The militant group Hamas is hailing its ceasefire with Israel as the result of “the legendary resilience of our great Palestinian people and our valiant resistance in the Gaza Strip.”
“The agreement is a milestone in the conflict with the enemy, on the path to achieving our people’s goals of liberation and return,” the statement said.
Khalil al-Hayyah, the acting head of Hamas’ political bureau and chief negotiator, said the ceasefire deal represents a “new phase” which will focus on rebuilding Gaza.
“We are able — with God’s help first — and then with the help of our brothers, siblings, loved ones and supporters, to rebuild Gaza again, alleviate the pain, heal the wounds,” he said in a speech shared online by Hamas.
He also congratulated the hundreds of Palestinian prisoners who will be released in the first phase of the deal: “Our heroic prisoners have an appointment with the dawn of freedom.”
Voters of Tomorrow, a Gen Z voter engagement group in the U.S., said Wednesday’s ceasefire deal is overdue and the war in Gaza had a profound effect on their generation.
“Gen Z, who has led the push for a ceasefire, will never forget the images of lifeless bodies and miles of rubble we’ve seen for over a year,” the organization said in a statement.
The group held Netanyahu responsible for his role in the bombing and famine that have killed thousands in Gaza, as well as Hamas for the “senseless violence on October 7th.”
Palestinians celebrate the announcement of a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians chanted “Hamas!” in the hours after the Gaza ceasefire was announced Wednesday evening.
Associated Press video shows the men and women in the city of Ramallah, some holding flags. They also called out the name of Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader who masterminded the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that sparked the war and was killed last year in Gaza.
The marchers also have chanted, “God is great.” They are stopping traffic in places, and security is nearby.
The West Bank, administered in part by the Palestinian Authority, has seen an increase in deadly unrest since the war in Gaza began.
The U.N. human rights chief says people responsible for killings of civilians and other rights violations committed in the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel and subsequent killings across Gaza over more than 15 months must be held to account.
Volker Türk also said human rights must be at the forefront of any reconstruction of Gaza after Wednesday’s announcement of a cease-fire between Israel and the militant group Hamas in the strip.
“The right of victims to full reparations must be upheld,” said Türk, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, in a statement. “There is no true way forward without honest truth-telling and accountability on all sides.”
The top U.N. humanitarian official for Gaza, Sigrid Kaag, has been discussing with senior Israeli and Palestinian officials how to increase desperately needed aid after a ceasefire takes effect.
The U.N. humanitarian office reported Tuesday that “Israeli authorities continue to deny U.N.-led efforts to reach people with vital assistance,” said U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric on Tuesday.
He said U.N. efforts are “seriously constrained” by fighting, armed looting of aid convoys, Israeli access restrictions, road damage, unexplored ordnance, fuel shortages and a lack of telecommunications equipment.
Palestinians celebrate the announcement of a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A Palestinian man in central Gaza, Haitham Doghmosh, summed up the mixed reactions of relief and loss after the ceasefire was announced.
“Thank God that the agreement has been reached and that we will return to our homes, to our families, and to our loved ones,” he said, however, “It is true that our homes are gone, and our loved ones, our brothers, and our families are gone.”
In the city of Deir al-Balah, there were pounding drums, clapping and celebratory gunfire. Excited men hung out the windows of honking cars.
Biden says his administration and Trump’s team were “speaking as one” on the Gaza deal. “This deal was developed and negotiated under my administration,” he said, “but its terms will be implemented for the most part by the next administration.”
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has hammered home warnings that there better be a Gaza hostage deal by his Jan. 20 inauguration or “all hell would break out.”
Hamas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu both seem to have been listening.
Netanyahu’s agreement to a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal Wednesday “ironically shows how effective actual pressure can be in changing Israeli government behavior,” said Nancy Okail, head of the U.S.-based Center for International Policy.
She accused Netanyahu of long stalling such a deal, and faulted Biden for not raising the stakes for Netanyahu in his continued objections to proposed terms.
Trump declared in a social media post last month “there will be ALL HELL TO PAY” if the hostages weren’t released before the U.S. Inauguration Day.
“It will not be good for Hamas and it will not be good, frankly, for anyone,” he told reporters this month, underscoring the deadline.
President Joe Biden announced Wednesday that a Gaza ceasefire deal ‘has been reached’ between Israel and Hamas. Biden said the six-week ceasefire will allow for negotiations to bring about a permanent end to the war and bring American hostages home.
Isaac Herzog made the appeal in a nationally televised speech.
“I strengthen the hands of the prime minister and the negotiating team in their efforts to bring about a deal and call on the Israeli government to approve it when it is brought before them,” Herzog said.
Herzog’s position is largely ceremonial and is meant to serve as a unifying force and moral compass for the country. Netanyahu’s Cabinet must approve the deal for it to go into effect.
“The vice president and I cannot wait to welcome them home,” Biden said in remarks at the White House with Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken by his side.
The six-week ceasefire will allow for negotiations to bring about a permanent end to the war, Biden said. He added if negotiations take longer than six weeks the ceasefire would continue as long as talks continue.
Biden noted that his administration negotiated the deal but that Trump’s team will soon be charged with making sure it’s implemented. “For the past few days, we have been speaking as one team,” Biden said.
Implementation of the agreement could begin Sunday, when the first group of hostages may be freed, according to a senior U.S. official involved in the talks.
Negotiations intensified over the last four days, according to the official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Trump’s Mideast envoy, Steve Witkoff, had joined Biden’s Mideast adviser, Brett McGurk, in Doha for talks in recent days. The official described McGurk and Witkoff’s coordination as a fruitful partnership.
The U.S., Qatari and Egyptian negotiators along with Israel’s team nearby worked until the wee hours Wednesday morning, just a floor above where the Hamas negotiators were also at work, the senior official said.
Later Wednesday, Hamas made several last second demands, but “we held very firm” and Hamas eventually agreed to the terms of the deal, the U.S. official said.
President Joe Biden cheered the announcement of the hostage deal, and credited “dogged and painstaking American diplomacy” for landing the agreement, while claiming a measure of credit in the breakthrough moment in the 15-month war.
“I laid out the precise contours of this plan on May 31, 2024, after which it was endorsed unanimously by the UN Security Council,” Biden added in a statement. “My diplomacy never ceased in their efforts to get this done.”
Biden’s comments came not long after President-elect Donald Trump in a social media post claimed his election victory is what brought about the deal.
“This EPIC ceasefire agreement could have only happened as a result of our Historic Victory in November, as it signaled to the entire World that my Administration would seek Peace and negotiate deals to ensure the safety of all Americans, and our Allies,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “I am thrilled American and Israeli hostages will be returning home to be reunited with their families and loved ones.”
Qatar’s prime minister on Wednesday announced a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, pausing the devastating 15-month war in Gaza and clearing the way for dozens of Israeli hostages to go home.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani announced the agreement in the Qatari capital of Doha, the site of weeks of painstaking negotiations. He said the deal would go into effect on Sunday.
There was still no confirmation from Israel.
With a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas tantalizingly close, families of hostages in the Gaza Strip are afraid to get their hopes up and agonizing over the unknown.
“These days are horrible for us,” Yafit Zailer said Wednesday, breaking down into sobs over the thought of her relatives — Shiri and Yarden Bibas and their two small children, Ariel and Kfir — being released after 15 months of captivity.
“I want to know already if they’re coming back,” Zailer said. “I want to know already if they’re OK or not. I want to hold my cousin in my arms and celebrate the biggest celebration.”
▶ Read more about reaction to the news of a ceasefire deal
People celebrated in the streets of Deir al-Balah in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday following the announcement by mediators that a ceasefire deal had been reached between Israel and Hamas.
The families of the seven American hostages still held in Gaza expressed their deep gratitude for news that Israel and Hamas reached a ceasefire and hostage deal Wednesday.
“The coming days and weeks will be just as painful for our families as the entirety of our loved ones’ horrific ordeals,” the families’ statement said. “That is why we ask all parties to stay committed to this agreement, every phase until it is fully implemented and everyone has been returned.”
Over six weeks, 33 of the nearly 100 hostages are to be reunited with their loved ones after months in captivity with no contact with the outside world, although it’s unclear if all are alive.
Hakan Fidan spoke at a news conference Wednesday in Ankara shortly before mediators confirmed a deal had been reached.
“What happened? Fifty thousand people, mostly women and children, were massacred, human dignity was trampled and the international system emerged as dead and buried,” he said.
Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire deal to pause the devastating war in the Gaza Strip, multiple officials announced Wednesday, raising the possibility of winding down the deadliest and most destructive fighting between the bitter enemies. Three officials from the U.S. and one from Hamas confirmed that a deal had been reached, while the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said final details were still being ironed out.
The health ministry said the strike occurred Wednesday in Jenin, an epicenter of Israeli-Palestinian violence in recent years. An airstrike in Jenin on Tuesday killed six people. The Israeli military has carried out frequent raids into Jenin targeting militants, often igniting gunbattles.
The Western-backed Palestinian Authority has also been carrying out a rare crackdown on militants in Jenin in recent weeks. The West Bank has seen a surge in violence since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza triggered the war there.
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the headquarters in Tel Aviv, calling for a deal to be completed. Many held posters of hostages held by Hamas; others hoisted candles in the air.
Relatives and friends of people killed and abducted by Hamas and taken into Gaza, react to the ceasefire announcement as they take part in a demonstration in Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
As the deal was announced, the area that’s become known as “hostages square” in Tel Aviv was calm, with some people unaware that it had gone through.
Sharone lifschitz, whose father Oded is being held hostage, told the AP by phone that she was stunned and grateful but won’t believe it until she sees them come home.
“I can’t wait to see them coming back to their families I’m so desperate to see them if by some miracle my father has survived,” she said. Now it’s up to everyone not to sabotage it, she added.
Some people whose friends are being held hostage said they won’t trust the deal until all the hostages returned.
“I don’t trust Hamas, don’t trust them at all to bring them back,” said Vered Froner. She and her mother hid in a safe room for 17 hours in Nachal Oz kibbutz during the Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas.
She said she’d prefer to have had all of the hostages return at once rather than a phased approach.
In the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, large crowds of cheering people have taken to the streets. Car horns are honking.
Palestinians celebrate the announcement of a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Sen. Jim Risch interrupted a line of questioning Wednesday during Marco Rubio’s confirmation hearing for secretary of state to share the news that a ceasefire deal had been reached between Israel and Hamas.
“Before we all celebrate, though, obviously we’re going to want to see how that is executed,” Risch said. Rubio, who has been in the hearing the duration of the latest negotiations, said he had hoped that it would come to that resolution.
President-elect Donald Trump, whose incoming Mideast envoy had joined Biden’s Mideast adviser Brett McGurk for the talks in Doha, celebrated the soon-to-be-announced agreement in a posting on his Truth Social social media platform.
“WE HAVE A DEAL FOR THE HOSTAGES IN THE MIDDLE EAST. THEY WILL BE RELEASED SHORTLY. THANK YOU!” Trump wrote.
One official said that it was expected that the ceasefire would be implemented in coming days. All three requested anonymity to discuss the contours of the deal before the official announcement by mediators in Doha.
President Joe Biden was preparing to address the breakthrough agreement later Thursday, officials said.
Dozens of displaced Palestinians in the central Gaza Strip lined up at a charity kitchen on Wednesday as they awaited word of a ceasefire.
“Even though it has already been bombed, at least we return to our land. The moment a ceasefire takes hold, there is a psychological relief, and you return to the land you used to live on better than being in humiliation,” said Aman Abu Jarad, a displaced woman from Beit Hanoun.
“We would ululate as we go back home safely, but our homes have been bombed and everything is gone. Where do we go?” said Kifaiya Al-Attar, a displaced woman from Beit Lahiya.
Israel announced late Wednesday that Hamas had tried to change agreed-upon understandings for security arrangements along Gaza’s border with Egypt. It strongly rejected the proposals.
Qatar’s prime minister, who has been mediating the talks, met separately with Hamas and Israeli delegations, and shortly afterwards, the dispute was resolved, the Qatari official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss behind-the-scenes negotiations.
The Hamas official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the matter was resolved.
