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Biden announces Israel-Hamas deal, ‘exact framework’ proposed in May

The outgoing president laid out the terms of the agreement in a White House address

ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP

President Joe Biden, flanked by Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, speaks about the Israel-Hamas ceasefire and hostage release deal in the Cross Hall of the White House on January 15, 2025.

Nearly eight months after President Joe Biden gave a White House address laying out the terms of a proposed cease-fire and hostage-release deal between Israel and Hamas, he again spoke at the White House lectern on Wednesday, this time to announce that the two warring sides had “finally” agreed to the deal.

“At long last, I can announce a cease-fire and a hostage deal has been reached between Israel and Hamas,” Biden said. “This is the cease-fire agreement I introduced last spring. Today, Hamas and Israel have agreed to that cease-fire agreement and the whole of ending the war.” 

He offered a veiled rebuttal to conservative critics who opposed the deal when he outlined it last year but are now more supportive of it following the backing of President-elect Donald Trump, whose aides were central to bringing the deal about. 

“This is the exact framework of the deal I proposed back in May. Exactly,” said Biden. But, he added, his administration and the incoming one have “been speaking as one team” while negotiating in the region in recent days. 

Trump announced the deal earlier in a post on his social network Truth Social, where he called it an “epic” agreement. 

The deal has three phases, the first of which will include a “full and complete cease-fire, withdrawal of Israeli forces from all the populated areas of Gaza and and the release of a number of hostages held by Hamas, including women and elderly and the wounded,” said Biden. “I’m proud to say that Americans will be part of that hostage release in phase one as well, and the vice president and I cannot wait to welcome them home.”

In the first phase of the deal, 33 hostages are set to be gradually released — including some who are not alive.

Phase one will also include the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners from Israel, Biden said, as well as a surge of humanitarian assistance into Gaza. Many of those prisoners are believed to be Palestinians serving life sentences, some for murder of Israelis. During this period, Israel “will negotiate the necessary arrangements to get phase two, which is a permanent end of the war,” said Biden. 

At the start of phase two, there will be an exchange of all the remaining living hostages, including male soldiers, and “all remaining Israeli forces will be withdrawn from Gaza,” according to Biden. “A temporary ceasefire will become permanent.”

Phase three will include the release of the remains of any additional hostages who were killed, and a “major reconstruction plan for Gaza will begin,” said Biden. 

“This is one of the toughest negotiations I’ve ever experienced, and we reached this point because of the pressure that Israel built on Hamas backed by the United States,” said Biden, who touted Hamas’ military losses, the weakening of Hezbollah in Lebanon and the U.S.-led coalition to combat the Houthis as significant achievements. 

“I’m deeply satisfied that this day has come — finally come — for the sake of the people of Israel and the families waiting in agony, and for the sake of the innocent people in Gaza who suffered unimaginable devastation because of the war,” said Biden. “In this deal, the people of Gaza can finally recover and rebuild. They can look to a future without Hamas in power.”

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