Turkish official said on Thursday.
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The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) on Thursday welcomed the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas and said it was ready to flood Gaza with desperately needed food.
News that Israel and Hamas have agreed to the first phase of a Gaza ceasefire “is a huge relief”, Unrwa commissioner general Philippe Lazzarini said on X.
The agreement follows a 20-point plan for Gaza announced last month by US president Donald Trump, under which Israel should withdraw from the Gaza Strip and release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for hostages.
This “will bring respite to people who survived the worst bombardment, displacement, loss and grief for two long years”, Lazzarini said, hailing that “after their excruciating ordeal, hostages and Palestinian detainees will finally join their families”.
The Unrwa commissioner general said his agency had “food, medicines [and] other basic supplies ready to go to Gaza”, where the UN has said famine is spreading. He added:
We have enough to provide food for the entire population for the coming three months.
Israel has accused Unrwa of bias and of being “riddled with Hamas operatives”, and earlier this year barred it from operating on Israeli territory.
Unrwa has said it still has 12,000 staff inside Gaza, and Lazzarini insisted on Thursday that the agency’s teams there were “crucial for the implementation of this agreement, including to provide basic services like healthcare and education”.
“There are over 660,000 children who are eagerly waiting to go back to school,” he said, stressing that Unrwa teachers stand ready to help them fulfil that”. Lazzarini said:
I call on all member states to support Unrwa to do its work to assist people in need in the coming critical period.
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The Kremlin on Thursday welcomed a Gaza ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas but said the key would be to see how the deal was implemented, reports Reuters.
Israel and Hamas agreed on Wednesday to the first phase of US president Donald Trump’s plan for Gaza, a ceasefire and hostage release deal that could be a first step toward ending the two-year-old war.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov was quoted by Interfax as saying:
We certainly support these efforts. It cannot but cause general satisfaction that a ceasefire in Gaza is already being established. All these efforts can be welcomed.
We hope that the signatures will be delivered today, and then actions will follow to implement the agreements reached.
Russian president Vladimir Putin and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed the situation in the Middle East, including Trump’s plan to end the Gaza conflict in a phone call on Monday, reports Reuters.
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said that Trump’s plan was “the best solution we have on the table” and “gave hope”, though it mentioned “statehood” in rather vague terms and not in regard to the West Bank.
Lavrov said that the west shared responsibility for stalling United Nations decisions on Palestinian statehood which he said “would come later.” Lavrov said:
Our western colleagues must also bear their share of responsibility for having played a key role in stalling the implementation of the decisions on creating an independent Palestine on the West Bank and in Gaza.
The Palestinian issue, which remains unresolved for nearly 80 years now, is the main factor fueling extremism in the Middle East.
Seperately, the United Arab Emirates welcomed on Thursday the agreement on the first phase of a Gaza ceasefire framework, urging all parties to abide by its terms, the foreign ministry said.
Gaza aid plan will fail without full access for humanitarian groups, warns Norwegian Refugee Council
The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), one of the largest independent aid groups working in Gaza, said US president Donald Trump’s plan to increase aid to starving people as part of a ceasefire will fail unless all aid groups can resume operations.
Jan Egeland, NRC head, told Reuters in an interview via video link from Oslo:
The desperation is deeper and the exhaustion is greater than anyone can imagine inside Gaza … It’s not enough with some UN agencies and some few NGOs.
If not, the Trump peace plan will not succeed … We don’t have time for more bureaucratic obstacles.
Israelis and Palestinians on Thursday rejoiced after Trump announced that a ceasefire and hostage deal was reached under the first phase of his plan to end the two-year war in Gaza.
Egeland said the NRC, among other international NGOs, had been blocked from bringing aid into Gaza since Israel lifted its 11-week blockade on supplies in May.
Israel has said there is no limit on quantities of food aid entering Gaza and accuses Hamas of stealing aid, accusations the Palestinian militant group denies. Cogat, the arm of the Israeli military that oversees aid flows into Gaza, did not immediately reply to Reuters request for comment.
Trump’s 20-point plan includes allowing “full aid” to be immediately sent into the Gaza Strip, and for water infrastructure and bakeries to be restored in the territory, where some areas are experiencing famine.
The NRC is resubmitting a request to get hundreds of truckloads of lifesaving aid into Gaza, which had been denied access for months.
Egeland called for all border crossings to be re-opened, after the closure of the Zikim and Allenby crossings and emphasised the urgent need for tents and tarpaulins to shelter Palestinians in Gaza as winter approaches.
Reuters has some reaction to news of the ceasefire plan from on the ground in Gaza and Israel.
“Thank God for the ceasefire, the end of bloodshed and killing,” Abdul Majeed Abd Rabbo told the news agency, from Khan Younis in southern Gaza. He added:
I am not the only one happy, all of the Gaza Strip is happy, all the Arab people, all of the world is happy with the ceasefire and the end of bloodshed.
Einav Zaugauker, whose son Matan is one of the Israeli hostages held in Gaza, rejoiced in Tel Aviv’s Hostage Square. “I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe, I can’t explain what I’m feeling … it’s crazy,” she said, speaking in the red glow of a celebratory flare. She added:
What do I say to him? What do I do? Hug and kiss him. Just tell him that I love him, that’s it. And to see his eyes sink into mine … It’s overwhelming – this is the relief.
Still, Gaza residents said Israeli strikes on three Gaza City suburbs continued overnight and in the morning hours of Thursday. Reuters reports that lines of smoke rose over Shejaia, Tuffah and Zeitoun in the early hours of Thursday, though there were no immediate reports of casualties.
The Gaza health ministry said at least nine Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire in the past 24 hours.
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Foreign ministers from Germany, Spain, Italy, the UK, Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Jordan along with the EU’s chief diplomat Kaja Kallas have been invited to a summit in Paris today convened by French foreign minister Jean Noël Barrot to discuss the Gaza ceasefire plan.
Press statements are expected at 4.30pm CET (2.30pm GMT/3.30pm BST).
Israel says Gaza deal to take effect only after receiving cabinet approval
The office of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that an agreement to secure the release of hostages in Gaza will take effect only after receiving cabinet approval, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Netanyahu’s office said in a statement:
Contrary to Arab media reports, the 72-hour countdown will begin only after the agreement is approved in the cabinet meeting, which is expected in the evening hours.
US president Donald Trump announced that Israel and Hamas have agreed to the first phase of a Gaza deal involving the exchange of hostages and Palestinian prisoners, with the swap to occur within 72 hours of the deal’s implementation.
Saudi Arabia on Thursday welcomed the Gaza ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas and said it hoped it would lead to peace after two years of devastating war.
Saudi Arabia hopes “this important step will lead to urgent action to alleviate the humanitarian suffering … achieve a full Israeli withdrawal, restore security and stability, and initiate practical steps to achieve a just and comprehensive peace based on the two-state solution”, a foreign ministry statement said.
Here are some more images being shared on the newswires today:
Israel says cabinet to meet on Thursday to discuss 'plan for the release of all Israeli hostages' in Gaza
Israel’s cabinet will meet on Thursday at 3pm GMT to discuss a plan to secure the release of all hostages held in Gaza, a government statement said after US president Donald Trump announced a ceasefire and hostage release agreement.
An announcement posted on the Israeli government website said:
Government meeting at 18:00 (1500 GMT). Agenda – Plan for the release of all Israeli hostages.
Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu had announced overnight that he would be convening a cabinet meeting Thursday to approve a plan for the release of hostages.
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Diplomats from the US, Canada, Europe and Arab states are gathering in Paris today for a meeting that will focus on the implementation of the “day after” plans set out by the UN, which are separate and different from US president Donald Trump’s plan for Gaza.
The talks in Egypt have largely been focused on the prisoner and hostage releases, but the discussions in Paris have focused on other issues including the Hamas handover of weapons, its exclusion from future administrations, the mandate of an international peacekeeping force, the delivery of resumed aid flows and any future relationship between Gaza and the West Bank as the nucleus of a future Palestinian state. On almost all these issues there are deep differences between Israel and the US on the one hand and Europe and the Arab states on the other.
Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, will now not attend the Paris meeting – something blamed on the US government shutdown. Other US officials will attend.
European leaders are anxious that, as in the case of Ukraine, they are not squeezed out of the talks, and they are involved in the second phase of the peace plan about the political and institutional backdrop to the reconstruction of Gaza.
At the centre of the discussions about Gaza’s future is former UK prime minister Tony Blair, who is due to sit on Trump’s “Board of Peace” or interim government that will oversee a group of technocrats that help implement reconstruction plans.
Arab leaders are want the international stabilisation force to have a UN security council mandate, and there is a clear plan to treat Gaza and the West Bank as one political entity.
One of the most difficult issues is the timing of the hand-over of weapons by Hamas, including the body to which the weapons are handed, and whether personal weapons will be included. Amnesties may be granted to those that disavow violence.
Hamas may be willing to supply weapons to an Arab run ISF, but not to Israel. Work is also under way on a revised constitution and elections for the Palestinian Authority, the heavily criticised political entity based in the West Bank opposed to the Islamist Hamas in Gaza.
The Board of Deputies of British Jews president Phil Rosenberg has reacted to the news that Hamas and Israel have agreed to the ‘first phase’ of a plan to pause fighting and release some hostages and prisoners.
In a statement released on Thursday, Rosenberg said:
The overnight news of an agreement to bring an end to the nightmare unleashed by Hamas on 7 October means that for the first time in two years, we can dare to hope for the release of all the hostages, and the conclusion of this terrible war.
We convey our deep appreciation to President Trump, the mediators, and most of all, the indefatigable campaigning of the hostage families whose courage, resilience, and determination has been a beacon to the world.
We will celebrate the return of those living and praying for their swift recovery and care, and we will mourn the returning dead, thinking of their loved ones in their time of grief.
It is time for healing. It is time for peace.
Reuters has a breaking news line from an Israeli official who has said the release of 20 Israeli hostages from Gaza is expected on Sunday or Monday.
More details soon …
WHO ready to 'scale up' health response after Gaza ceasefire, says director general
The World Health Organization (WHO) director general hailed on Thursday the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas as “a big step towards lasting peace”, saying his agency was prepared to “scale up” health assistance in Gaza.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X:
WHO 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.
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German chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Thursday that Germany is still observing the situation regarding the Gaza ceasfire deal but is confident a solution will be found this week.
“We are encouraged by the developments in Israel. There is obviously a great chance of reaching an agreement with Hamas in the next few hours,” Merz said after a meeting with senior members of his governing coalition in Berlin.
Meanwhile, Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez on Thursday hailed the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, saying he hoped “this marks the beginning of a just and lasting peace”. He added:
Now it is time to engage in dialogue, to support the civilian population, and to look to the future with hope. But also with justice and with remembrance, so that the atrocities experienced are never repeated.
The Spanish leader is one of the most vocal critics in Europe of Israel’s offensive in the Palestinian territory.
UK foreign secretary Yvette Cooper said the Gaza ceasefire plan must be implemented as quickly as possible.
Speaking to reporters at Hillsborough Castle, where she is hosting a western Balkans summit, the foreign secretary said:
The agreement on the first phase of President [Donald] Trump’s peace initiative is a moment of profound significance, relief and hope. And I want to pay tribute to the negotiators from the US, from Qatar, from Egypt, from Turkey, and all the many nations who have been working so hard over many months to help get to this point.
After two years of the most devastating suffering, with tens of thousands of lives being lost, with the pain of hostages held for so long, and with the humanitarian crisis taking place, the agreement now to a ceasefire, to the restoration of humanitarian aid and to the release of all the hostages is immensely important and must be implemented as swiftly as possible.
She added:
Later today I will be travelling from here with the German foreign minister, my colleague, to Paris for the discussions later today about how all nations can support the immensely work that has been done thus far on President Trump’s peace initiative, but also how we make sure that we take it forward.
Cooper added that the UK “stands ready to play our part” in implementing the Gaza ceasefire plan.
The UK will help realise not just the initial phase of the plan to end fighting in Gaza, she said, “but also on the crucial work going forward now on phase two as well”.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, she said:
Because that work will continue as nations across the world come together to support a just and lasting peace and security for Palestinians and Israelis alike.
We have seen some of the images of relief and hope on the streets of Gaza and on the streets of Israel overnight, and all nations will want to make sure that that is turned into reality.
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Macron says hopes Gaza ceasefire plan will lead to 'political solution based on the two-state solution'
Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday that he welcomed the agreement to secure a ceasefire and the release of hostages in Gaza, adding France will continue to hold talks with international partners to seek a political solution to the war.
Macron said in posts on social media platform X:
Great hope for the hostages and their families, for the Palestinians in Gaza, and for the entire region. I welcome the agreement reached overnight for the release of the hostages and the ceasefire in Gaza, and I commend the efforts of President @realDonaldTrump, as well as the Qatari, Egyptian, and Turkish mediators who helped make it happen.
I call on all parties to strictly uphold its terms. This agreement must mark the end of the war and the beginning of a political solution based on the two-state solution. France stands ready to contribute to this goal. We will discuss it this afternoon in Paris with our international partners.
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Palestinian president Abbas welcomes Gaza deal
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas hailed a Gaza ceasefire deal agreed by Israel and Hamas on Thursday, saying he hoped it could lead to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.
Agence France-Presse (AFP) report that in a statement on social media, Abbas “welcomed the announcement by US President Donald Trump of an agreement to cease the war on the Gaza Strip,” and “expressed hope that these efforts would be a prelude to reaching a permanent political solution … leading to an end to the Israeli occupation of the State of Palestine and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state”.
Reuters are reporting that Israeli hostages may be released as early as Saturday. US president Donald Trump told Fox News the hostages would probably be released on Monday.
However a source briefed on details of the ceasefire agreement told Reuters that Israeli hostages may be released as early as Saturday and that the country’s military will complete the first part of a partial withdrawal from the territory within 24 hours of the deal being sealed.
The signing of the agreement is expected to take place at noon Israel time (9am GMT/10am BST) on Thursday, said the source.
Israel’s security cabinet and government are due to hold meetings on the agreement at 5pm Israel time (2pm GMT/3pm BST), reports Reuters.
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Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni on Thursday hailed the ceasefire agreement in Gaza and said Italy was ready to help rebuild the devastated Palestinian territory.
The agreement, which follows a 20-point plan for Gaza announced last month by US president Donald Trump, is to be signed Thursday in Egypt. It calls for Hamas to free the remaning hostages and for Israel to release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports that Meloni said in a statement:
The agreement reached in Egypt for the implementation of the first phase of President Trump’s peace plan is extraordinary news.
I urge all parties to fully respect the measures already agreed upon … Italy will continue to support the efforts of the mediators and is ready to contribute to the stabilisation, reconstruction, and development of Gaza.
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Israel’s far-right finance minister says he will not vote in favour of Gaza deal
Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Thursday that militant group Hamas must be destroyed after the return of hostages from Gaza.
According to Reuters, far-right politician Smotrich said he will not vote in favour of a ceasefire deal with Hamas to end the war in Gaza, but stopped short of threatening to bring down prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government.
Smotrich wrote on X:
There is immense fear of the consequences of emptying the prisons and releasing the next generation of terrorist leaders who will do everything to continue to pour rivers of Jewish blood here, God forbid.
For this reason alone, we cannot join in shortsighted celebrations or vote in favour of the deal.
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Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan expressed satisfaction on Thursday that Israel and Hamas had agreed to the first phase of a ceasefire in Gaza and thanked Donald Trump’s efforts to end the war.
Erdogan said on his official X account:
I am greatly pleased that the Hamas-Israel talks … have resulted in a ceasefire in Gaza.
I especially thank US President, Mr Trump, who demonstrated the necessary political will to encourage the Israeli government toward the ceasefire.
Here are some images coming in via the newswires of celebrations in Gaza and Israel after the news that Hamas and Israel have agreed to the ‘first phase’ of a plan to pause fighting and release some hostages and prisoners:
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European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen on Thursday welcomed the agreement to secure a ceasefire and the release of hostages in Gaza and commended the diplomatic efforts of the United States, Qatar, Egypt and Turkey.
“Now, all parties must fully uphold the terms of the agreement. All hostages must be released safely. A permanent ceasefire must be established. The suffering must end,” she posted on social media, adding that the EU would keep supporting aid deliveries to Gaza and stood ready to help with reconstruction.
In a post on X, she wrote:
I welcome the announcement of an agreement to secure a ceasefire and the release of hostages in Gaza, based on the proposal put forward by @POTUS.
I commend the diplomatic efforts of the United States, Qatar, Egypt, and Türkiye in achieving this breakthrough. Am also encouraged by the support of the government of Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
Now, all parties must fully uphold the terms of the agreement. All hostages must be released safely. A permanent ceasefire must be established. The suffering must end.
The EU will continue to support the swift and safe delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza. And when the time comes, we will be ready to help with recovery and reconstruction.
Today’s opportunity should be seized. It’s the opportunity to forge a credible political path toward lasting peace and security. A path firmly anchored in the two-state solution.
Israel army says preparing to pull back troops in Gaza as part of deal
The Israeli military said on Thursday it was preparing to pull back troops in Gaza after Israel and Hamas agreed a ceasefire deal to free the remaining hostages.
Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports that the military said in a statement:
The [Israel Defense Forces] IDF has begun operational preparations ahead of the implementation of the agreement.
As part of this process, preparations and a combat protocol are under way to transition to adjusted deployment lines soon.
Israel and Hamas’s agreement to the initial phases of a plan to end fighting in Gaza is “a very hopeful moment”, UK cabinet minister Pat McFadden has said.
According to the PA news agency, the work and pensions secretary said:
I think we’ve got more hope this morning than we’ve had for a long time.
He told Times Radio that US president Donald Trump will “deserve credit” for his role in the ceasefire plan but so did other mediators.
McFadden added:
I think he does deserve credit for this, I think the mediators deserve credit, and I think it opens up potentially big possibilities, not just as I say in the immediate few days, but for the longer term future.
And that takes us back to the 20-point plan that was released by the United States about a week ago, which has the support of the UK fovernment, as the prime minister made clear at our party conference last week.
So it’s a very hopeful moment, and as I say, let’s hope that the hostages are released in the next few days, and hope that the suffering of the people of Gaza can stop and we can get the humanitarian aid that’s needed and then rebuild from there.
Updated
The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, has added her voice to the world leaders welcoming the Israel-Hamas deal, saying the agreement marks a significant breakthrough, Reuters is reporting.
Analysis: Gaza truce deal a crucial moment but devil is in the detail
For Donald Trump, a peace deal – or even a durable ceasefire between Israel and Hamas – could be the biggest diplomatic achievement of his presidency.
The details and sequencing of a deal to end Israel’s war in Gaza remain murky, but the statement of purpose by both Israel and Hamas is meaningful. In agreeing to a deal with political backing from Arab states and other regional powers, this is the best chance for an end to the war since a ceasefire broke down in March returning Gaza to a grinding war.
Since March there have been rumblings of a deal but nothing that has come this close. The first phase of the plan is straightforward: the return of hostages held by Hamas in exchange for a limited withdrawal by the Israeli military. But locating all the hostages, and managing an Israeli withdrawal, could be complicated.
There is so much left to be discussed. The 20-point peace plan proposed by the Trump administration attempts to thread the needle between creating the conditions for a ceasefire and negotiating a lasting end to the war. The hard questions of Hamas’ future and whether the militant group will disarm, along with Israel’s vision for the future of Gaza, remain to be hammered out.
We have been here before. And yet, this is a crucial moment.
You can read the full analysis here:
Living hostages could reportedly be freed within 72 hours
Families of Israelis held hostage in Gaza gathered in what has come to be known as Hostage Square in Tel Aviv after the announcement.
“President Trump, thank you very much. We thank him, our children will not have returned home without him,” said Hatan Angrest, whose son Matan is among the hostages.
A Hamas source said the living hostages would be handed over within 72 hours of the Israeli government approving the deal, Reuters reports.
Hamas officials have insisted it will take longer to recover the bodies of dead hostages – believed to number about 28 – from Gaza’s rubble.
Trump told Fox News the hostages would probably be released on Monday.
Benjamin Netanyahu and Trump spoke by phone and congratulated each other on an “historic achievement”, and the Israeli prime minister invited the US president to address Israel’s parliament, according to Netanyahu’s office.
Hamas said earlier on Wednesday it had handed over its lists of the hostages it held and the Palestinian prisoners held by Israel that it wanted to be exchanged.
The Islamist group has so far refused to discuss Israel’s demand that Hamas give up its arms, which a Palestinian source said Hamas would reject as long as Israeli troops occupy Palestinian land.
Updated
Signs that an agreement on the Israel-Gaza war was near came shortly before Donald Trump’s announcement, earlier on Wednesday during a White House roundtable: that was when secretary of state Marco Rubio handed the president a handwritten note with the words “very close” underlined.
“You need to approve a Truth Social post soon so you can announce deal first,” read the hand-scrawled note on White House stationery, the text of which was captured by a photographer.
As our full report on the deal also says, many of the agreement’s details reached after three days of indirect talks in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh remain unclear and challenges of implementing its terms are immense.
But in recent days, negotiators had closed gaps between Hamas and Israel over the details of the first phase of the plan Trump announced in the White House last week.
It was not immediately certain whether the parties had made any progress on thornier questions about the future of the conflict, including whether Hamas will demilitarise – as Trump has demanded – and eventual governance of the war-torn territory.
Click here for the full report from Jason Burke and agencies:
Updated
Rounds of celebratory gunfire rang into the night sky and people cried tears of joy and disbelief on Thursday as news of a peace deal reached those in devastated Gaza – and in Israel, where relatives have anxiously awaited the release of hostages detained since the war broke out two years ago.
“It’s a huge day, huge joy,” exclaimed Ahmed Sheheiber, a displaced Palestinian, crying over the phone from his shelter in Gaza City as he learned of the deal.
“I can’t believe the news,” said Ayman Saber, a resident of Khan Younis, a city in the Gaza Strip, while in the coastal area of Al-Mawasi people gathered to chant in unison “Allahu Akbar”, meaning God is greatest, and fire celebratory rounds into the air.
On the streets of Tel Aviv tearful families hugged, cheered, some popping champagne, as they learned of the news. “Matan is coming home. These are the tears I prayed for,” said one mother of an Israeli hostage detained in Gaza, as reported by Haaretz.
Click here for our full story:
Updated
Relatives of Israeli hostages who are currently residing in Washington DC have spoken over the phone with US president Donald Trump, who told them their loved ones were “all coming back on Monday”.
Here’s footage of how the call unfolded:
World leaders have expressed hope for peace and urged Israel and Hamas to fulfil their commitments in the hours after Donald Trump announced the agreement on the “first phase” of a ceasefire deal.
Here’s how some of the leaders responded, care of the Associated Press.
British prime minister Keir Starmer said the news was “a moment of profound relief that will be felt all around the world”. “We call on all parties to meet the commitments they have made, to end the war, and to build the foundations for a just and lasting end to the conflict and a sustainable path to a long-term peace.”
Malaysian prime minister Anwar Ibrahim said: “This development offers a semblance of hope after months of unbearable suffering and devastation.”
Argentine president Javier Milei posted on social media: “I want to take the opportunity to say that I will sign the candidacy of Donald J Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of his extraordinary contribution to international peace. Any other leader with similar achievements would have received it a long time ago,” the libertarian leader and Trump ally wrote.
Canadian prime minister Mark Carney posted: “I am relieved that the hostages will soon be reunited with their families. After years of intense suffering, peace finally feels attainable.”
Australian PM Anthony Albanese described the agreement as a “ray of light”. It brought “hope that after eight decades of conflict and terror, we can break this cycle of violence and build something better”.
Japanese chief cabinet secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters: “This agreement is an important step toward de-escalating the situation and achieving the two-state solution.”
New Zealand foreign minister Winston Peters said: “Over the past two years, both Israelis and Palestinians have suffered immensely. Today is a positive first step in bringing that suffering to an end.”
With the Associated Press
Updated
United Nations secretary general António Guterres has welcomed the Israel-Hamas agreement, describing it as a “desperately needed breakthrough” and calling on all parties to “abide fully” by its terms
Guterres said in a post on X:
All hostages must be released in a dignified manner. A permanent ceasefire must be secured. The fighting must stop once and for all. Immediate and unimpeded entry of humanitarian supplies and essential commercial materials into Gaza must be ensured. The suffering must end.
Guterres also said the UN would support the full implementation of the deal and “will scale up the delivery of sustained and principled humanitarian relief, and we will advance recovery and reconstruction efforts in Gaza”.
I urge all stakeholders to seize this momentous opportunity to establish a credible political path forward towards ending the occupation, recognizing the right to self-determination of the Palestinian people, leading to a two-state solution to enable Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace and security.
The stakes have never been higher.
Updated
Airstrikes hit Gaza after truce deal agreed, say Palestinian authorities
Gaza’s civil defence agency has reported several strikes on the territory on Thursday after the announcement that Hamas and Israel had agreed to a ceasefire plan.
“Since the announcement last night of an agreement on a proposed ceasefire framework in Gaza, several explosions have been reported, particularly in areas of northern Gaza,” said one of the agency’s officials, Mohammed Al-Mughayyir.
He cited “a series of intense airstrikes” on Gaza City, Agence France-Presse reports.
Updated
Trump 'very confident there'll be peace'
Donald Trump has said the US will play a role in helping to rebuild Gaza and keep it safe and peaceful.
“We’ll be involved in helping them make it successful, and helping it stay peaceful,” the president told Fox News hours after he announced Israel and Hamas had agreed to the first phase of his peace plan.
Trump added that he was “very confident there’ll be peace in the Middle East”, Agence France-Presse reported.
Updated
Celebrations have broken out in Israel and Gaza after Donald Trump’s announcement of the Israel-Hamas agreement.
Crowds gathered near Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, clapping and cheering in what one Palestinian described as “historic moments” after two years of conflict.
The mother of Israeli hostage Matan Zangauker, Einav Zangauker, celebrated the imminent return of her son, saying: “Thank you to the people of Israel, to the soldiers, thank you to President Trump.”
You can see the footage here:
Opening summary
Israel and Hamas have agreed to the “first phase” of a peace plan to pause fighting and release some hostages and prisoners held in Gaza, bringing the best hope yet of a definitive end to a bloody two-year conflict that has killed ten of thousands, destabilised much of the Middle East and prompted protests across the world.
Donald Trump announced the agreement on his Truth Social network, saying all of the hostages held in Gaza would be released soon and Israel would withdraw troops to an agreed line as the first steps to an “everlasting peace”.
In his Truth Social post – thanking mediators from Qatar, Egypt and Turkey – Trump said: “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.”
Hamas said it had reached agreement, confirming the deal includes an Israeli withdrawal from the territory and a hostage-prisoner exchange. The group said in a statement the deal came after “responsible and serious negotiations” over Trump’s proposal.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked the US “for their commitment to this sacred mission of freeing our hostages” and said “with God’s help, we will bring them all home”. Netanyahu said he would convene the Israeli government on Thursday to approve the deal.
Negotiators have been meeting in Egypt in recent days to close the gaps between Hamas and Israel over the details of the “first phase” of a 20-point plan announced by Trump in the White House last week.
Hamas plans to release all 20 living hostages this weekend, people familiar with the matter told the Associated Press. The deceased hostages would come out in a later stage in phases. The Israel army would move out of 70% of the area, they said. In exchange, several hundred Palestinian prisoners held by Israel would be released.
The Hostages Families Forum, representing many of the hostage families, said it received the ceasefire news with “excitement, anticipation\ and apprehension”. It called on the Israeli government to immediately convene to approve the deal and praised Trump for his “commitment and determination that led to this historic breakthrough”.
Qatar’s foreign ministry confirmed Israel and Hamas had reached an agreement for the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire. The deal “will lead to ending the war, the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, and the entry of aid”, ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari said, speaking on behalf of the deal’s mediators. He said the details would be announced later.
World leaders have welcomed the development, with British prime minister Keir Starmer expressing “profound relief”.
It was not immediately clear whether the parties had made any progress on thornier questions about the future of the conflict, including whether Hamas will demilitarise – as Trump has demanded – and eventual governance of the war-torn territory.
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