Israel and Hamas have signed off on the first phase of the US-proposed Gaza deal, allowing for the release of all Israeli hostages, president Donald Trump has announced.
“I am very proud to announce that Israel and Hamas have both signed off on the first Phase of our Peace Plan,” Mr Trump said on Truth Social.
“This means that ALL of the Hostages will be released very soon, and Israel will withdraw their Troops to an agreed upon line as the first steps toward a Strong, Durable, and Everlasting Peace,” he added.
An agreement was reached on all the provisions and implementation mechanisms of the first phase of the ceasefire agreement, which will lead to ending the war, the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, and the entry of aid, Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Majed Al-Ansari, said early on Thursday.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement: “With God’s help, we will bring them all home”, referring to Israeli hostages in Gaza, shortly after Mr Trump’s announcement.
Earlier, Mr Trump said he may travel to the Middle East at the end of the week, adding that negotiations in Egypt to end the two-year war in Gaza were “very close” to reaching a deal.
He said that he could visit the region on Saturday or Sunday as he hailed talks that could bring “peace for the Middle East”.
US, Qatari and Turkish officials joined the third day of indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas in Egypt.
US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, arrived in Sharm el-Sheikh for the talks. Qatari prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, and head of Turkish intelligence Ibrahim Kalin also attended the Egyptian coastal resort.
The presence of the senior officials from the three countries had brought further hope that this round of talks could result in a deal, even as significant gaps remained between the two sides.
“Good progress has been made today,” said US secretary of state Marco Rubio in Washington DC. “Events are moving in a good direction.”
Hamas has said that it is seeking international guarantees that Israel will not resume bombing Gaza after the group releases all the remaining hostages, living and dead, that it captured on October 7th, 2023 – its main leverage over Israel.
In mid-March, Israel unilaterally ended a ceasefire when it resumed fighting in Gaza and declined to move to a second stage of talks that would have led to an end to the war.
In an interview with Egyptian TV on Wednesday, the leader of the Palestinian negotiating delegation and senior Hamas official, Khalil al-Hayya, said that the group needed firm guarantees from Mr Trump that the war “will not return”.
Far-right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said that Mr Netanyahu should seek “complete victory” over Hamas in Gaza, in remarks he made while praying at al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem – a disputed area that contains Islam’s third-holiest site and is Judaism’s holiest place – on Wednesday. Hamas called his visit a “deliberate provocation”.
Joining the talks are militant groups allied to Hamas, including the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which hold some Israeli hostages as Hamas tries to present a unified Palestinian front.
The Trump administration and its Arab allies, as well as regional players such as Turkey, have thrown their weight behind the current round of peace talks in an effort to quickly push through a truce that has evaded negotiators for two years.
Mr Trump’s plan calls for an immediate end to fighting in Gaza, the release of all 48 hostages held by Hamas – 20 of whom are believed to still be alive – the disarmament of Hamas and its relinquishing of governing power in the Gaza Strip to an international transitional authority headed by Mr Trump. In return, Israel would gradually withdraw to a buffer zone at the edges of the strip and return nearly 2,000 Palestinian detainees.
Humanitarian aid would also surge in a bid to alleviate the famine that consumes parts of Gaza as a result of Israel’s blockade, as well as reconstruction funds to the destroyed strip.
In conjunction with the talks in Egypt, France is to host a ministerial meeting in Paris with counterparts from Britain, Germany, Italy, Spain, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the UAE, among other countries, according to Reuters.
The meeting will discuss the potential international stabilisation force in Gaza, the body meant to rule over the territory, the disarmament of Hamas, as well as humanitarian aid and reconstruction, the Associated Press reported.
Israel continued to attack Gaza as negotiations progressed. At least 10 people were killed by Israeli strikes and fire over the last 24 hours, according to the Gaza health authority.
At least 67,183 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 170,000 wounded by Israel’s military campaign in Gaza over the last two years. The country started its war after Hamas-led militants killed about 1,200 people and took 251 hostage on October 7th, 2023, according to Israel.
A growing number of agencies, including the UN commission of inquiry, have concluded that Israel has committed genocide in its two-year war in Gaza. Israel denies the claim, saying it has only acted in self-defence. – Guardian/Reuters
