Under the deal, fighting will halt as Israel pulls back from Gaza and Hamas frees hostages for prisoners
\n Gaza
\nIsrael and the Palestinian group Hamas signed an agreement on Thursday to cease fire and free Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, in the first phase of US President Donald Trump\u2019s initiative to end the war in Gaza.
\nOfficials on both sides confirmed they had signed the deal following indirect talks in the Egyptian beach resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. The deal\u2019s announcement was greeted with celebrations among Palestinians and Israelis alike.
\nUnder the deal, the biggest step yet towards peace, fighting will cease, Israel will partially withdraw from Gaza and Hamas will free hostages it captured in the attack that precipitated the war, in exchange for prisoners held by Israel.
\nIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s office said the ceasefire would take effect once the agreement is ratified by his government, which would convene after a security cabinet meeting on Thursday.
\nCeasefire, withdrawal and release of hostages
\nAn Israeli government spokeswoman, confirming the deal had been signed, said the ceasefire would go into force within 24 hours of the cabinet meeting. After that 24-hour period, the hostages held in Gaza will be freed within 72 hours, she said.
\nA source briefed on details of the agreement said earlier that Israeli troops would begin pulling back within 24 hours of the deal being signed.
\nAn Israeli official said all 20 Israeli hostages still believed to be alive in Gaza after being seized by Hamas in its attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, would be released.
\nThe prisoners released in exchange will not include Marwan Barghouti, one of the most prominent Palestinian prisoners, the spokeswoman said.
\nTurkey on Palestinian state
\nTurkey aims to take part in a \u201ctask force\u201d overseeing the newly agreed ceasefire in Gaza and the implementation of its articles, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday, as Ankara appeared to have emerged as a key player in both the negotiations and execution of the deal.
\nTurkey, which participated in the ceasefire negotiations in Egypt, has been one of the harshest critics of Israel\u2019s assault on Gaza, calling it a genocide. Since Israel launched its attack on Gaza two years ago, the NATO ally has been involved in a largely indirect capacity in peace efforts but took a heightened role in recent weeks.
\n\u201cI am very pleased that the Hamas-Israel talks taking place in Sharm el-Sheikh, with contributions from us as Turkey, have resulted in a ceasefire in Gaza,\u201d Erdogan posted on X earlier on Thursday.
\nHe thanked Trump \u201cwho demonstrated the necessary political will to encourage the Israeli government towards the ceasefire\u201d, as well as Qatar and Egypt, adding Ankara would not stop until a sovereign Palestinian state was established.
\nUN chief welcomes deal as path toward Palestinian statehood
\nUN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the agreement to secure a ceasefire and hostage release in Gaza on Thursday and said it represented a path toward self-determination of the Palestinian people.
\n\u201cI urge all to seize this momentous opportunity to establish a credible political path forward,\u201d Guterres said at the United Nations. \u201cA path towards ending the occupation, recognizing the right to self-determination of the Palestinian people, and achieving a two-state solution.\u201d
\n\u2018Assurance of full access for humanitarian groups,\u2019 Norway
\nThe Norwegian Refugee Council, one of the largest independent aid groups working in Gaza, said President Donald Trump\u2019s plan to increase aid to starving people as part of a ceasefire will fail unless all aid groups can resume operations.
\n\u201cThe desperation is deeper and the exhaustion is greater than anyone can imagine inside Gaza … It\u2019s not enough with some UN agencies and some few NGOs,\u201d Jan Egeland, NRC head, told Reuters in an interview via video link from Oslo. \u201cIf not, the Trump peace plan will not succeed … We don\u2019t have time for more bureaucratic obstacles.\u201d
\nEgeland said NRC, among other international NGOs, had been blocked from bringing aid into Gaza since Israel lifted its 11-week blockade on supplies in May. Israel has said there is no limit on quantities of food aid entering Gaza and accuses Hamas of stealing aid, accusations the Palestinian group denies. COGAT, the arm of the Israeli military that oversees aid flows into Gaza, did not immediately reply to a Reuters request for comment.
\nThe NRC is resubmitting a request to get hundreds of truckloads of lifesaving aid into Gaza, which had been denied access for months.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Under the deal, fighting will halt as Israel pulls back from Gaza and Hamas frees hostages for prisoners Gaza Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas signed an agreement on Thursday to cease fire and free Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, in the first phase of US President Donald Trump\u2019s initiative to end the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-507661","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-top-news"},"yoast_head":"\n