Israel, Hamas Agree to Ceasefire Deal; Hostage Release Expected Within Days
Trump-brokered agreement marks first major breakthrough in two-year Gaza conflict, but difficult negotiations over governance and disarmament lie ahead
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Israel and Hamas reached a ceasefire agreement that will halt two years of fighting and begin releasing hostages within 72 hours, officials confirmed Thursday, delivering the first concrete hope for ending a conflict that has displaced 2.3 million people and left most of Gaza in ruins.
The deal, brokered by President Donald Trump with backing from Arab nations, will see 20 living hostages returned to their families in the first phase, according to Sharon Haskell, Israel’s deputy foreign minister in a skynews interview. The bodies of 28 killed hostages will also be returned.
“Within a couple of days, at least the 20 live hostages that have been held in the dungeons of torture of Hamas for the last two years will be back home in the loving arms of their families,” Haskell said in a broadcast interview.
Celebrations erupted on the streets of Khan Yunus in Gaza as word of the agreement spread, though analysts cautioned the deal’s most difficult elements remain unresolved.
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The Price of Peace
Israel will release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the hostages, including 240 to 250 security prisoners serving life sentences. Hamas leadership will receive safe passage to third countries, with Turkey and Qatar identified as likely destinations.
“This is a very difficult day for Israel as well, because we will need to release hundreds of terrorists with blood on their hands, people who have murdered children and women and innocent men throughout the years,” Haskell said.
The Israeli government scheduled a cabinet meeting Thursday to review the agreement’s details before final approval. Haskell said she expects the cabinet to approve the deal despite the painful concessions.
Ahmed Faoud al-Haktib, a Palestinian-American analyst at the Atlantic Council who was born and raised in Gaza, described the moment as one of “cautionary optimism.”
“People in Gaza are right to celebrate. After all, they’ve had to endure the horrors of the last two years, endless bombardment, endless death and destruction all around,” said al-Haktib in ABC Afternoon Briefing interview, who has been an ally of Israeli hostage families since the conflict began.
Unfinished Business
The agreement addresses only the immediate crisis of hostage release and prisoner exchange. A second phase covering Gaza’s future governance, Hamas disarmament and deployment of an international security force remains to be negotiated.
“I don’t believe the war is actually over yet,” al-Haktib said. “The agreement we’re talking about is two parts. There is the first segment, which is the hostage and Palestinian prisoner swap. Then there is the second and arguably even more difficult one, and that is the future of Gaza, governance, disarmament, the international security force.”
Roger Shanahan, a Middle East analyst who has been posted to Australian embassies in the region, said the deal’s significance cannot be understated after months of failed negotiations.
“It has potential to end two years of fighting, which tens of thousands of people have been killed,” Shanahan said. “The fact that we have signatures and we appear to be only a few days away from the release of the remaining hostages, it is a significant day.”
Hamas Without Weapons
The question of Hamas disarmament looms as the deal’s most formidable obstacle. Al-Haktib said the militant group has indicated willingness to discuss offensive weapons while maintaining defensive capabilities, a position he described as fundamentally incompatible with lasting peace.
“Hamas without arms is utterly irrelevant. I mean, they would have to re-engineer and repurpose and reconfigure who they are. It goes to their very core, their very identity,” al-Haktib said. “That’s their raison d’etre, is armed violent resistance, quote unquote.”
Hamas has publicly rejected the entry of international forces into Gaza, a core component of Trump’s 20-point peace plan. The group has also signaled it wants influence over any new governance structure, what al-Haktib described as wanting “to reign, but not directly rule.”
“That’s a miniaturized version of the Hezbollah model in Lebanon,” al-Haktib said. “And it’s disastrous because Hamas gets to escape all sorts of accountability associated with the failures of governance, and yet Hamas gets to ensure that there is no durable peace without the survival of the armed resistance narrative.”
Regional Stakes
Trump’s peace plan calls for a governance council nominally headed by the president himself, though Shanahan said few expect that arrangement to materialize in practice. Gulf states will be expected to provide substantial financial resources for Gaza’s reconstruction, while Egypt will continue managing humanitarian aid flowing through its border.
The composition and mandate of a stabilization force remains undefined. Shanahan said critical questions about command structure, rules of engagement and whether only regional states will participate must be resolved.
“Who is going to stand up this stabilisation force? What’s it going to look like? Is it only going to be regional states? Who’s going to command it?” Shanahan said.
Al-Haktib warned that without genuine commitment to reconstruction and reform, Gaza faces becoming “a nation in waiting, a people in holding.”
“If Hamas is still reigning over its affairs, then it’s going to be dependent on humanitarian aid and handouts,” he said. “And that’s going to be a disastrous prospect that will keep just draining all the talent and all the people who could actually rejuvenate Gaza and rebuild it for a brighter future.”
Trump’s Gamble
Al-Haktib credited Trump with pulling together the first phase agreement, though he questioned whether the incoming administration’s focus will endure through more complex negotiations.
“I commend President Trump for his efforts that have been able to pull this off thus far, and I’m hoping that his enthusiasm carries over to the second phase,” he said.
Shanahan noted Trump has just over three years remaining in office, creating time pressure for implementing a deal that will require sustained international commitment across multiple administrations.
“It’s going to have to take multiple leaderships in Washington to see this one through and they’re not going to have the same amount of focus as is occurring at the moment,” Shanahan said.
Hostages and Healing
Families of hostages gathered in Tel Aviv’s Hostage Square since 2 a.m., celebrating news they had awaited for two years. The square has become a daily gathering point throughout the conflict.
Haskell said the rehabilitation process for returning hostages will be difficult and prolonged, based on testimonies from survivors of Hamas captivity.
“Many of them, most of them, haven’t returned to a normal life,” Haskell said. “I think that most Israelis and most of our society didn’t start a healing process because we’ve been waiting for them to come back home.”
For families receiving bodies rather than living relatives, the pain will be compounded by years of uncertainty.
“Finally they’ll be able to bury their loved ones,” Haskell said. “This can take years, if not a lifetime, to recover from something like that.”
Technical Hurdles
Al-Haktib expressed concern about Hamas’s ability to locate all deceased hostages. The group has reportedly found all living hostages but not the bodies of an estimated 10 to 15 deceased individuals.
“That might be temporary, that might be something that they work on during the 72 hours, or it might be something that is enduring,” he said.
Questions also remain about how hostages will be transferred and whether Hamas will stage public ceremonies that could inflame tensions.
“Are we going to see some of those horrendous ceremonies that we saw earlier this year? Is Hamas going to put on these shows, these massive displays that might derail some of this?” al-Haktib said.
Despite uncertainties, al-Haktib said he expects the first phase to proceed without major complications, noting that Trump envoy Steve Witkoff and presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner remained in the region to ensure implementation.
“The president wouldn’t have made the statement about going to Egypt or going to the Middle East without his commitment and confidence, rather, that there would be no hiccups,” al-Haktib said.
As Gaza residents celebrated in the streets and Israeli hostage families prepared for reunions, both sides faced the reality that ending the fighting represents only the beginning of resolving the conflict’s underlying causes.
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