Mediator Qatar said Israel and Hamas had reached an agreement to end the 15-month war in Gaza and exchange Israeli captives for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons.
Qatar Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani announced the agreement in Doha on Wednesday. He specified that the ceasefire would come into force on Sunday January 19.
Hamas previously told Tel Aviv Tribune Arab that its delegation had given mediators its approval of a ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal.
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said some aspects of the proposal were “unresolved.”
“Several clauses of the framework remain outstanding, and we hope the details will be finalized this evening,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.
Netanyahu is expected to convene his cabinet on Thursday, according to Israeli media.
Three phases
The agreement will be implemented in three stages, Sheikh Mohammed said. During an initial six-week phase, Israeli forces would gradually withdraw from central Gaza and Palestinians would be allowed to return to their homes in northern Gaza.
Hamas would release 33 Israeli prisoners over the six weeks, including female soldiers and civilians, children and the elderly, he said.
Negotiations on the second phase are expected to begin on the 16th day of the first phase and are expected to include the release of remaining prisoners and the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, the Reuters news agency reported, citing an official briefed on the negotiations. .
A third phase is expected to include the return of corpses and the start of reconstruction in Gaza, Reuters reported.
US and Egyptian mediators also confirmed an agreement had been reached, with US President Joe Biden saying the proposal followed “the precise contours” of a plan he presented in late May.
“This is the result not only of the extreme pressure Hamas is under and the changing regional equation following a ceasefire in Lebanon and the weakening of Iran – but also of stubborn American diplomacy and thorough,” Biden said.
Before the official announcement, United States President-elect Donald Trump wrote on social media that “the EPIC ceasefire agreement could only have happened following our historic victory in November.”
“I am delighted that the American and Israeli hostages are returning home to their families and loved ones. »
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi wrote on X that he welcomed the ceasefire agreement in Gaza and stressed the importance of rapid delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
“People are dying every hour.”
This announcement comes as the Israeli army continues its deadly attacks in the Gaza Strip.
At least 59 people were killed in Israeli attacks on Wednesday, medical sources told Tel Aviv Tribune.
The situation for the 2.3 million Palestinians living in Gaza remains dire with continued air and ground attacks and most aid blocked by Israel.
Gaza’s health ministry said Wednesday that Israeli attacks since the start of the war have killed at least 46,707 Palestinians, 62 more than the day before. The number of injured people also rose to at least 110,265 people, the statement said.
Tel Aviv Tribune’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, said the attacks had been incessant in recent days.
“Over the past 72 hours, more people have been targeted inside residences,” he said.
These included a family targeted in an overnight attack in Deir el-Balah that killed at least 12 people, including children, and an airstrike on the Bureij refugee camp, where bombs Israeli forces killed at least five people.
The Israeli military also ordered new forced displacements, this time for Palestinians living in the Jabalia region of northern Gaza, where a siege lasting more than 100 days has so far left more than 5,000 dead or missing. .
Israeli shelling cut power to the Indonesian hospital in northern Gaza on Wednesday as attacks on health facilities continued after the Israeli army burned down Kamal Adwan Hospital last month and arrested its director .