Qatar, Egypt, and the USA are pleased to announce the success of joint mediation efforts after the warring parties in Gaza reached an agreement to exchange prisoners and hostages, says Qatar's Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Al-Thani at a press conference in Doha.
The USA, Qatar, and Egypt will monitor the ceasefire.
In the first phase, Hamas will release 33 Israeli prisoners, including civilian women and female recruits, as well as children and the elderly, in exchange for a number of prisoners held in Israeli prisons, says the Prime Minister.
"Bring our sons and daughters home"
The outgoing US President Joe Biden is "overjoyed" and states that negotiations will continue over the next six weeks to reach phase two, which means a permanent end to the war.
He further states that if the negotiations are not completed within 42 days, the ceasefire will continue as long as the talks are ongoing.
Terror-listed Hamas claims that the agreement is a result of Palestinian "steadfastness" and paves the way for "the realization of our people's striving for liberation and return".
In Israel, a vote is expected to take place on Thursday to approve the agreement, and the country's President Isaac Herzog urges the government to approve the deal "to bring our sons and daughters home", he says.
Urgent need for support
Egypt's President Abd al-Fattah al-Sisi emphasizes "the importance of expediting the delivery of urgent humanitarian aid" into Gaza.
The announcement of the ceasefire comes shortly after the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office stated that an agreement on a ceasefire had not been reached.
Earlier on Wednesday, the future US President Donald Trump posted on social media that a deal had been reached:
"We have a hostage deal in the Middle East. It will be released soon. Thanks!" Trump wrote, taking credit for the achievement.
"We have achieved so much without even being in the White House".
During the terror-listed Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, around 250 people, mostly Israelis, were taken hostage and brought to Gaza. They are being held by Hamas and other armed extremist groups that participated in the October 7 attack.
During a week-long ceasefire in November 2023, over 100 hostages were exchanged for 240 Palestinian prisoners. Several more Israelis have been freed by the country's military.
Currently, it is estimated that nearly 100 hostages remain in Gaza, many of whom are no longer alive.
More than 46,700 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have been killed since the start of the war, according to health authorities in Hamas-controlled Gaza.
During the same period, nearly 1,600 Israelis have been killed, around 1,200 of them during the October 7 attack, according to Israeli authorities.
Around 1.9 million people, almost the entire population of Gaza, are displaced within the strip's borders, according to UN estimates.
