U.S. President Donald Trump announced Wednesday night stateside that Israel and Hamas had agreed on the first phase of a peace plan which could put an end to the two-year war and free hostages.
"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. All Parties will be treated fairly!," Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
The preliminary agreement was confirmed by Israeli officials, Hamas and mediator Qatar.
Qatari Prime Minister's spokesperson Maged al Ansary said in a post on X that an agreement had been reached on "all terms and mechanisms for implementing the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement, which will lead to stopping the war, releasing Israeli detainees and Palestinian prisoners and allowing aid to enter," according to CNBC's translation of his post in Arabic. More details will be announced later, he added.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked Trump on X and said that "With the approval of the first phase of the plan, all our hostages will be brought home. This is a diplomatic success and a national and moral victory for the State of Israel."
An Israeli government spokesperson said that release of hostages will start Saturday, according to Reuters. In an interview to Fox News, Trump said he expected the hostages to be released "probably" on Monday, stateside.
Hamas confirmed the details in a separate statement. "We highly appreciate the efforts of our mediating brothers in Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey. We also value the efforts of U.S. President Donald Trump, who seek to bring about a definitive end to the war and a complete withdrawal of the occupation from the Gaza Strip," the group said.
It remained unclear whether the parties had made progress on more contentious issues, including whether Hamas would agree to demilitarize, as President Trump has demanded and how governance of the war-torn Gaza Strip would be handled.
The agreement, which came after days of negotiations in Egypt, is expected to see the release of about 20 Israeli hostages in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. Trump had signaled optimism toward the development earlier in the day by saying that he was considering a trip to the Middle East within a matter of days.
Trump's 20-point proposal released last month to end the war in Gaza called for "a process of demilitarization of Gaza ... which will include placing weapons permanently beyond use through an agreed process of decommissioning."
The plan called for Gaza to be governed under "the temporary transitional governance of a technocratic, apolitical Palestinian committee, responsible for delivering the day-to-day running of public services and municipalities for the people in Gaza."
The Gaza war started in October 2023 when Hamas terrorists attacked Israel, killing about 1,200 people. Israel's retaliatory campaign has since killed more than 67,000 people, laid waste to much of Gaza and thrown the Middle East into crisis.
