Compiled from news service contributors
A deal has been struck between Israel and Hamas to temporarily stop the fighting and exchange hostages being held by both Hamas and Israel.
Here is a summary of the key aspects of the agreement:
• A six-week pause in fighting will begin on Sunday.
• Hamas will release 33 hostages, while Israel will release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners from Israel.
• Women, elderly, and wounded hostages will be released first, including American hostages.
• The six-week cease-fire is to allow for negotiations for a permanent end to the conflict. If these negotiations continue beyond six weeks, the cease-fire will remain in place.
• The Israeli military will withdraw from some positions in Gaza while remaining in others, including the Philadelphi corridor on the Egypt-Gaza border.
President Joe Biden briefed the nation on the cease-fire deal Wednesday afternoon, saying that his people and the incoming Trump administration have been “speaking as one team” in recent days on making the deal a reality.
“I told my team to coordinate closely with the incoming team to make sure we’re all speaking with the same voice because that’s what American presidents do,” Biden said, acknowledging that it will ultimately be the incoming Trump administration that will be responsible for implementing the deal.
President-elect Donald Trump is set to be inaugurated on Monday, and Biden said he is confident that the incoming administration will uphold the terms of the deal.
Earlier on Wednesday, Trump called the deal an “EPIC ceasefire agreement.”
“I am thrilled American and Israeli hostages will be returning home to be reunited with their families and loved ones,” Trump wrote in a social media post.
While announcing the cease-fire deal on Wednesday, Biden said the negotiations have proven the most difficult of his political career.
“I worked in foreign policy for decades,” he said. “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.”
Biden referenced his administration’s efforts to build a multi-national coalition to stop Iran’s attacks on Israel and destroy Iranian air defenses without further escalating the war.
He also mentioned how the United States organized a 20-nation coalition to stand up to Houthis and Hezbollah terrorists, and how leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah were eliminated.
“You know, there was no other way for this war to end than with a hostage deal,” he said. “And I’m deeply satisfied 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.
A spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will not be withdrawing from a crucial corridor along the border between Gaza and Egypt.
“The reports of a ‘withdrawal from the Philadelphi axis’ are a complete lie. Prime Minister Netanyahu did not give up a millimeter of Israeli control over the Philadelphi axis,” posted Omri Dostri on social media platform X on Wednesday.
Biden also acknowledged Egypt and Qatar for coordinating the diplomacy.
“I laid out the precise contours of this plan on May 31, 2024, after which it was endorsed unanimously by the U.N. Security Council,” he said. “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.
“My diplomacy never ceased in their efforts to get this done.”
Under this new deal, he said, the United States is determined to bring all hostages home. He honored the memory of those who lost their lives in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack and mentioned three American families who have loved ones still being held hostage overseas and four others waiting for the remains of their family members to be returned.
But he also said it was “long past time” for fighting to end and peace and security to begin.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
