Bombay Durpun - Qatar, US announce Gaza truce, hostage release deal agreed

After mediators earlier said a deal had been reached, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cautioned that some issues in the framework remained "unresolved", though it expressed hope the "details will be finalised tonight".

Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who holds a largely ceremonial role, said the deal was the "right move" to bring back hostages seized during the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack that sparked the war.

That attack, the deadliest in Israeli history, resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.

Israel's ensuing campaign has destroyed much of Gaza, killing 46,707 people, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory's health ministry that the UN considers reliable.

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani told a press conference Wednesday that the "two belligerents in the Gaza Strip have reached a deal", adding the ceasefire between them would take effect on Sunday.

"We hope that this will be the last page of the war, and we hope that all parties will commit to implementing all the terms of this agreement," the prime minister said.

US President Joe Biden, meanwhile, said he was "deeply satisfied this day has come", calling the negotiations some of the "toughest" of his career.

He added that an as yet unfinalised second phase of the agreement would bring a "permanent end to the war", saying he was "confident" the deal would hold.

Demonstrators in Tel Aviv calling for the release of the hostages embraced as news of the agreement spread, while thousands across Gaza celebrated the reported deal.

"I can't believe that this nightmare of more than a year is finally coming to an end. We have lost so many people, we've lost everything," said Randa Sameeh, a 45-year-old displaced from her home in Gaza City.

Hamas said the ceasefire was the "result of the legendary steadfastness of our great Palestinian people and our valiant resistance in the Gaza Strip".

Pressure to put an end to the fighting had ratcheted up in recent days, as mediators Qatar, Egypt and the United States intensified efforts to cement an agreement.

Qatar's Sheikh Mohammed said Wednesday that the three countries would monitor the implementation of the ceasefire via a body based in Cairo.

During the initial 42-day ceasefire, 33 hostages would be released, he said, "including civilian women and female recruits, as well as children, elderly people, as well as civilian ill people and wounded".

Also in the first phase, Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza and remain positioned on its border to allow for the exchanges, as well as "the return of the displaced people to their residences", he continued.

The number of Palestinian prisoners to be released in exchange for the Israeli hostages in the second and third phases would be "finalised" during the inital 42 days, he said.

- Trump hails deal -

Biden said the deal would "surge much needed humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians, and reunite the hostages with their families".

Palestinian militants took 251 people hostage during the October 7 attack, 94 of whom are still being held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

The agreement came after months of failed bids to end the deadliest war in Gaza's history, and days ahead of the inauguration of Biden's successor Donald Trump, who hailed the deal even before it was officially announced by the White House.

Envoys from both Trump's incoming administration and Biden's outgoing one had been present at the latest negotiations.

"This EPIC ceasefire agreement could have only happened as a result of our Historic Victory in November," Trump said on social media.

The president-elect added that his White House would "continue to work closely with Israel and our Allies to make sure Gaza NEVER again becomes a terrorist safe haven".

One far-right member of Netanyahu's cabinet, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, said ahead of a vote on the agreement that it was a "bad and dangerous deal for the security of the State of Israel".

- Aid needed -

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi pointed to the "importance of accelerating the entry of urgent humanitarian aid" into Gaza, as he welcomed news of the deal.

Egypt's state-linked Al-Qahera news outlet cited a security source as saying coordination was "underway" to reopen the Rafah crossing on Gaza's border with Egypt to allow the entry of aid.

The UN's Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA, facing an Israeli ban on its activities set to take effect later this month, has said it will continue providing much-needed aid.

UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini welcomed news of the deal in a post on X.

"Many have been hoping for this moment for the past 15 months," he said. "What's needed is rapid, unhindered & uninterrupted humanitarian access and supplies to respond to the tremendous suffering caused by this war."

R.Khurana--BD