Both sides have agreed on a 42-day truce, initiating prisoner exchanges and facilitating humanitarian aid, multiple news agencies have reported
FILE PHOTO. © Khalil Ramzi Alkahlut/Anadolu via Getty Images
Israel and Hamas have reportedly reached a ceasefire agreement to end their 15-month conflict in Gaza. The deal, mediated by the US, Qatar, and Egypt, includes a 42-day truce and the exchange of prisoners.
The official announcement is expected on Wednesday evening in Cairo, but US President-elect Donald Trump has already made several statements confirming that the agreement has been reached, crediting his envoy Steve Witkoff for the breakthrough.
Hamas launched a series of raids out of Gaza on October 7, 2023, which were blamed for the deaths of over 1,100 Israelis, while 250 Israelis were said to have been taken captive. West Jerusalem responded by declaring war on the Palestinian militant group. More than 46,000 people have been killed in Gaza since then, while much of the enclave has been turned to rubble.
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15 January 2025
19:08 GMT
“This deal will halt the fighting in Gaza, surge much needed-humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians, and reunite the hostages with their families after more than 15 months in captivity,” US President Joe Biden said in a statement on Wednesday.
The ceasefire is the result “not only of the extreme pressure that Hamas has been under and the changed regional equation after a ceasefire in Lebanon and weakening of Iran” but also “dogged and painstaking American diplomacy,” said the statement, posted on the White House website.
- 19:07 GMT
Hamas confirmed that a ceasefire agreement on Gaza has been reached. “The agreement to stop the aggression on Gaza is an achievement for our people, our resistance, our nation, and the free people of the world. It is a turning point in the conflict with the enemy, on the path to achieving our people’s goals of liberation and return,” the group said, in a statement posted on Telegram.
- 19:03 GMT
A ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas will begin on January 19, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Qatar’s prime minister and foreign minister, said during a press conference in Doha on Wednesday.
- 18:55 GMT
Palestinians in Gaza have begun celebrating the ceasefire, which has still not been officially announced.
Tears, hugs and calls to the sky on the streets in Gaza as Palestinians wave flags and celebrate ceasefire that will return their captives from Israel pic.twitter.com/nR3PCR3M0L
— RT (@RT_com) January 15, 2025
- 18:53 GMT
Netanyahu’s office has stated that a ceasefire deal in Gaza has not been finalized, but has suggested that the final details could be resolved in the coming hours. “Several clauses in the framework are still unresolved, and we hope to finalize the details tonight,” Associated Press wrote, quoting the Israeli prime minister’s office.
- 18:29 GMT
Back in November, Israel reached a ceasefire with Hezbollah, following 14 months of hostilities in Lebanon that left more than 3,500 people dead and numerous communities across the country damaged or destroyed.
Hezbollah joined Hamas’ war against Israel in October 2023, and for much of the following year fought a low-intensity campaign against the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) along the ‘blue line’ separating Lebanon from Israel and the occupied Golan Heights.
The conflict escalated dramatically in September when Israel began bombarding Hezbollah strongholds in Beirut’s southern suburbs, and by November, dozens of the paramilitary group’s top commanders had been killed in Israeli airstrikes.
Under the deal, the militant organization agreed to withdraw from the area of southern Lebanon between the blue line and the Litani River, with only Aoun’s forces and UN peacekeepers permitted to deploy in the area. The ceasefire is set to expire on January 27.
- 18:13 GMT
The ceasefire is expected to take effect on Sunday, a senior Arab official has told the Times of Israel. One of the “minor” issues still being worked out is the vetting of around 1,000 Palestinian prisoners who are supposed to be released, mainly Gazans detained since the conflict began, he added. Israel wants most of them to be sent to a third country.
- 18:07 GMT
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has denied rumors about an IDF withdrawal from the ‘Philadelphi Corridor’ being part of the deal. West Jerusalem has insisted on keeping troops in the strip of territory along the border between Egypt and Gaza during the implementation of the ceasefire.
An anonymous Israeli official told the Times of Israel that Hamas has “folded” on its demands regarding the corridor due to Netanyahu’s insistence, but “there are still a number of details that have not been finalized.”
The cabinet in West Jerusalem is reportedly meeting on Thursday morning to officially approve the agreement.
- 17:52 GMT
US President-elect Donald Trump commented on the agreement, calling it an “EPIC ceasefire agreement” that could have only happened as a result of his victory. His national security team will ”continue to work closely with Israel and our Allies to make sure Gaza NEVER again becomes a terrorist safe haven,” the president-elect added in a Truth Social post.
- 17:50 GMT
Journalist Glenn Greenwald has attributed the ceasefire deal to US President-elect Donald Trump, criticizing the outgoing administration for doing nothing.
“I don’t care what Trump’s motives are or what else he promised Israel, which I’m sure is non-trivial,” Greenwald said on X on Wednesday. “Anyone who causes an end to Israel’s civilian- destruction in Gaza has done a good thing, and there’s no denying his key role.”
I don't care what you think of Trump. I don't care what Trump's motives are or what else he promised Israel, which I'm sure is non-trivial.Anyone who causes an end to Israel's civilian- destruction in Gaza has done a good thing, and there's no denying his key role: https://t.co/saOMNruu78
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) January 15, 2025
On Tuesday, while the truce was still a rumor, Greenwald pointed out that “Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were in office 15 months while Israel destroyed Gaza, and never once imposed conditions or used US leverage to get a peace deal. Trump wins and 6 days before he’s inaugurated, Israel and Hamas have a peace deal in principle that Israel says it hates.”
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