How the Israel-Hamas deal came about amid false starts, accusations and deaths of key players

LONDON — A ceasefire deal has been reached between Israel and Hamas, Qatari officials announced Wednesday, putting a pause to more than 15 months of vicious fighting in Gaza, where the Middle East has been “fundamentally changed”, in the words of President Joe Biden.

As talks aimed at ending the Israel-Hamas conflict moved forward in Qatar over the past year, a deal had appeared close at times, but each time one or both sides withdrew from the negotiating table before it could be concluded.

There had been disagreements in the high-tension negotiations over the terms, which have always included Hamas’s return of the remaining hostages and Israel’s military withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

The deal also follows the high-profile assassinations last year of Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar – with Sinwar being one of the key architects of the October 7, 2023 terror attack on Israel – as well as Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. . Israel has taken responsibility for their deaths.

Through it all, the brutal war in Gaza continued in the foreground, its almost daily death toll overshadowing efforts to stop it.

But on Wednesday, officials announced that Israel and Hamas had finally reached a deal that mediators hope will scale back and eventually end the war.

The deal begins on Sunday with the first six-week phase, in which some Israeli forces withdraw to allow more aid to enter and the release of 33 hostages in Gaza, starting with women, children and the elderly, according to Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani. A number of Palestinian prisoners will also be released, he said.

According to the Hamas delegation in Doha, the terms agreed to by Hamas included the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip, including the Philadelphi Corridor, in stages and the handing over of 33 Israeli prisoners, dead and alive, in exchange for the release of 1,000 Palestinian prisoners. The negotiations will be completed in stages for the release of the remaining hostages, according to the Hamas delegation.

For more than a year, the two sides have been locked in a fierce and brutal conflict in Gaza, a bloody contest of attrition set in motion by Hamas’ deadly surprise attacks in southern Israel. More than 1,200 people were killed and another 253 were taken hostage, according to Israeli authorities.

During a year of war between Israel and Hamas, more than 46,000 people have been killed in Gaza and nearly 110,000 injured, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry. That number does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. However, more than 14,000 children and 8,000 women have been killed, according to the Ministry of Health. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it has killed more than 15,000 combatants over the course of the war.

After the new year began, there seemed to be a marked change in sentiment. On Monday, President Biden announced that mediators had reached the “brink” of a deal.

The president and his top diplomats, including foreign minister Antony Blinken, had sought closure during his tenure. They said they wanted the deal reached by January 20, when President-elect Donald Trump takes office again.

Biden laid the groundwork for the agreement in May 2024

A source told ABC News in February 2024 that Israeli officials had agreed to the terms of a deal that would have seen 40 hostages released. Officials from Qatar, Egypt, Israel and the United States had met in Paris to work out the details, which included the release of some Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, the source said at the time.

But that effort appeared to be stalling. By May, negotiations were again at a “critical” stage, White House spokesman John Kirby said at the time. Hamas had been said to agree to a deal, but in the next month the United States said the militant group was reluctant to sign a deal.

Then in July, the talks stalled when Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, a key facilitator of the talks, was killed in Iran. The group’s militant leader, Yahya Sinwar, was killed in Gaza in October, throwing new uncertainty into the process.

In any case, the talks in Doha had been brokered by the Qataris, including Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and the Egyptians with the help of the US and others.

Biden and Qatar’s leader spoke Sunday, according to a White House readout. They both “underscored the urgent need for an agreement” to bring aid to the hostage families.

“We remain hopeful that each step brings us closer to bringing everyone home,” the hostage families’ forum said Tuesday morning.

A deal would also allow for a much-needed “surge” of humanitarian aid to Gaza, Biden had said.

The deal that finally came close was based on what Biden had outlined in May 2024, an arrangement that had been approved unanimously by the United Nations Security Council at the time, the White House said.

“Today we are at a point closest to reaching an agreement on Gaza,” a spokesman for Qatar’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday.

As negotiations continued, sticking points became public

Previous humanitarian pauses repeatedly raised hopes of a lasting ceasefire, but fighting always resumed.

In November 2023, a short ceasefire was concluded. During that ceasefire, more than 100 hostages taken during the October 7 attacks were freed in exchange for the release of 240 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.

Hamas accused Israel of refusing to extend the ceasefire, but Israel and the US said it was Hamas that brought the truce to an end by firing rockets into the Israeli city of Sderot.

Talks aimed at achieving a more lasting peace fell apart but eventually resumed, although Hamas repeatedly claimed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was torpedoing the talks in an attempt to strengthen his domestic political position, which was headed for legal pressure and the opposition’s calls for new elections. The militant group also cited repeated killings of Hamas leaders as well as Iranian and Hezbollah officials in Lebanon, Iran and Syria.

Netanyahu, meanwhile, said the continued deaths of hostages in Hamas captivity indicated the group had no interest in peace. Publicly, the prime minister and most of his top officials remained committed to their goal of “eradicating” Hamas in its entirety.

The Biden administration’s frustration with its inability to bring the two sides to an agreement was often evident, especially as the death toll in Gaza and elsewhere continued to mount.

In September — shortly after Israel remotely detonated explosives hidden in Hezbollah pagers and walkie-talkies across Lebanon — Blinken said mediation efforts had been undermined “again and again.”

Every time the talks made progress, Blinken said, “we’ve seen an event that makes the process more difficult, can derail it.”

A final push from two administrations

Trump’s re-election victory in November added new impetus to the deadlocked negotiations, with Trump and his incoming Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, making clear the president-elect’s desire for a deal before his January 20 inauguration.

Trump threatened that “all hell will break loose in the Middle East” if the remaining hostages in Gaza were not freed when he returned to office. “It won’t be good for Hamas and it won’t be good, frankly, for anybody,” he said.

Witkoff traveled repeatedly to the region in pursuit of a deal, telling reporters that he and Biden’s envoy, Brett McGurk, were “cooperative” in their push for a deal.

The Biden administration, Blinken said, hoped “very much” to get the deal “over the finish line in the next two weeks, the time we have left.”

The negotiators returned to Doha in early January, where high-level representatives – among them Mossad chief David Barnea – attended the talks later as they progressed towards a conclusion.

In the final days of talks, both Israeli and Hamas officials signaled they were prepared to strike a deal, even as far-right elements of Netanyahu’s government again threatened to collapse the ruling coalition in protest of a ceasefire.

ABC News’ Will Gretsky, Joe Simonetti and Shannon K. Kingston contributed to this report.