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Israel announced Thursday that all parties had signed the first phase of a ceasefire and hostage release agreement for Gaza, marking what officials described as the beginning of the end of more than two years of conflict.
The Israeli security cabinet met late Thursday and approved the agreement, paving the way for the ceasefire to take effect within 24 hours. Israeli media reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet would meet again to ratify the deal, which includes the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
The deal, finalized in Egypt, follows a 20-point peace plan presented last month by U.S. President Donald Trump. It stipulates that Hamas will release all remaining hostages in exchange for Israel’s withdrawal from the enclave and the release of nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.
Israeli government spokeswoman Shosh Bedrosian said the final draft was signed Thursday morning in Egypt. "All of our hostages, the living and the deceased, will be released 72 hours later, which will bring us to Monday," she told reporters.
U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrived in Al-Quds on Thursday evening and met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Prime Minister Netanyahu before joining the cabinet meeting.
During the meeting, far-right ministers opposed the agreement. National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said he voted against the deal, calling the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for 47 hostages "an unbearably heavy price." Ben Gvir argued that the deal would not bring peace and claimed that U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff would not pursue a similar agreement in his own country.
Despite the dissent, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said the deal should bring "the end to this war."
Under the signed document, which bears the signature of U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff, Israel will halt all military operations in Gaza, including aerial and artillery bombardments, and suspend drone surveillance in areas vacated by its forces.
Within 24 hours of cabinet approval, the Israeli army must withdraw to a designated perimeter inside Gaza, expected to be completed by Friday.
The Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt will reopen in both directions, to be managed temporarily by a joint Egyptian-European force. Once this is complete, Hamas must release all living and deceased hostages within 72 hours.
In return, Israel will release 250 Palestinians serving life sentences, along with 1,700 detainees held since the conflict began in October 2023. It will also return the bodies of 360 Palestinians killed during the fighting in exchange for the remains of 28 Israeli hostages.
The ceasefire comes just after the second anniversary of the war that began on October 7, 2023. Israel’s military campaign has since killed at least 67,194 people in Gaza, according to figures from the territory’s health ministry.
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