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‘First phase’ of ceasefire deal to end war in Gaza agreed by Israel and Hamas
Donald
Trump announces that all hostages will be released ‘very soon’ and Israel will
withdraw troops to an agreed upon line
Jason
Burke and agencies
Thu 9 Oct
2025 07.14 BST
Israel
and Hamas have agreed to the initial phase of a “peace plan” in Gaza, pausing
hostilities in the devastated territory and bringing the best hope yet of a
definitive end to a bloody two-year conflict that has killed ten of thousands,
destabilised much of the Middle East and prompted protests across the world.
Donald
Trump announced the agreement on his Truth Social network saying all of the
hostages held in Gaza would be released soon and Israel would withdraw troops
to an agreed upon line as the first step to a “Strong, Durable, and Everlasting
Peace”.
Hamas
said on Thursday it had agreed the US president’s proposal and confirmed the
deal includes an Israeli withdrawal from the enclave and a hostage-prisoner
exchange.
There was
celebration among Palestinians in Gaza and among Israelis, though few anywhere
needed reminding that two previous deals have failed to end the war.
The 20
hostages believed to be still alive may be released as early as this weekend,
with sources saying as many as 1,700 Palestinian prisoners could be freed from
Israeli jails within 72 hours of the deals signing, which is expected to be
Thursday. Hamas called on Trump and guarantor states to ensure Israel fully
implements the ceasefire.
In an
interview later on Wednesday, Trump said he believed the hostages would be
“coming back” Monday.
Responding
to the announcement, the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, welcomed
“a great day for Israel”.
“This is
a diplomatic success and a national and moral victory for the State of Israel …
From the beginning, I made it clear: we will not rest until all our hostages
return and all our goals are achieved,” he said.
Israel’s
security cabinet will meet on Thursday to approve the release of Palestinian
prisoners and, despite opposition from far right members of the ruling
coalition government , is unlikely to reject it.
In Tel
Aviv, the families of hostages and their supporters started chanting “Nobel
prize to Trump” as they gathered in the early hours of the morning. Some popped
open a bottle of champagne and cheered. Crying tears of joy, families hugged
previously released hostages as the square continued to fill with Israelis.
Palestinians
in Gaza reacted to the news with a mix of joy and disbelief. “Thank God for the
ceasefire, the end of bloodshed and killing,” said Abdul Majeed abd Rabbo, in
the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.
“I am not
the only one happy, all of the Gaza Strip is happy, all the Arab people, all of
the world is happy with the ceasefire and the end of bloodshed.”
Trump
hailed what he said was a “great day” for the Arab and Muslim world, Israel and
all surrounding nations, as well as the US.
“We thank
the mediators from Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey, who worked with us to make this
Historic and Unprecedented Event happen. BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS!” he
posted.
Netanyahu
and Trump spoke by phone and congratulated each other on the agreement on
Wednesday, and the Israeli prime minister invited the president to address
Israel’s parliament, according to Netanyahu’s office.
The UN
chief, António Guterres, welcomed the Israel-Hamas agreement and called on all
parties to “abide fully” by its terms.
Speaking
from India, UK prime minister Keir Starmer called it a moment of “profound
relief” and said he was “grateful for the tireless diplomatic efforts of Egypt,
Qatar, Turkiye and the United States, supported by our regional partners, in
securing this crucial first step.”
“This
agreement must now be implemented in full, without delay, and accompanied by
the immediate lifting of all restrictions on life-saving humanitarian aid to
Gaza,” he said.
Successful
completion of the deal would mark the biggest foreign policy achievement so far
for Trump, who took office in January promising to quickly end the wars in Gaza
and Ukraine, only to be confronted with obstacles and complexities he had
apparently not foreseen.
Senior
envoys from the US, Qatar and Turkey had joined the talks in the Egyptian Red
Sea resort of Sharm-el-Sheikh this week, apparently adding momentum to
discussions launched on Monday. Trump sent his son-in-law Jared Kushner and
special envoy Steve Witkoff.
Signs
that a deal was close came earlier on Wednesday during a White House
roundtable, as secretary of state Marco Rubio handed the president a
handwritten note with the words “very close” underlined.
“You need
to approve a Truth Social post soon so you can announce deal first,” read the
hand-scrawled note on White House stationery. After reading the message, the
text of which was captured by an Associated Press photographer.
Many of
the details of the agreement reached after 3 days of indirect talks in the
Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh remain unclear and challenges of
implementing its terms are immense.
If
negotiators have closed gaps between Hamas and Israel over the details of the
first phase of the 21-point plan announced by Trump in the White House last
week, it was not immediately certain whether the parties had made any progress
on thornier questions, such as how Hamas will be disarmed, as Netanyahu has
demanded, and eventual governance of Gaza.
But the
agreement, if implemented, would bring the two sides closer than any previous
effort to halt a war that had evolved into a regional conflict, drawing in
countries such as Iran, Yemen and Lebanon, and reshaping the Middle East. One
earlier ceasefire lasted just ten days, the other six weeks.
After the
announcement of the deal, Trump told Fox News that the US would play a role in
helping to rebuild war-torn Gaza.
“We’ll be
involved in helping them make it successful, and helping it stay peaceful,” the
president said, adding he was “very confident there’ll be peace in the Middle
East.”
If few
need reminding of how hard it will be to win a durable peace, no one is
ignorant of the potential cost of further hostilities.
More than
67,000, mostly civilians, have been killed in the relentless Israeli offensive
with more than 170,000 injured. Some 20,000 children are among the dead. Much
of Gaza has been reduced to ruins, its people now homeless and destitute in the
rubble of their homes among barren fields and broken roads. Witnesses describe
entire neighbourhoods, even towns, reduced to fine gravel. Thousands more
casualties are thought to be buried and yet to be identified.
About
1,200 people, also mostly civilians, were killed by Hamas militants in the raid
on Israel of 7 October, the worst such loss in the history of the country. A
further 251 were taken hostage. Hundreds of Israeli servicemen and women have
died in the war in Gaza. Hamas has already said that it will have difficulty
locating the remains of all the dead hostages.
In recent
days, Israel reduced the intensity of its military campaign at Trump’s behest,
but it has not halted strikes altogether. Gaza medical authorities reported
eight people killed in Israeli strikes in the past 24 hours, the lowest toll
for weeks. Daily death tolls had been about 10 times as high over the past
month as Israeli forces advance on Gaza City.Even if aid surges in, through the
UN and the Red Crescent as specified under Trump’s plan, hundreds of thousands
will still not have enough food or shelter.
The war
in Gaza has spilled across the region, triggering further conflicts in Lebanon,
Yemen and Iran. The relief of many regional rulers, who faced waves of popular
anger, will be great, if tempered with some anxiety about what may follow in
Gaza. They will now have to answer the question of who will provide troops for
the promised stabilisation force in Gaza or pay for its reconstruction, which
will take decades.
Agence France-Presse, the Associated Press and Reuters contributed report
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