Washington Hamas and Israeli officials, together with a source briefed on the negotiations, told NBC News on Wednesday that a ceasefire agreement had been reached to put an end to 15 months of fighting in the Gaza Strip.
The hard-won deal will also release Palestinians detained in Israeli jails and dozens of hostages held in Gaza, marking the first significant lull in conflict since a week-long truce ended on December 1, 2023.
The announcement comes after weeks of negotiations mediated by the US, Qatar, and Egypt amid a harsh winter for Gaza’s civilian population and significant events throughout the Middle East that have hurt Israel’s adversary, Iran.
Although a deal between Israel and Hamas has not been formally publicized, top Hamas official Basem Naim told NBC News that the militant group had accepted it.
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“We are very happy to reach a deal today to stop the aggression against our people, but unfortunately we were able to reach the same deal last May,” Naim stated.
The revelation was also confirmed by an Israeli official informed on the agreement and another person with firsthand knowledge of the negotiations.
Later on Wednesday, President Joe Biden was scheduled to speak about the agreement.
According to a section of the agreement provided by Hamas and written in English, Israel will withdraw its forces eastward from heavily populated areas of Gaza as part of the plan.
According to the statement, Hamas will trade 100 Palestinian detainees serving life sentences for the release of 33 hostages. According to the document, Israel will also free 1,000 Palestinian inmates who were not participating in the Oct. 7 attacks, and it will also free an unidentified number of Palestinian prisoners in Gaza or elsewhere.
Netanyahu’s administration praised what it saw as a compromise from Hamas in a statement.
The Israeli designation for the short strip of land between Gaza and Egypt is the Philadelphi Corridor. “Hamas has backed down on its demand at the last minute to change the deployment of forces on” the corridor due to Prime Minister Netanyahu’s uncompromising attitude.
The prime minister’s office also stated, “But there are still a number of unresolved clauses in the outline, and we hope that the details will be finalized tonight.”
Carmel Gat’s cousin, Gil Dickmann, told NBC News that it was “very exciting” to know that the hostages will ultimately be returned.
“It s also really sad to know that Carmel could have and should have been among them but a deal didn t come in time and she was murdered in captivity,” he stated.
NBC News was previously informed by a diplomatic source in Washington that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was getting ready to meet with his security Cabinet, where it was anticipated that the agreement would be swiftly approved. He would next present the agreement to the entire Cabinet, which is also anticipated to provide its approval.
According to the source, a ceasefire could start as early as Friday because Israel’s Supreme Court would have 24 hours to allow an appeal. The source said that the first batch of hostages would be released on Sunday.
Following the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack, in which it claims 1,200 people were killed and 250 were held captive, Israel began its military campaign in the Palestinian enclave. In return for 240 Palestinian captives, just over 100 were freed at a ceasefire in late November 2023.
Gaza’s infrastructure has been destroyed by the conflict, and the majority of its people have been forced to flee. According to enclave health officials, Israeli forces have murdered around 46,000 Palestinians, the majority of whom were civilians.
After several false dawns in recent months, the likelihood of a ceasefire appeared to be dwindling.
Trump’s inauguration Monday was seen by many in the area and in Washington as an unofficial deadline by the Biden administration, which had called for a last-ditch attempt before the president leaves office.