James Chater
US President Donald Trump has announced that Israel and Hamas have “both signed off” on the first phase of a peace plan for Gaza.
“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,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The announcement comes after three days of indirect talks in Egypt – mediated by officials from Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and the US – aimed at bringing an end to the two-year conflict.
Both Israel and Hamas also confirmed an agreement had been reached.
However, Trump’s post did not provide clarity on other known sticking points in negotiations – notably the disarmament of Hamas and the future governance of Gaza.
In a post on X, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it a “great day”, adding that he would “convene the government tomorrow to ratify the agreement and bring all of our precious hostages home”.
Hamas confirmed that the agreement included an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a hostage-prisoner exchange.
The group also called on Trump, the guarantor countries and other Arab states to compel Israel “to fully implement the agreement’s requirements”.
A senior White House official told CBS, the BBC’s US news partner, that “our assessment is that hostages will begin getting released on Monday”.
Qatari Foreign Minister Majed al-Ansari said more details would be announced later, adding that the agreement would “lead to ending the war, the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, and the entry of aid”.
Earlier on Wednesday, expectations that a deal could be imminent were heightened after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio entered an event with Trump and handed him a note.
The message appeared to ask that Trump approve a Truth Social post about Gaza so that “you can announce first”.
Trump said that note informed him that “we are very close to a deal”. He exited the room shortly thereafter, saying he had to focus on the Middle East.
Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said on Wednesday that Israeli fire had killed at least eight people over the previous 24 hours – the lowest death toll it has reported in the past week.
Hospitals said two people had been killed on Wednesday while trying to collect food from aid distribution centres in central and southern Gaza.
The Israeli military, meanwhile, said its troops had killed “several terrorists” who attempted to attack their position in Gaza City.
Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to the 7 October 2023 attack, in which Hamas-led gunmen killed about 1,200 people and took 251 others as hostages.
At least 67,183 have been killed by Israeli military operations in Gaza since then, including 20,179 children, according to the territory’s health ministry. Its figures are seen as reliable by the UN and other international bodies, although Israel disputes them.
The ministry has said another 460 people have died from the effects of malnutrition since the start of the war, including 182 since a famine was confirmed in Gaza City in August by the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC).
Netanyahu has repeatedly denied starvation is taking place in Gaza and said Israel was facilitating deliveries of food and other aid.
