President Donald Trump has announced that Hamas and Israel have agreed to the first phase of a peace deal that will bring an end to the war in Gaza. In its initial phase, the deal will see Israel’s gradual military withdrawal from the Palestinian territory, as well as Hamas returning all living and dead hostages still in Gaza. It is thought that 48 hostages remain, 20 of whom are thought to still be alive.
In return, Israel is set to release around 250 Palestinians serving life sentences in prison, plus an additional 1,700 Gazans detained after the Hamas terror attack on October 7, 2023, which triggered the war.
“This is a great day for the Arab and Muslim World, Israel, all surrounding nations, and the United States of America, and we thank the mediators from Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey, who worked with us to make this historic and unprecedented event happen,” said Trump on Truth Social.
The Israel government is set to meet on Thursday, to agree to the deal formally, after which a cease-fire is set to begin.
Aid into Gaza is set to resume at much higher levels than has entered in recent months, with 400 trucks daily expected to enter the Strip once the truce begins.
Over two years of war has seen widespread destruction in Gaza, as well as a famine and the collapse of critical medical, water and electrical infrastructure.
Over 67,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which was triggered after Hamas launched a terror attack in Israel killing around 1,200 people and taking another 250 hostage.
In the absence of independent monitoring on the ground, the ministry is the primary source for casualty data relied upon by humanitarian groups, journalists, and international bodies. Its figures do not differentiate between civilians and combatants and cannot be independently verified by TIME. The Israeli army’s own casualty figures suggest a Palestinian civilian death rate of 83%.
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