Negotiators reached a phased deal to end the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas on Wednesday, January 15, 2025.

An official briefed on the negotiations disclosed on Tuesday after 15 months of conflict that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and inflamed the Middle East.

The accord, which has not yet been formally announced, outlines a six-week initial ceasefire phase and includes the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip and the release of hostages held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, the official said.

Phase one entails the release of 33 Israeli hostages including all women, children, and men over 50.

Negotiations on implementing the second phase will begin by the 16th day of phase one and it is expected to include the release of all remaining hostages, a permanent ceasefire and the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.

The third phase is expected to address the return of all remaining dead bodies and the start of Gaza’s reconstruction supervised by Egypt, Qatar, and the United Nations.

The agreement follows months of on-off negotiations conducted by Egyptian and Qatari mediators, with the backing of the United States, and comes just ahead of the January 20 inauguration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.

Gaza police chief, 42 others killed in Israeli airstrikes

Hamas, Gaza’s dominant Palestinian militant group, told Reuters its delegation had handed mediators its approval for the ceasefire agreement and return of hostages.

A Palestinian official, who asked not to be named, said earlier Hamas had given verbal approval to the ceasefire and hostage return proposal and was awaiting more information to give final written approval.

If successful, the planned phased ceasefire could halt fighting that has left much of Gaza in ruins, displaced most of the enclave’s pre-war population of 2.3 million, and killed tens of thousands of people. The toll is still rising daily.

That in turn could defuse tensions across the wider Middle East, where the war has stoked conflict in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, in Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iraq, and raised fears of all-out war between arch regional foes Israel and Iran.

Even if the warring sides implement the current deal, it will still require further negotiation before there is a lasting ceasefire and the release of all the hostages.

Israeli troops invaded Gaza after Hamas-led gunmen broke through security barriers and burst into Israeli border-area communities on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 soldiers and civilians and abducting over 250 foreign and Israeli hostages.

Israel’s air and ground war in Gaza has since killed over 46,000 people, according to Gaza health ministry figures, and left the coastal enclave a wasteland of rubble with hundreds of thousands of displaced people struggling through the winter cold in tents and makeshift shelters.

The Star