A peace symbol made of flowers and a portrait of October 7, 2023, victim Liraz Assulin stand along a roadside in southern Israel today. Israel and Hamas edged closer to ending their devastating two-year war, agreeing on the initial terms of a deal that could pave the way to an imminent ceasefire and bringing relief to the families of Israeli hostages and to two million Palestinians in Gaza. Photo / David Guttenfelder, The New York Times
Flashing victory signs, waving flags and pouring into streets and plazas, Israelis and Palestinians celebrated today as Israel and Hamas moved toward a ceasefire and a hostage-prisoner exchange that could pave the way for an end to two years of devastating war in the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli Government put its stamp of approval on the deal reached by negotiators for Hamas and Israel in Egypt earlier in the week.
United States President Donald Trump said he expected that the Israelis being held hostage in Gaza would be released on Monday or Tuesday in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned in Israel.
Trump also said he was planning to travel to Egypt for a ceremonial signing of the agreement, which his administration helped broker.
He will visit Israel to address its parliament at the invitation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Speaking at a Cabinet meeting today, Trump described the agreement as a “momentous breakthrough in the Middle East”.
Although the text of the agreement had not been made public, it promises at least a ceasefire, if not a more lasting end to a war that has set off a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, battered Hamas militarily and left Israel exhausted and isolated internationally.
The conflict has also contributed to a rise in anti-Semitic violence across the world.
Shosh Bedrosian, an Israeli government spokesperson, said that a full ceasefire in Gaza would go into effect 24 hours after the Government endorsed the agreement. But the Israeli Foreign Minister, Gideon Saar, said the truce would begin immediately after the vote.
Israeli forces would first pull its forces back to lines that will leave them in control of about 53% of the Gaza Strip, Bedrosian said.
After the withdrawal, Hamas would then have 72 hours to return all the hostages, she added.
The Israeli military said that it was preparing to lead the operation for the hostages’ return and to “transition to adjusted deployment lines soon”.
Khalil al-Hayya, Hamas’ chief negotiator, said that Israel and Hamas had “reached an agreement to end the war and the aggression against our people”.
The agreement includes the release of 250 Palestinians serving life sentences in Israel and 1700 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel since the war began, he said.
He said mediators and the US had provided guarantees that the agreement meant “the war is completely over”.
The initial agreement addresses only a few of the 20 points in the plan Trump proposed, and some of the most difficult issues between Israel and Hamas appeared to have been left to future negotiations.
Among those issues are who would govern a post-war Gaza and whether — and how — Hamas would lay down its weapons.
In Gaza, where food shortages have led international experts to declare a famine in part of the territory, aid agencies expressed hope that they could begin speeding supplies to the hungry.
Hamas and Qatar, one of the countries brokering the negotiations, indicated that aid would be allowed into Gaza.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the UN and its partners were ready to scale up food, water, shelter and medical assistance in Gaza once a ceasefire went into effect.
Hours after Trump announced the deal, the Israeli military reminded residents of Gaza that its troops continued to occupy the territory and were still fighting a war.
Explosions and smoke rose from Gaza today, indicating that Israeli military operations were continuing even as a ceasefire was expected to begin soon.
In the Gaza City neighbourhood of Sabra, more than 40 people were believed to have been buried under the rubble of a strike, according to a spokesperson for a rescue service under the Hamas-run Interior Ministry of Gaza.
In Khan Younis, dozens of Palestinians celebrated near Nasser Hospital — a site of Israeli strikes during the war — clapping and marching through the streets after the deal was announced.
One man chanted prayers. Another sprayed party foam. Children flashed the victory sign.
In interviews across Gaza, many Palestinians expressed relief and joy, but also disbelief and fear.
Some said their hopes had been raised by past ceasefire negotiations, only to be dashed when those talks collapsed.
The war has left Gaza in ruins, with tens of thousands dead, many wounded or maimed, and countless without a home.
Doaa Hamdouna, 39, said she had heard people celebrating the deal but could not bring herself to join them.
“I still don’t trust it,” said Hamdouna, a maths teacher from Gaza City who said she had fled the Israeli military five times during the war.
“I’m mixed between wanting to believe it will last and fearing or worrying that it won’t, that we’ll never really stand in our neighbourhoods in Gaza City again.”
Mohammed Fares, 25, who has been sheltering in Deir al-Balah, said he was “so happy” that a deal had been announced but was worried that the future would have no end of suffering, with “so many things totally ruined and destroyed”.
“It will take decades to make Gaza a humane place to live,” Fares said.
In Israel, crowds swelled on the Tel Aviv plaza known as Hostages Square as news of the deal spread.
Israelis waved flags printed with yellow ribbons for those still in captivity, along with American flags, while singing and dancing.
A man unscrewed a bottle of arak, a traditional anise-flavoured spirit, poured glasses all around and a group raised a toast.
“It’s relief that it’s finally okay to feel something that isn’t grief: joy,” said Hila Ramati-Harel, 29.
Itzik Horn, whose son, Eitan Horn, is among the 20 hostages believed to be alive in Gaza, said he was not yet ready to accept that the captives were going to be released.
“Only once I see them, I’ll know that it’s over,” he said.
Three hospitals in the Tel Aviv area said they were preparing to receive the hostages; the remains of those who died in captivity are also expected to be returned to Israel.
The hostages are among some 250 people seized on October 7, 2023, the bloodiest day in Israeli history, when Hamas led a surprise attack on southern Israel that killed about 1200 people, most of them civilians.
In agreeing to free the hostages, a badly weakened Hamas took a significant risk, giving up much of the remaining leverage it has over Israel.
The group had long said it was willing to release the hostages in exchange for the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, a permanent end to the war and the release of Palestinian prisoners, but the agreement guarantees only the prisoner release and a troop pullback.
Trump expressed confidence that the deal would produce a “lasting peace”.
As for rebuilding Gaza, Trump said: “I think you’re going to see some tremendous countries stepping up and putting up a lot of money”.
World leaders also welcomed the deal but emphasised that many contentious issues still needed to be negotiated to guarantee a permanent end to the fighting and a peaceful future for Gaza.
Speaking at a meeting of foreign ministers in Paris, French President Emmanuel Macron said that disarming Hamas was an “essential step” for a lasting ceasefire.
He said that France was ready to play a role in a “stabilisation force” in Gaza and that Gaza’s post-war government should “completely exclude Hamas but fully integrate the Palestinian Authority”. The authority now partly administers the West Bank.
Guterres expressed hope that the deal would create a “path towards ending the occupation, recognising the right to self-determination of the Palestinian people and achieving a two-state solution”.
Trump, speaking at the Cabinet meeting, said he had no opinion on the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
“I don’t have a view,” he said. “I’m going to go with what they agree to.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
Written by: Adam Rasgon, Bilal Shbair, Liam Stack and Michael Levenson
Photographs by: David Guttenfelder, Saher Alghorra
©2025 THE NEW YORK TIMES