WASHINGTON —  Greater than 15 months into Israel’s devastating battle with Hamas within the Gaza Strip, the 2 sides have agreed to a cease-fire deal that will pause preventing and free some Israeli hostages in change for the discharge of Palestinian prisoners, U.S. and Qatari officers mentioned Wednesday.

“In the end, I can announce a cease-fire, and a hostage deal, has been reached between Israel and Hamas,” President Biden mentioned from the White Home.

The rules of the hard-fought settlement have been first introduced by Biden final spring, however months of negotiations repeatedly did not convey the 2 enemies collectively.

The cease-fire, which begins Sunday, begins with a six-week interval throughout which preventing stops and hostages are launched. Throughout that interval negotiations for a everlasting finish to the battle will begin, Biden mentioned.

“After 15 months of terror … hostages will go dwelling,” the president mentioned. “And the Palestinian individuals have gone by hell. Too many individuals have died.”

Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al Thani, first introduced the deal at a information convention within the Qatari capital, Doha. “We hope this would be the final web page in these occasions of battle,” he mentioned. “We inform our brothers in Gaza, we are going to at all times help the Palestinian individuals.”

U.S., Qatari and Egyptian negotiators spent months holding intensive rounds of talks with Israeli and Hamas leaders to dealer what the events hope will convey at the least a partial finish to a battle that has left greater than 46,000 Palestinians lifeless, at the least half of them girls and kids, Palestinian officers estimate.

Unusually, groups representing the Biden administration and President-elect Donald Trump labored collectively to safe the deal and joined the opposite mediators. “We’ve been talking as one workforce,” Biden mentioned.

The battle — which destabilized the Center East and unleashed protests throughout the U.S. — started Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas, the militant group that guidelines Gaza, invaded southern Israel, killed greater than 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped some 250 others. A lot of the victims have been civilians.

Israel instantly launched a relentless barrage of airstrikes and floor assaults that destroyed many of the coastal enclave’s homes, buildings, hospitals and infrastructure, bringing many survivors to the brink of hunger.

Beneath the deal, Israel and Hamas comply with an preliminary six-week halt to preventing. A few third of the 100 hostages remaining could be freed and as many as 1,000 Palestinians held by Israel could be launched. A earlier group of hostages and prisoners was launched in November 2023.

Notably, Israeli troops is not going to withdraw from the Gaza Strip however will retreat from populated areas. The greater than 1 million Palestinians who’ve been displaced might be allowed to return — although solely rubble awaits many — and humanitarian assist that has been partly blocked by Israel might be allowed to enter the strip. Sick and wounded Gazans might be helped to depart for medical care.

Israel believes that about 34 of the 100 remaining hostages in Gaza are lifeless. These to be launched are principally older individuals, girls, youngsters and the infirm. Troopers wouldn’t but be launched.

Biden proposed the framework for the cease-fire in Could. It’s been delayed by each side. Hamas has not wished to just accept something in need of a full finish of Israeli occupation of and assaults on Gaza. Israel has refused to withdraw from the territory till it deems Hamas has been destroyed.

Trump inauguration subsequent week could have elevated stress. He has mentioned publicly he wished to see hostages launched earlier than he takes workplace and signaled he wouldn’t maintain again Israel.

The deal nonetheless faces obstacles. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Cupboard should approve it, and given the far-right, recalcitrant members of that group, approval just isn’t assured.

Interjecting a be aware of warning, Netanyahu mentioned Wednesday that not all particulars of the settlement — anticipated to be voted on Thursday by the Cupboard — had but been settled.

“A number of objects within the framework have but to be finalized,” his workplace mentioned in an announcement Wednesday evening.

Nonetheless, the Israeli chief — who has labored assiduously all through the battle to placate hard-line parts of his coalition — claimed credit score for wringing closing concessions from Hamas.

His workplace mentioned the prime minister’s “agency stance” had resulted in a last-minute settlement by the militant group concerning the deployment of Israeli forces in a slim border strip dividing Gaza from Egypt.

Hamas, in an announcement, chalked the settlement as much as “the legendary resilience of our nice Palestinian individuals.” The group, which has army and political factions, has managed Gaza for almost twenty years, constructing an enormous community of underground tunnels, from which it continues to function. It has been dramatically weakened on this battle, however U.S. officers say the group, which Washington regards as a terrorist group, has been restocking its forces with new recruits.

One looming query is what occurs when the six-week section ends. Biden mentioned the settlement requires the cease-fire to stay in place even when additional steps are usually not but agreed to, and cites as the last word objective an entire withdrawal of all Israeli forces and the return of all Gaza territory to Gazans.

However many members of the Netanyahu authorities have vowed to return to preventing in the event that they imagine Hamas continues to pose a risk. Some additionally advocate a everlasting occupation of the coastal enclave.

By the six-week mark of the deal, with Trump within the White Home, it appears much less possible the U.S. would make a powerful effort to restrain Israel.

The Biden plan additionally envisioned a “credible” path to the institution of an impartial Palestinian state as an eventual end result. Trump has by no means supported Palestinian sovereignty.

For the households of captives in Gaza, phrase of the diplomatic breakthrough introduced a burst of hope and aid, but additionally a powerful sense that it was far too early for unbridled rejoicing. And for some, the implementation of the accord will convey crushing affirmation that their family members didn’t survive.

“Deep anxiousness and considerations accompany us concerning the chance that the settlement won’t be totally carried out, leaving hostages behind,” mentioned an announcement from an Israeli umbrella group representing the households.

The group, the Hostages and Lacking Households Discussion board, expressed gratitude to each Biden and Trump for the breakthrough.

Individually, the households of U.S. residents among the many hostages issued a joint assertion saying they have been “deeply grateful” for the settlement, however declaring that as a result of will probably be carried out in phases, the approaching days and weeks could be “simply as painful for our households because the entirety of our family members’ horrific ordeals.”

There are seven twin U.S.-Israeli residents among the many hostages, 4 of whom are believed to be lifeless, in keeping with the Israeli army. Biden mentioned he anticipated at the least one American to be included within the preliminary tranche of freed hostages.

In Gaza, the place the onset of winter has introduced explicit distress, there was rejoicing on the prospect of a halt to hostilities, with horns honking and Palestinian flags waving in rubble-filled streets. However many questioned whether or not the accord was real and the violence would actually finish.

Gaza’s civil protection known as on individuals to chorus from the customized of firing off celebratory rounds of gunfire, as a result of individuals dwelling in tents have been unprotected from stray bullets.

Wilkinson and King reported from Washington, Bulos from Beirut.