Biden announces Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal
US President Joe Biden announced the ceasefire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas to halt fighting in Gaza on Wednesday.
The Gaza ceasefire will take effect on Jan. 19, Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said in a press conference in Doha on Wednesday.
President-elect Donald Trump also said earlier that a deal had been reached to release hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.
Negotiators in Qatar earlier appeared to be close to sealing a deal on a ceasefire in the war in Gaza between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas after 15 months of death and destruction.
Officials from mediators Qatar, Egypt and the US as well as Israel and Hamas said on Tuesday an agreement was closer than ever for a truce in the besieged enclave, the release of hostages held there, and the freeing of Palestinian prisoners detained in Israel.
A senior Hamas official had told Reuters late on Tuesday it had not yet delivered its response because it was still waiting for Israel to submit maps showing how its forces would withdraw from Gaza.
During months of on-off talks, the warring sides have previously said they were close to a ceasefire only to hit last-minute obstacles. The broad outlines of the current deal have been in place since mid-2024.
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 has killed tens of thousands of people. The toll is still rising daily.
That in turn could ease tensions across the wider Middle East, where the war has fueled conflict in the occupied West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iraq, and raised fears of all-out war between Israel and Iran.
Israel launched its assault in Gaza after Hamas-led fighters stormed across its borders on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Since then, Israeli forces have killed more than 46,700 Palestinians in Gaza, according to health officials in the enclave.
With Reuters
