U.S., Qatar announce Gaza cease-fire and hostage deal
Deal includes release of 33 hostages and partial IDF withdrawal from Gaza in initial stage

Amir Levy
People react to the reports of a possible Gaza cease fire and hostage release deal being reached during a rally calling for the return of hostages held in the Gaza Strip on January 15, 2025 in Tel Aviv, Israel.
The U.S. and Qatar announced the completion of a hostage and cease-fire deal between Hamas and Gaza on Wednesday.
President Joe Biden said that the 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 of captivity.”
“It is the result not only of the extreme pressure that Hamas has been under and the changed regional equation after a ceasefire in Lebanon and weakening of Iran — but also of dogged and painstaking American diplomacy,” Biden said in a statement.
Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani gave a press conference in which he announced that the deal will take effect and the first hostages will be released on Sunday.
President-elect Donald Trump was the first world leader to announce on Wednesday that a deal to free hostages from captivity in Gaza in exchange for a cease-fire and the release of Palestinian terrorists was complete.
“We have a deal for the hostages in the Middle East,” Trump posted on his Truth Social site. “They will be released shortly. Thank you!”
Soon after, the president-elect touted an “EPIC ceasefire agreement,” and said he is “thrilled American and Israeli hostages will be returning home to be united with their families and loved ones. With this deal in place, my National Security team, through the efforts of Special Envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, will continue to work closely with Israel and our Allies to make sure Gaza NEVER again becomes a terrorist safe haven. 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.”
A Hamas statement called the cease-fire “an achievement for our people, our resistance, our nation and the free people of the world. It is a turning point in the conflict with the enemy, on the path to achieving our people’s goals of liberation and return.”
But on Wednesday evening local time in Israel, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that “there are still a number of articles in the outline that have yet to be closed, and we hope that the details will be finished tonight.”
Hours later, a source in Netanyahu’s office said that “the prime minister will make a statement to the public only after the deal is complete and closed.” Israeli President Isaac Herzog held his own press conference late Wednesday night where he called on the government to accept the deal.
Israeli government officials seemed to be making preparations for its completion, even without confirming a deal had been reached.
Representatives of Netanyahu’s office began briefing members of Congress about the agreement.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar cut short a trip to Europe, flying from Italy to Israel instead of to Hungary, in order to vote in cabinet meetings about the hostage deal.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog made a live statement calling for the government to accept the deal. Earlier Wednesday, he met with the president of the International Red Cross, Mirjana Spoljaric, and her team, who are visiting Israel as part of preparations for the return of some hostages.
The Israeli security cabinet is expected to meet on Thursday morning to vote on the deal, after which the general cabinet will meet. Then, the details will be publicized and members of the Israeli public in opposition to the deal will have a chance to petition the High Court.
About an hour before Trump’s initial announcement, Hamas made last-minute demands to change the permitted array of forces along the Philadelphi Corridor between Gaza and Egypt, which Israel refused to accept, a senior Israeli source said.
“Following Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu’s insistence, Hamas folded on [its new demands] about the Philadelphi Corridor,” the source said.
The hostage deal comes days before Trump’s inauguration, and after he made several public threats that “all hell will break loose” in the Middle East if all the hostages are not released before he assumes office on Jan. 20. Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, was in the region over the past week to negotiate, along with Brett McGurk, the outgoing White House coordinator for the Middle East.
The deal falls short of that demand but would bring back all 98 remaining hostages, alive and dead, in the coming months if all of its stages are completed.
In the first stage, Hamas would release 33 hostages considered humanitarian cases — children, elderly and infirm — based on a list Israel provided. Hamas has yet to inform Israel how many of them are dead or alive.
As many as 1,000 Palestinian terrorists could be released at that stage, depending on how many of the Israeli hostages are alive or dead. The terrorists involved in murdering Israelis will not be released to the West Bank, and terrorists who participated in the Oct. 7 attack will not be freed at any stage of the deal, according to Israeli diplomatic sources.
Talks will begin on the second stage of the deal 16 days after the first stage.
Israel will retain a buffer zone around Gaza’s perimeter but will withdraw from the Netzarim Corridor bisecting Gaza from east to west, which will be subject to “security arrangements,” an Israeli official said this week. The IDF presence in the Philadelphi Corridor is expected to be scaled back, as well.
Talks on the second stage of the hostage-release and cease-fire deal would begin 16 days after the first stage commences, and would include the release of male IDF soldiers in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
The third and final stage of the deal would include exchanges of hostages’ bodies for the bodies of Palestinian terrorists held by Israel.
It would also entail a withdrawal of Israeli troops to the perimeter of Gaza, meant to mark the end of the war, and the entry of a yet-to-be determined third party to govern Gaza.
An Israeli diplomatic source earlier this week said that Israel will retain “geographic levers” as well as high-priority Palestinian terrorists to “ensure Hamas stays in the deal and will execute it stage by stage to the last hostage.”
The source said that Israel would not withdraw from Gaza until all 98 hostages are freed.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum expressed “overwhelming joy and relief” about the agreement.
“Since November 2023, we have been anxiously awaiting this moment, and now, after over 460 days of our family members being held in Hamas tunnels, we are closer than ever to reuniting with our loved ones,” the forum stated. “This is a significant step forward that brings us closer to seeing all hostages return — the living to rehabilitation, and the deceased for proper burial. However, deep anxiety and concerns accompany us regarding the possibility that the agreement might not be fully implemented, leaving hostages behind. We urgently call for swift arrangements to ensure all phases of the deal are carried out. We will not rest until we see the last hostage back home.”
Netanyahu is expected to encounter political opposition to the deal, with Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir saying they would vote against it. Ben-Gvir released a video on Tuesday encouraging Smotrich to join with him to threaten to leave the coalition — potentially triggering an election — if Israel accepts the deal. The departure of Ben-Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit party alone would not be enough to topple the coalition.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid encouraged Netanyahu to accept the deal and disregard Ben-Gvir’s threats, saying that his Yesh Atid party would vote to keep Netanyahu’s coalition in place if it meant there would be a deal to release the hostages.
The Tikva Forum of Hostages’ Families, the smaller and more hawkish group, said that it is “deeply concerned by the deal that was signed with a terror organization that should be destroyed. This deal leaves dozens of hostages behind in Gaza. It also sets the stage for the next massacre and future kidnappings of Israelis … We will not stop or be silent until we can guarantee the return of all the hostages and the security of all Israeli citizens and soldiers who might pay the price.”
The forum also called on cabinet members to resign rather than be part of the government that “betrays dozens of hostages.”