Israel and Hamas agree to the first phase of a ceasefire deal in Gaza, as U.S. President Donald Trump holds a telephone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Image: Ynetnews.
(The Post News) – Israel and Hamas finalized the first phase of a truce agreement, which could lead to an end to the ruthless Gaza war that has devastated the strip for more than two years.
The agreement, brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump and supported by Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey, was finalized after three days of clandestine negotiations at the Egyptian Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh.
Part of the agreement requires Hamas to free 20 living Israeli hostages and return 28 others’ bodies. Israel will free almost 2,000 Palestinian detainees and prisoners, including some who have been in detention since the war began in October 2023.
A Historic Step Toward Ending the War
President Trump announced the breakthrough late Wednesday night on Truth Social, when he called it a “historic and unprecedented event. “This is that the hostages will be released soon and Israel will be withdrawing troops to an agreed line,” Trump wrote. “This is a great day for Israel, the Arab world, and the United States. Blessed are the peacemakers!”
Trump indicated he might fly to Egypt this weekend and said, “I might go there late in the week, maybe Sunday.” A senior White House official said that Israel would begin to withdraw the troops within 24 hours of Cabinet approval and that Hamas would free the hostages within 72 hours. The first group might be freed as soon as Monday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the agreement “a great day for Israel” and said his government would meet on Thursday to approve the agreement. “Wednesday, we will return our precious hostages home,” Netanyahu said, thanking Trump for “his dedication to this sacred mission.”
Not all of Netanyahu’s politicians supported the deal. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a hard-right member of Netanyahu’s administration, said he would vote against it. “Releasing thousands of terrorists will endanger Israel again,” he warned on X.
In Gaza, there was a mood of fatigue, rather than celebration. “What am I supposed to celebrate with all this blood that’s been shed?” asked Abu Ahmed Eid, a displaced Gazan who said he lost 150 relatives in Israeli airstrikes.
A spokesman for Hamas welcomed the agreement but maintained that “the ceasefire is the fruit of our people’s resistance, not a gift from anyone.” Leaders around the globe acted swiftly and widely to support the agreement.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres called the ceasefire “a momentous opportunity” and urged the parties to fulfil it in all its details. “All of the hostages must be released with dignity, and humanitarian aid must be permitted freely into Gaza,” he said.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also welcomed Trump and the negotiators, saying, “We will continue working until the sovereign Palestinian state is formed with East Jerusalem as its capital.”
Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said all conditions of the first stage had been finalized. “This deal will bring an end to the war, release prisoners, and open Gaza to humanitarian relief,” it said.
Saudi leaders, France, India, Britain, Spain, and the UAE leaders said the same thing, describing the deal as a crucial step toward stability in the region.
The ceasefire is part of a broader 20-point peace plan by Trump that involves a vision of Hamas disarming and abandoning its rule in Gaza.
Rebuilding in Gaza will be directed by a transitional government committee of “qualified Palestinians and international experts” under the direction of an international “Board of Peace” led by Trump and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
The proposal also sets forth a “credible pathway” to Palestinian self-rule and eventual statehood, though details are sketchy.
A Long Road Ahead
The news of the ceasefire was cautiously celebrated both in Israel and Gaza. Families who were being held hostage lit off fireworks in Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, while in Gaza, lines of supporters thronged to cheer the news in the rain.
“I want to touch my son, feel him, know it’s true,” said Avishai David, whose son is among the hostages.
But worst of all, many fear the fragile peace will collapse, as it has with others. An earlier agreement in early 2024 unravelled within a few weeks, with intense battles breaking out once more.
The Gaza war, which broke out after the surprise Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, has left more than 67,000 Palestinians dead, local health authorities say, and displaced the majority of the region’s 2.3 million inhabitants. Nearly 1,200 Israelis were killed in the initial Hamas attack.
For now, the guns go quiet, but unresolved wounds, political divides, and questions of who will govern Gaza in the years to come remain.
“This is just the beginning. But it’s the first genuine step toward peace in two arduous, painful years,” a top Egyptian mediator declared early Thursday.
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