US President Donald Trump announced that Israel and Hamas have “both signed on” to the first phase of the Gaza Strip peace plan.
“This means that all hostages will soon be released and Israel will withdraw its troops along agreed-upon lines as the first step toward a strong, sustainable, everlasting peace,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The announcement follows three days of indirect talks in Egypt mediated by officials from Egypt, Qatar, Türkiye and the United States, aimed at ending the two-year civil war.
Israel and Hamas also confirmed that an agreement had been reached.
But Trump’s post did not provide clarity on other known difficulties in the negotiations, particularly the disarmament of Hamas and the future governance of the Gaza Strip.
“Today is a good day,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote in a post on
Hamas confirmed that the agreement includes Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza and a hostage-detainee exchange.
The group also called on President Trump, the guarantors, and other Arab countries to force Israel to “fully implement the requirements of the agreement.”
“Our assessment is that hostage releases will begin on Monday,” a senior White House official told the BBC’s US news partner CBS.
Qatari Foreign Minister Majed al-Ansari said, “Details will be announced later,” and added, “This agreement will lead to an end to the war, the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, and the introduction of relief goods.”
After U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio attended an event with President Trump and handed over a memo, expectations that negotiations could be imminent increased.
The message appeared to ask President Trump to approve a Truth Social post about Gaza “so you can be the first to announce it.”
President Trump said in this memo, “We are very close to a negotiation.” He left the room, saying he would soon have to focus on the Middle East.
Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said Wednesday that at least eight people have died in Israeli fires in the past 24 hours. This is the lowest number of deaths reported in the last week.
Hospitals said Wednesday that two people had died while collecting food at aid distribution centers in central and southern Gaza.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military said it had killed “several terrorists” who attempted to attack their positions in Gaza City.
Israel began military operations in response to the attack on Gaza on October 7, 2023. In the attack, Hamas-led militants killed about 1,200 people and took 251 hostage.
Israel’s subsequent military operation in Gaza has killed at least 67,183 people, including 20,179 children, according to the Gaza Strip’s Health Ministry. Although Israel disputes this, the United Nations and other international organizations consider the figures reliable.
The Defense Ministry said an additional 460 people have died from malnutrition since the war began. Of these, 182 people have died since famine was confirmed in the Gaza Strip in August by the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Category (IPC).
Netanyahu has repeatedly denied that starvation is occurring in Gaza and said Israel is facilitating the delivery of food and other aid.
