(NewsNation) —A ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas was reached Wednesday after more than a year of negotiations and is expected to be carried out in three phases beginning Sunday.
Qatar, acting as an intermediary, and President Joe Biden heavily pushed the two sides to reach an agreement that would secure the release of hostages held by Hamas.
“This deal will halt the fighting in Gaza, surge much-needed humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians, and reunite the hostages with their families after more than 15 months in captivity,” Biden said in a statement.
Biden said the ceasefire deal was the same one he introduced to both sides in May 2024.
“The road to this deal was not easy,” Biden said during a news conference announcing the deal. “This is one of the toughest negotiations I’ve ever experienced.”
President-elect Donald Trump’s envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, traveled to Qatar for discussions. Trump celebrated the deal on Truth Social, taking credit for its success and saying it would not have happened if he had not won in November.
Phase one of the ceasefire deal
Phase one of the ceasefire deal is expected to take place over a six-week timeframe.
Thirty-three Israeli hostages who were kidnapped by Hamas in 2023 will be returned under the first phase of the deal.
These hostages include women, children, people over the age of 50 and the sick or injured, which were given special focus under the deal which passed after more than a year of negotiations, Qatar’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said Wednesday.
In return, Israel will release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
The remaining American hostages are also expected to be released in the initial phase of the ceasefire deal, a U.S. official confirmed to NewsNation.
Phase one also includes the withdrawal of Israeli forces from populated areas of Gaza. Palestinian civilians will be allowed to return to their neighborhoods in all areas of Gaza, and humanitarian aid will begin to flow into the Strip, Biden said.
“The surge in humanitarian assistance into Gaza will begin, and innocent people can have greater access to these vital supplies,” he said.
Hamas and Israel will begin negotiations for phase two in these six weeks, he added. There are still a number of negotiations that need to take place before phase two can be mapped out, but if the negotiations take longer than six weeks, the ceasefire will continue as long as talks are ongoing, Biden said.
Phase two of the ceasefire deal
Biden said phase two would be a “permanent end of the war,” where a temporary ceasefire would become a permanent one.
Phase two will consist of the return of the remaining living Israeli hostages, including male soldiers.
All remaining Israeli forces would also withdraw from Gaza under this phase, he said.
Phase three of the ceasefire deal
The third phase is expected to address the handing over of the remaining bodies of dead hostages and the start of Gaza’s reconstruction, according to Biden.
