Gaza ceasefire plan live: Israel says it is preparing to pull back troops; living hostages could be released within days | Gaza
Israel army says preparing to pull back troops in Gaza as part of deal
The Israeli military said on Thursday it was preparing to pull back troops in Gaza after Israel and Hamas agreed a ceasefire deal to free the remaining hostages.
Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports that the military said in a statement:
The [Israel Defense Forces] IDF has begun operational preparations ahead of the implementation of the agreement.
As part of this process, preparations and a combat protocol are under way to transition to adjusted deployment lines soon.
Key events
Israel’s security cabinet will meet on Thursday afternoon to approve a plan to secure the release of all hostages held in Gaza, a government spokesperson said.
The security cabinet will meet at 5pm local time (2pm GMT/3pm BST), government spokesperson Shosh Badrosian told journalists.
The security cabinet meeting will be followed by a full government meeting at 6pm local time (3pm GMT/4pm BST).
Reports of an impending pause in hostilities in Gaza “signals a hopeful reprieve on the horizon for families and children – but must be a turning point to secure a definitive ceasefire”, according to Save the Children.
Inger Ashing, chief executive of Save the Children International, said:
Today we watch with hope that a long overdue reprieve may be on the horizon for the children of Gaza. With bombs and bullets silenced, families will be able to think to the future, of rebuilding and recovering.
People deprived of their liberty, including hostages and some of the many detained Palestinians, will be able to return to their families.
We dare to hope that this step provides a collective chance to end the unconscionable suffering that has gone on for far too long.
But safety for children requires more than words, it requires work, and while today’s announcements are a crucial first step for children’s survival – children who have been failed for too long as the world has watched – this survival will only be secured if it is followed by a definitive and lasting ceasefire.
Peacekeeping troops, a legal framework and a no longer dangerous Hamas are all necessary in the future as part of a plan for the Gaza Strip and will be discussed among international partners in Paris, said German foreign minister Johann Wadephul on Thursday.
“Humanitarian and medical aid must now reach Gaza quickly; the people need prospects for reconstruction,” he said on social media platform X.
Turkey will take part in efforts to monitor the implementation of the ceasefire in Gaza agreed by Israel and Hamas, president Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday.
“God willing, we as Turkey will take part in the mission force that will monitor the agreement’s implementation in the field,” he said in a speech in Ankara, adding that Turkey will contribute to the reconstruction of Gaza.
Hani Askari, who works for Christian Aid’s partner, Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, has told the charity he “can’t find the emotions to fit” as Israel and Hamas agreed to ‘first phase’ of a Gaza ceasefire plan to pause fighting and release some hostages and prisoners.
“Part of it is relief and the other part is a heavy ache,” the 35-year-old who is displaced from northern Gaza and currently living in Deir Al-Balah, said. He added:
There’s a sea of pain that doesn’t get traded or released.
Yes, hope flickers for a moment but the exhaustion, the loss, and the fear will still sit deep inside.
William Christou
Reporting from Hostage Square, Tel Aviv:
Hundreds of people are gathered in Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, where the mood is festive. The yellow stickers which have so long bore the number of days hostages have been in captivity were replaced by stickers with a simple phrase: “They’re returning”.
Israelis the country over have come to celebrate the news that at noon, Israel and Hamas signed a deal which would see the 20 remaining living hostages held in Gaza would be returned in 72 hours – with the remains of 28 repatriated as soon possible. In return, nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners would be released from Israeli jails and Israeli troops would withdraw from 47% of the Gaza strip.
“I’m feeling fantastic, it feels like I’m in a dream. Two years of this, who would have thought that it would finally happen?,” said Margo Orton, a retired nursery teacher who was holding both an Israeli and an American flag.
The jubiliation is plain to see, a band plays while crowds sing a song calling for the hostages to be returned. A man blows the shofar, a ram’s horn, which symbolises a hope for the future, while members of Israeli parliament come to pay their respects.
Many Israelis attribute the release of hostages to US president Donald Trump, whose 20-point plan is now being negotiated in Egypt. Pictures of Trump were hoisted by the crowd while some attendees wore the iconic ‘Make America Great Again’ hat.
“This is Trump, this is all Trump. We thank him for this deal,” said Sharon Kalderon, whose brother-in-law and niece and nephew were held as hostages by Hamas before being released during a previous ceasefire in February.
While the first phase of Trump’s plan has been agreed upon, the thornier, long-term parts of the plan still need to be negotiated. Large gaps remain between Israel and Hamas on the issue of disarming the Palestinian militant group and who will take part in the transitional authority which will rule over Gaza, and how the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza will take place.
A lasting peace in Gaza will need to see the gaps between Israel and Gaza on those points be narrowed. To some attendees of the rally in Tel Aviv however, what happens after the release of the hostages was not their concern.
“I know Israel will be very strong even after the war, they will catch every single [member] of Hamas, you will see. They will carry on in every country to take them down,” said Orton.
Helena Smith
Cyprus and Greece, the two European Union states closest to the Middle East, have welcomed the announcement of the first phase of a ceasefire agreement that would end the conflict in Gaza and release all remaining hostages, whether living or dead.
Cyprus’s foreign minister Constantinos Kombos responded to the news saying full implementation of the deal was “absolutely vital”.
He said:
I commend the US for its leadership and continued diplomatic efforts in this direction
We reaffirm the urgency of lasting peace and security for both Israelis and Palestinians alike, based on the two-state solution. Cyprus commends the US’ leadership and mediating efforts.
The Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis also welcomed the breakthrough, calling it “a step toward hope and stability,” in a post on X. He wrote:
All parties must fully uphold the terms. Greece reaffirms its commitment to a secure and peaceful Middle East and is ready to play its part.
Hamas will release 20 living hostages in one go as part of the first phase of the deal, according to a source close to the Hamas negotiating team, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Israel will release nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners: 250 among those serving life sentences, and 1,700 others detained since the start of the war, a top Hamas official within the group told AFP, on condition of anonymity.
There has been no indication that Israel will disclose the names of those set for release, reports AFP.
The office of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the agreement to secure the release of hostages would only take effect after receiving cabinet approval. Netanyahu’s office said:
Contrary to Arab media reports, the 72-hour countdown will begin only after the agreement is approved in the cabinet meeting, which is expected in the evening hours.
Of the 251 people abducted during Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack, militants still hold 47 in Gaza, including 25 the Israeli military says are dead.
Turkey will take part in a joint taskforce – alongside Israel, the United States, Qatar and Egypt – that will be established to locate the bodies of deceased hostages in Gaza whose locations are unknown, a senior Turkish official said on Thursday.
The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) on Thursday welcomed the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas and said it was ready to flood Gaza with desperately needed food.
News that Israel and Hamas have agreed to the first phase of a Gaza ceasefire “is a huge relief”, Unrwa commissioner general Philippe Lazzarini said on X.
The agreement follows a 20-point peace plan for Gaza announced last month by US president Donald Trump, under which Israel should withdraw from the Gaza Strip and release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for hostages.
This “will bring respite to people who survived the worst bombardment, displacement, loss and grief for two long years”, Lazzarini said, hailing that “after their excruciating ordeal, hostages and Palestinian detainees will finally join their families”.
The Unrwa commissioner general said his agency had “food, medicines [and] other basic supplies ready to go to Gaza”, where the UN has said famine is spreading. He added:
We have enough to provide food for the entire population for the coming three months.
Israel has accused Unrwa of bias and of being “riddled with Hamas operatives”, and earlier this year barred it from operating on Israeli territory.
Unrwa has said it still has 12,000 staff inside Gaza, and Lazzarini insisted on Thursday that the agency’s teams there were “crucial for the implementation of this agreement, including to provide basic services like healthcare and education”.
“There are over 660,000 children who are eagerly waiting to go back to school,” he said, stressing that Unrwa teachers stand ready to help them fulfil that”. Lazzarini said:
I call on all member states to support Unrwa to do its work to assist people in need in the coming critical period.
The Kremlin on Thursday welcomed a Gaza ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas but said the key would be to see how the deal was implemented, reports Reuters.
Israel and Hamas agreed on Wednesday to the first phase of US president Donald Trump’s plan for Gaza, a ceasefire and hostage release deal that could be a first step toward ending the two-year-old war.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov was quoted by Interfax as saying:
We certainly support these efforts. It cannot but cause general satisfaction that a ceasefire in Gaza is already being established. All these efforts can be welcomed.
We hope that the signatures will be delivered today, and then actions will follow to implement the agreements reached.
Russian president Vladimir Putin and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed the situation in the Middle East, including Trump’s plan to end the Gaza conflict in a phone call on Monday, reports Reuters.
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said that Trump’s plan was “the best solution we have on the table” and “gave hope”, though it mentioned “statehood” in rather vague terms and not in regard to the West Bank.
Lavrov said that the west shared responsibility for stalling United Nations decisions on Palestinian statehood which he said “would come later.” Lavrov said:
Our western colleagues must also bear their share of responsibility for having played a key role in stalling the implementation of the decisions on creating an independent Palestine on the West Bank and in Gaza.
The Palestinian issue, which remains unresolved for nearly 80 years now, is the main factor fueling extremism in the Middle East.
Seperately, the United Arab Emirates welcomed on Thursday the agreement on the first phase of a Gaza ceasefire framework, urging all parties to abide by its terms, the foreign ministry said.
Gaza aid plan will fail without full access for humanitarian groups, warns Norwegian Refugee Council
The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), one of the largest independent aid groups working in Gaza, said US president Donald Trump’s plan to increase aid to starving people as part of a ceasefire will fail unless all aid groups can resume operations.
Jan Egeland, NRC head, told Reuters in an interview via video link from Oslo:
The desperation is deeper and the exhaustion is greater than anyone can imagine inside Gaza … It’s not enough with some UN agencies and some few NGOs.
If not, the Trump peace plan will not succeed … We don’t have time for more bureaucratic obstacles.
Israelis and Palestinians on Thursday rejoiced after Trump announced that a ceasefire and hostage deal was reached under the first phase of his plan to end the two-year war in Gaza.
Egeland said the NRC, among other international NGOs, had been blocked from bringing aid into Gaza since Israel lifted its 11-week blockade on supplies in May.
Israel has said there is no limit on quantities of food aid entering Gaza and accuses Hamas of stealing aid, accusations the Palestinian militant group denies. Cogat, the arm of the Israeli military that oversees aid flows into Gaza, did not immediately reply to Reuters request for comment.
Trump’s 20-point plan includes allowing “full aid” to be immediately sent into the Gaza Strip, and for water infrastructure and bakeries to be restored in the territory, where some areas are experiencing famine.
The NRC is resubmitting a request to get hundreds of truckloads of lifesaving aid into Gaza, which had been denied access for months.
Egeland called for all border crossings to be re-opened, after the closure of the Zikim and Allenby crossings and emphasised the urgent need for tents and tarpaulins to shelter Palestinians in Gaza as winter approaches.
Reuters has some reaction to news of the ceasefire plan from on the ground in Gaza and Israel.
“Thank God for the ceasefire, the end of bloodshed and killing,” Abdul Majeed Abd Rabbo told the news agency, from Khan Younis in southern Gaza. He added:
I am not the only one happy, all of the Gaza Strip is happy, all the Arab people, all of the world is happy with the ceasefire and the end of bloodshed.
Einav Zaugauker, whose son Matan is one of the Israeli hostages held in Gaza, rejoiced in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square. “I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe, I can’t explain what I’m feeling … it’s crazy,” she said, speaking in the red glow of a celebratory flare. She added:
What do I say to him? What do I do? Hug and kiss him. Just tell him that I love him, that’s it. And to see his eyes sink into mine … It’s overwhelming – this is the relief.
Still, Gaza residents said Israeli strikes on three Gaza City suburbs continued overnight and in the morning hours of Thursday. Reuters reports that lines of smoke rose over Shejaia, Tuffah and Zeitoun in the early hours of Thursday, though there were no immediate reports of casualties.
The Gaza health ministry said at least nine Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire in the past 24 hours.
Foreign ministers from Germany, Spain, Italy, the UK, Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Jordan along with the EU’s chief diplomat Kaja Kallas have been invited to a summit in Paris today convened by French foreign minister Jean Noël Barrot to discuss the Gaza ceasefire plan.
Press statements are expected at 4.30pm CET (2.30pm GMT/3.30pm BST).
Israel says Gaza deal to take effect only after receiving cabinet approval
The office of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that an agreement to secure the release of hostages in Gaza will take effect only after receiving cabinet approval, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Netanyahu’s office said in a statement:
Contrary to Arab media reports, the 72-hour countdown will begin only after the agreement is approved in the cabinet meeting, which is expected in the evening hours.
US president Donald Trump announced that Israel and Hamas have agreed to the first phase of a Gaza deal involving the exchange of hostages and Palestinian prisoners, with the swap to occur within 72 hours of the deal’s implementation.
Saudi Arabia on Thursday welcomed the Gaza ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas and said it hoped it would lead to peace after two years of devastating war.
Saudi Arabia hopes “this important step will lead to urgent action to alleviate the humanitarian suffering … achieve a full Israeli withdrawal, restore security and stability, and initiate practical steps to achieve a just and comprehensive peace based on the two-state solution”, a foreign ministry statement said.
