23:30 Egypt, Qatar, and the US issued a joint statement on Wednesday on the agreement reached between Israel and Hamas for the exchange of prisoners and detainees and the establishment of sustainable calm, leading to a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
The Egyptian presidency said in a statement that the agreement will take effect on Sunday, 19 January, consisting of three phases.
The first phase, lasting 42 days, includes a ceasefire and the withdrawal and repositioning of Israeli forces outside densely populated areas.
It also includes exchanging prisoners and detainees and returning the remains of the deceased.
In addition, the first phase comprises allowing internally displaced persons to return to their homes in Gaza and facilitating travel for patients and injured individuals to receive medical treatment.
The first phase involves allowing intense humanitarian aid to enter Gaza safely and effectively and distributing it on a large scale throughout the strip.
It also includes rehabilitating hospitals, health centres, and bakeries, providing civil defence supplies and fuel, and delivering shelter supplies to displaced individuals who lost their homes due to the war.
In this context, Egypt, Qatar, and the US, who have mediated a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas for months, affirmed their commitment as guarantors of this agreement to ensure that both parties fully implement all three phases.
The guarantors will also coordinate with the United Nations, donor countries, and partners worldwide to support a rapid and sustainable increase in humanitarian aid to Gaza under the terms stipulated in the agreement and the established mechanisms for implementing it.
23:00 On Wednesday evening, various media outlets published details about the mechanisms for implementing the agreement on Palestinian and Israeli prisoners’ exchange and achieving a sustainable ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
Phase I starts at 12:15 on Sunday, 19 January 2025.
Here are the key points:
Stage Two Preparations
This phase seeks to exchange Palestinian and Israeli prisoners and establish lasting calm. Negotiations will continue, with all first-stage procedures remaining in place until an agreement is reached.
Israeli Forces Withdrawal
Israeli forces will retreat from densely populated areas along Gaza’s borders. They will be positioned 700 meters east of the Gaza Strip, with a few exceptions allowing up to 400 additional metres at five specific points. These positions are based on maps agreed upon by both sides.
Prisoner Exchange Details
Ill and Wounded Prisoners: Nine individuals from a list of 33 will be exchanged for 110 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences.
Gazan Detainees: Israel will release 1,000 prisoners detained after 8 October 2023 who were uninvolved in the 7 October events.
Elderly Prisoners: Men over 50 will be exchanged at 1:3 for life-sentence detainees and 1:27 for others.
High-Profile Detainees: Ebra Mangesto and Hesham el-Sayed will be exchanged at a ratio of 1:30, along with 47 prisoners from the 2011 Shalit deal.
Special Releases: Based on mutually agreed lists, some prisoners will be freed to Gaza or abroad.
Philadelphi Corridor Withdrawal
Israeli forces will reduce their presence in this corridor during the first stage. Following the release of the last Israeli prisoner on day 42, the withdrawal will begin and end by day 50.
Rafah Border Crossing
Rafah crossing will reopen for Palestinian civilians and the wounded after releasing all Israeli women detainees. Israel will ensure the crossing is operational immediately after signing the agreement.
Fifty Palestinian wounded military individuals will cross daily, each accompanied by three others. Approval from Israel and Egypt will be required.
The crossing’s operations will align with discussions from August 2024.
Exit for Ill and Wounded Civilians
All ill and wounded civilians will exit through Rafah under the provisions of the 27 May 2024 agreement.
Return of Internally Displaced Palestinians
Unarmed civilians displaced from the Netzarim Corridor will return north under these terms:
Pedestrians may return via Rashid Street on day 7 and Salahudin Street on day 22 without inspection.
Vehicles will return north after inspection by a mediator-approved private company.
Humanitarian Aid Protocol
Humanitarian aid will follow a strict protocol supervised by mediators. Aid deliveries will continue under the guidelines agreed in the 27 May agreement.
This implementation plan reflects efforts to bring stability and relief to Gaza while mediators work to ensure compliance from all parties involved.
22:55 President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi welcomed the ceasefire agreement, signed by Israel and Hamas on Wednesday to end the 15-month-old war in the Gaza Strip, praising "the strenuous efforts spanning more than a year, mediated by Egypt, Qatar, and the US.
"With this agreement, I emphasize the importance of expediting the entry of urgent humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza to address the current catastrophic humanitarian situation, without any obstacles," El-Sisi wrote on his official Facebook page.
The Egyptian president said that Cairo is looking forward to achieving sustainable peace through a two-state solution and ensuring the region enjoys stability, security, and development in a world that accommodates all.
"Egypt will always remain true to its commitments, supportive of just peace, a sincere partner in achieving it, and a defender of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people," El-Sisi said.
Egypt, Qatar, and the US guarantee the three-phased ceasefire deal.
The three countries will monitor the deal's implementation, set to go into effect at 12:15 on Sunday, 19 January, through a joint operation room.
In tandem, an Egyptian security source confirmed on Wednesday that coordination is underway to open the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza to allow the entry of international aid to the Palestinian people in the strip.
The security sources also indicated Egypt is preparing to deliver the largest possible amount of humanitarian aid to the strip.
The Rafah border crossing would start operating immediately with the start of the ceasefire deal under Egyptian sponsorship and in coordination with Hamas, according to the Israeli channel 13.
Israel has closed the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza, which carried humanitarian aid to the strip, after occupying the Palestinian side of the crossing in May 2024.
22:40 Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday that his country hoped for a "lasting peace" in Gaza after the announcement of a ceasefire and captive-prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hamas.
"We hope this agreement will be beneficial for our region and all humanity, particularly for our Palestinian brothers, and that it will open the way to lasting peace and stability," Erdogan said on X.
22:30 The chief of the UN aid agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, called on Wednesday for "rapid and unhindered" aid access to Gaza after Israel and Hamas agreed on a ceasefire deal.
"What's needed is rapid, unhindered and uninterrupted humanitarian access and supplies to respond to the tremendous suffering caused by this war," Philippe Lazzarini, chief of UNRWA, wrote on X.
20:20 Reporting from Gaza City, Anas Al-Sharif, the Al Jazeera reporter who braved 15 months of Israeli bombardment in northern Gaza to report on the atrocities committed by the occupation army, said Israeli warplanes were firebombing residential blocks in the first hours after a ceasefire was announced.
22:00 Israeli President Isaac Herzog said in a televised statement on Wednesday that a ceasefire and captive-release deal announced between Israel and Hamas was the "right move" to bring all the captives home.
"As the president of the state of Israel, I say in the clearest terms: This is the right move. This is an important move. This is a necessary move. There is no greater moral, human, Jewish, or Israeli obligation than to bring our sons and daughters back to us -- whether to recover at home or to be laid to rest," said Herzog, whose role is mainly ceremonial.
File Photo: Israeli President Isaac Herzog. AP
20:35 Shortly before the ceasefire deal was announced, The UK-based ActionAid said: "A ceasefire deal will bring “some respite to Gaza’s exhausted people”, but it is “no substitute for a permanent ceasefire which respects the rights of Palestinians to determine their own future."
The last 15 months of “unimaginable violence and horror” has turned Gaza into “hell on earth”, with more than 46,000 people killed by the Israeli military and tens of thousands left with “life-changing” injuries, it said.
A ceasefire will not bring back the hundreds of thousands of homes that have been destroyed, nor the entire cities wiped off the map.
The group urged the international community to apply “maximum pressure” to secure a lasting end to the war and for the Israeli government to be held accountable for “all violations of international humanitarian law” and to comply with proceedings by international courts into the charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
In tandem, Helen McEachern, CEO of Care International UK, welcomed the reports of an agreement and said it was “just the first step in stemming the overwhelming tide of suffering.”
A ceasefire will offer respite from the relentless bombardment imposed by Israeli authorities, and every effort must now be made to ensure it is sustained and made permanent.
She called on humanitarian assistance to be allowed into Palestine to aid the population “on the brink of famine” and with its health system “on its knees”.
“The UK Government, which has continued to sell arms to Israel, must now use all its diplomatic levers to ensure the ceasefire is fully implemented,” she added.
In addition, the EU Commissioner for the Mediterranean Dubravka Suica on Wednesday hailed a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, saying the bloc "remains committed to supporting all efforts towards a long-lasting peace and recovery".
"I welcome the ceasefire agreement and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas, which will bring much-needed relief to those affected by the devastating conflict," Suica posted on X.
Palestinians gather to collect aid food in Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip. AFP
21:30 The spokesperson of the Qatari Foreign Ministry, Majid Al-Ansari, said the three countries guaranteeing the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, Egypt, Qatar, and the US, will monitor the implementation of the deal, set to go into effect at 12:15 Sunday 19 January afternoon, through a joint operation room beginning Thursday morning.
"There is no reason why the hostilities should not stop immediately without waiting till Sunday, but we have to live with the term of the deal."
People watch the live broadcast of a press conference being addressed by Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani, inside a tent in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip. AFP
21:25 President Joe Biden said in a statement: “Today, after many months of intensive diplomacy by the United States, along with Egypt and Qatar, Israel and Hamas have reached a ceasefire and hostage deal.”
“I’m proud to say Americans will be part of that hostage release on phase one,” he said.
Biden, in a news conference, said elements of this deal are what he laid in detail in May 2024 and that the first phase will last six weeks and includes a “full and complete ceasefire, withdrawal of Israeli forces from all the populated areas of Gaza, and the release of a number of hostages held by Hamas.”
In exchange, Israel will release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
He said a major reconstruction plan for Gaza will begin in Phase Three.
US President Joe Biden, flanked by Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, speaks about the Israel-Hamas ceasefire and captive release deal in the Cross Hall of the White House. AFP
21:00 Shortly after the announcement of the ceasefire deal with Israel, Hamas stated: "The ceasefire agreement is the fruit of the legendary steadfastness of our great Palestinian people and our valiant resistance in the Gaza Strip, over more than 15 months."
"The agreement to stop the aggression on Gaza is an achievement for our people, our resistance, our nation and the free people of the world, and it is a turning point in the conflict with the enemy, on the path to achieving our people's goals of liberation and return."
"This agreement comes from our responsibility towards our patient people steadfast in the honourable Gaza Strip, to stop the Zionist aggression against them, and put an end to the bloodbath, massacres and war of extermination to which they are being subjected."
"We express our appreciation and thanks for all the honourable official and popular positions that showed solidarity with Gaza, stood with our people, and contributed to exposing the occupation and stopping the aggression, Arab, Islamic and international, and special thanks to the mediating brothers, who made great efforts to reach this agreement, especially Qatar and Egypt."
A Palestinian girl cheers at the camp for people displaced by conflict at Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on January 15, 2025. AFP
20:50 The Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdel Rahman Al Thani announced in a press conference in Doha on Wednesday evening that a ceasefire deal has been reached to end the war in Gaza.
The agreement will enter into effect on Sunday, 19 January, he said.
Phase one of the agreement will go on for 42 days and will include a ceasefire and the withdrawal of Israeli forces to the east away from populated areas, Al Thani said.
As part of the phase, Hamas will release 33 Israeli captives, including civilian women as well as children, elderly people, and civilians who are wounded or ill.
In return, Israel will release several prisoners who are being held in Israeli prisons, he said.
The phase will include the return of displaced people to their homes, he said.
It will also facilitate the travel of wounded and sick people to receive treatment.
The first phase will include the increased flow of relief and humanitarian aid to all parts of the Gaza Strip, as well as the rehabilitation of hospitals, health centres, and bakeries.
The phase will allow for the entry of fuel and civil defence equipment, as well as necessities for displaced people who lost their homes as a result of the war.
Qatari PM Mohammed bin Abdel Rahman Al Thani announcing the deal
20:40 As the world awaits the announcement of a ceasefire deal to end the Israeli genocidal war on Gaza, Israeli warplanes pounded various residential blocks in Gaza City and Jabalia in northern Gaza.
The Palestinian health ministry said 50 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes across the strip on Wednesday.
People on a street in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip clamour over live television broadcast of a press conference to announce a ceasefire deal by Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani, on January 15, 2025. AFP
20:30 Egyptian security sources confirmed on Wednesday that coordination is underway to open the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza to allow the entry of international aid to the Palestinian people in the strip.
The security sources also indicated Egypt is preparing to deliver the largest possible amount of humanitarian aid to the strip.
The Rafah border crossing would start operating immediately with the start of the ceasefire deal under Egyptian sponsorship and in coordination with Hamas, according to the Israeli channel 13.
Israel has closed the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza, which carried humanitarian aid to the strip, after occupying the Palestinian side of the crossing in May 2024.
File Photo: Israeli forces operating on the Gazan side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, in the southern Gaza Strip. AFP
20:20 Israel said Wednesday that several points in the Gaza ceasefire and captive release deal still needed to be resolved but expected them to be "finalised tonight."
"Several clauses in the framework remain unresolved, and we hope that the details will be finalised tonight," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in a statement.
Relatives and friends of people killed and captured by Hamas and taken into Gaza, react to the ceasefire announcement as they take part in a demonstration in Tel Aviv, Israel. AP
20:10 Four Palestinians have been killed and two others critically injured on Wednesday in an Israeli airstrike targeting the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
A statement from the Palestinian health ministry said four bodies were brought to a hospital in Jenin following the airstrike.
On Tuesday, an Israeli army drone strike in Jenin killed six Palestinians, including a 15-year-old child.
19:55 A joint Qatari-Egyptian-American press conference to announce the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas is expected in Doha shortly.
19:50 Israel and Hamas have reached a deal for a ceasefire and the release of captives in Gaza, a US official confirmed Wednesday, in the final days of President Joe Biden's administration.
The deal, earlier announced by a source briefed on talks in Qatar, comes after Biden had pushed strongly for an accord before Donald Trump returned to the White House on 20 January.
Members of Hamas's armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, arrive in a vehicle at a street in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. AFP
19:45 The Israeli war cabinet is set to meet on Thursday morning to vote on the agreement.
19:40 An Egyptian-Qatari joint commission would oversee the return of displaced Palestinians from the south to the north of the strip, sources told Al Jazeera.
File Photo: Palestinians displaced from shelters in Beit Hanoun cross the main Salaheddine road into Jabaliya in the northern Gaza Strip. AFP
19:30 The Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip would be based on 7 October 2023 map.
Photo courtesy of OCHA website.
19:20 The US president-elect, Donald Trump, has rushed to claim credit for the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas in another Truth Social post.
Describing the deal as “epic”, Trump said the agreement could have only happened as a result of his “historic” election victory “as it signalled to the entire World that my Administration would seek Peace and negotiate deals to ensure the safety of all Americans and our Allies”.
He vowed that his national security team and his pick for Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, will continue to “work closely with Israel and our Allies to make sure Gaza NEVER again becomes a terrorist safe haven.”
He added: "We will continue promoting PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH throughout the region as we build upon the momentum of this ceasefire to further expand the Historic Abraham Accords. This is only the beginning of great things to come for America, and indeed, the World!"
Trump went on to say: “We have achieved so much without even being in the White House. Just imagine all of the wonderful things that will happen when I return to the White House, and my Administration is fully confirmed, so they can secure more Victories for the United States!”
File Photo: The US president-elect, Donald Trump. AP
19:15 Sources told Al Jazeera that the first step stipulated in the ceasefire deal stipulates a three-day truce between the two sides from Wednesday through Saturday before a cessation of hostilities goes into effect on Sunday.
The sources explained that the ceasefire deal would be implemented in three phases.
The 42-day first phase in the three-phased ceasefire deal would comprise:
- The start of the withdrawal of Israeli forces from parts of the Gaza Strip.
- The start of the process of swapping Palestinian prisoners for Israeli captives.
- The entry of 600 aid trucks to the strip daily to meet the urgent needs of a population teetering on the verge of starvation.
File Photo: Trucks of Egyptian Red Crescent carrying humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip cross the Rafah border gate, in Rafah, Egypt. AP
- Displaced Palestinians can start returning from the south to the north of the strip.
19:00 Thousands of Gazans celebrated Wednesday as news spread that a ceasefire and hostage release deal had been reached between Israel and Hamas.
Journalists in central Gaza's Khan Younis and Deir el-Balah and other areas witnessed people gathering in groups, hugging and taking photos with their mobile phones to mark the announcement.
A snapshot of Palestinians in Deir El-Balah in central Gaza celebrating the announcement of a ceasefire to end the Israeli genocidal war on the strip.
18:50 The Israeli war on Gaza, deemed genocidal by the International Court of Justice, has killed and wounded more than 200,000 Palestinians or nearly 10 percent of the 2.3 million population of the strip since it started on 7 October 2023.
File Photo: A Palestinian girl carries a child through the rubble of houses destroyed by Israeli bombardment in Gaza City. AFP
Israeli round-the-clock airstrikes and bombardment of the strip for over 467 days have destroyed most homes in the strip, leaving 90 percent of the population displaced - many multiple times.
Israel has also destroyed most schools and hospitals in the strip, leaving the population without education or health services.
In tandem, an Israeli blockade on the entry of food and water to the strip left most of the population on the verge of starvation.
The Israeli genocide in Gaza was described as larger in scope than the most recent genocide witnessed by the world in Rwanda in 1994.
On Sunday, Qatar delivered a finalized draft of a phased ceasefire deal to end the 15-month-old Israeli war on the Gaza Strip to Israel and Hamas for approval.
A breakthrough in talks was reached in Doha on Sunday following indirect talks between Israel and Hamas that were mediated by Israel's spy chiefs, President-elect Donald Trump's Middle East envoy, Egyptian officials, and Qatar’s prime minister.
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