War End In Sight As Israel, Hamas Agree Deal, Hostage To Be Released
Israel and Hamas agreed Wednesday to a ceasefire and the release of hostages held in Gaza. U.S. officials also recognized the agreement.
Pressure to end the fighting had increased in recent days as Qatar, Egypt, and the United States acted as mediators and stepped up efforts to reach an agreement.
On Wednesday, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani met with Hamas negotiators in his office “for a (final) push” to get the agreement passed, sources close to the talks said.
The source, briefed on the negotiations, later told AFP that “an agreement (for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release) was reached after (the Qatari prime minister) met with Hamas negotiators in his office and separately with Israeli negotiators.”
The announcement came just days before the inauguration of incoming U.S. President Donald Trump after months of failed attempts to end the deadliest war in Gaza’s history.
‘A deal has been reached with the hostages in the Middle East. They will be released shortly. Thank you!” Trump said on his Truth Social Network. Before taking office, Trump warned Hamas that there would be “hell to pay” if it did not release the remaining captives, and his envoy to the incoming administration and outgoing President Joe Biden was present at the talks, which AFP compiled from official Israeli statements that Hamas has been a major player in the war in Gaza sparked by its worst-ever attack against Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed 1,210 people, mostly civilians.
Palestinian militants took 251 people hostage in the attack, 94 of whom are still being held in Gaza. Israeli retaliatory operations in Gaza have killed 46,707 people, according to figures from the Ministry of Health in Hamas-controlled Gaza, which the UN says it trusts.
In successive rounds of talks, there have been disagreements over the permanence of the ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli troops, and the scale of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian Authority. UNRWA, the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency, said it would continue to provide much-needed aid in the face of an Israeli ban on its activities that will take effect later this month.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to crush Hamas in retaliation for the October 7 attacks, but opposes the militant group’s postwar role in the region. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday that Israel must finally accept the reunification of Gaza and the West Bank under the leadership of a “reformed” Palestinian Authority and embrace “the path to forming an independent Palestinian state.”
He added that the “best incentive” to achieve Israeli-Palestinian peace is the prospect of normalization of diplomatic relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa, speaking in Oslo, said the push for the Gaza ceasefire shows that international pressure on Israel is “paying off. ”The October 7 attacks on communities in southern Israel caused uproar around the world, as did the scale of suffering in Gaza from the retaliatory war It sparked a worldwide uproar.
World powers and international organizations have been calling for a ceasefire for months, but it did not materialize until Wednesday.
