What is in the Hamas-Israel ceasefire and hostage release agreement

CNN
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The first phase of the agreement reached between Hamas and Israel on Wednesday includes a pause in the war and the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza and of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli custody.

But more details and the timeline for the full deal remain unclear and will be key to its success going forward.

The agreement represents the second ceasefire since the war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas militants launched an attack on Israel, killing more than 1,200 people and taking 250 hostages, according to Israeli authorities. The military offensive launched by Israel in response has killed at least 46,645 Palestinians and injured more than 110,000 in Gaza, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

The first ceasefire, in November 2023, lasted about a week. During that period, 105 hostages held by Hamas – primarily women, children and the elderly – were released, while Israel released around 240 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons.

The current ceasefire agreement is set to develop in three distinct phases.

Phase one is expected to start sometime on Sunday and last for 6 weeks. This phase will include a ceasefire, a withdrawal of Israeli troops, an exchange of hostages and prisoners, and an influx of humanitarian aid to Gaza. American hostages held in Gaza will be released in the first phase, US President Joe Biden said on Wednesday.

The second and third phases are less developed and the details will be decided during the first phase, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said in a briefing on Wednesday.

“We will continue to do everything we can, everything possible with our partners, to ensure that this agreement is implemented as agreed,” he said, noting that mediators had spent 411 days working on the terms of the agreement. “And this agreement will hopefully bring us peace at the end of it. I think it all depends on the parties to the agreement acting in good faith in that agreement to make sure the agreement doesn’t break down.”

Hamas hailed the deal Wednesday as a “decisive turning point.” Israel’s cabinet must still vote to approve the deal before it enters into force.

Here’s a closer look at what’s in the current ceasefire agreement and the steps forward.

Ceasefire, Israeli withdrawal and aid

The ceasefire agreement would give the people of Gaza the first reprieve from war in more than a year, and only the second since the Israeli bombardment began.

The Israeli military will begin withdrawing from population centers in the first phase but will remain along the Gaza-Egypt border, known as the Philadelphi Corridor, an Israeli official said on Wednesday. Israel will also maintain a buffer zone inside Gaza along the border with Israel, the size of which has been one of the last sticking points in the negotiations.

The deal is expected to allow Palestinian civilians to return to their homes across Gaza, including in the devastated north. There would be a massive influx of humanitarian aid to the Strip, where residents have long faced dire humanitarian conditions, Al Thani said.

Gaza’s wounded will also be allowed to leave the enclave to receive treatment, while aid will be allowed into the strip of hospitals and bakeries undergoing repairs, he said.

Which hostages and prisoners will be released

As part of the first phase, Hamas and its allied militant groups will release 33 hostages in the first phase, including civilian and female soldiers, children, the elderly and the sick in exchange for an unknown number of Palestinian prisoners, Al Thani said.

According to the agreement, American hostages held by Hamas “will be part of this phase one hostage release,” Biden said.

Hamas and its allies are holding 94 people taken from Israel as of October 7, 2023. Of those, at least 34 of them are dead, according to the Israeli government, although the true number is expected to be higher. 81 of the hostages are men and 13 women. Eighty-four are from Israel, while eight are from Thailand, one is from Nepal and one is from Tanzania.

Hamas has held four more hostages since 2014, at least two of whom have died.

Israel holds at least 10,000 Palestinian prisoners, according to the Commission of Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society – although that number does not include an unknown number of Palestinians captured in Gaza. The number of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel includes 3,376 people held under administrative detention, meaning they have had no public charges against them or face trial, including 95 children and 22 women.

The second and third phases must be negotiated

The second and third phases of the ceasefire are still to be negotiated during the first sentence. Those negotiations would begin on the 16th day after the implementation of the agreement, according to an Israeli official.

The ceasefire is not guaranteed to continue beyond the first phase of the agreement. However, the official said Israel is eager to “bring all our hostages home” and will begin negotiations to enter the second phase of the agreement in good faith, which could lead to the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.

Biden said the second and third phases of the war will include the release of additional hostages and the beginning of Gaza’s reconstruction.

“When phase two begins, there will be an exchange for the release of the remaining live hostages, including male soldiers, and all remaining Israeli forces will be withdrawn from Gaza, and the temporary ceasefire will become permanent,” he said.

“And finally, during phase three, any last remnants of hostages who have been killed will be returned to their families and a major reconstruction plan for Gaza will begin.”

In response to a question from CNN’s Becky Anderson, Al Thani said the United States, Egypt and Qatar have put in place a mechanism to ensure that none of the parties violates the ceasefire.

“It will be located in Cairo and this follow-up will actually be a joint team from the three countries that will monitor the implementation of the agreement,” he said. “Everything has been agreed and will hopefully be in place on the day of the execution.”

Al Thani said this ceasefire agreement was different from the November 2023 one that lasted only one week.

“The agreement in November was unfortunately very transaction-oriented. So it was like day by day,” he said. “But this agreement has a clear mechanism for the first 42 days and there is a clear mechanism to negotiate phases two and three and all the details of the agreements will be published in the next few days when the details are finalised.”