US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that Israel and Hamas have agreed to the first phase of a US-brokered plan to halt the war in Gaza, paving the way for a ceasefire, the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, an initial pullback of Israeli forces and a surge of humanitarian aid.
Trump announced the breakthrough on his social media platform and said the understanding follows intensive talks mediated by Egypt, Qatar and Turkey.
Hamas has responded positively to the plan and indicated it agrees to key elements, while saying further discussions are needed on outstanding points, according to Al Jazeera.
Trump has separately said Israel has agreed to an “initial withdrawal line” inside Gaza that would anchor the ceasefire’s first phase pending Hamas’s confirmation.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the development, which comes amid years of on-off negotiations over a hostage-prisoner exchange and pauses in fighting.
Earlier this year, Israel’s cabinet approved a three-phase framework for a ceasefire and releases, with Netanyahu stressing Israel reserved the right to resume military operations if terms were violated, AFP reported at the time—underscoring the fragility of any truce.
The conflict was ignited on 7 October 2023, when Hamas launched an unprecedented attack that killed about 1,200 people in Israel and led to the abduction of 251 hostages. Israeli military operations in Gaza since then have devastated the enclave; Gaza health authorities say more than 67,000 Palestinians have been killed.
Trump’s announcement arrives two years after the attack, with Washington positioning the first-phase deal as a step toward a broader settlement.
While Trump and Netanyahu hailed the agreement, and families of hostages and Palestinians in Gaza expressed cautious relief, diplomats and aid agencies warned that implementation will be complex.
Al Jazeera’s coverage of the US plan notes that Hamas’s acceptance is conditional and that gaps remain, including sequencing of withdrawals and the final prisoner lists.
Reuters, meanwhile, said the first phase envisions releasing all remaining Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and establishing the initial Israeli pullback, before further steps toward a sustained ceasefire.
International reaction has been guardedly supportive. Previous ceasefire and exchange frameworks have advanced and stalled multiple times across months of indirect talks, and analysts say verification, monitoring and political buy-in on both sides will determine whether the truce holds beyond the first days.
Coverage by AFP and Al Jazeera of earlier agreements highlights how competing timelines and security reservations have repeatedly threatened to unravel deals after headline approvals.
US officials say that, if the parties formally lock in the first-phase terms, a ceasefire would take effect alongside the initial Israeli redeployment, with hostages and prisoners released in stages and aid convoys scaled up. Hamas has said it is prepared to proceed on those tracks while continuing talks on subsequent phases.
Source: Agencies
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