According to U.S. and Israeli officials, a hostage and ceasefire deal has been reached between Israel and Hamas. Brokered by the United States, Qatar, and Egypt, the agreement includes the release of 33 women, children, elderly, and wounded hostages (at least two of them, Keith Siegel and Sagui Dekel-Chen, are Americans) in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Additional soldiers and other male hostages are expected to be released later on; the Israeli government believes there are 98 other hostages, including several U.S. citizens remaining in Gaza. Besides the ceasefire and the hostage exchange, the deal will also allow for a major influx of international humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip and mandate a limited withdrawal of Israeli troops from the area.
On Wednesday, American and Israeli leaders remained cautiously optimistic. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CNN that he expects the total ceasefire, hostage exchange, and humanitarian aid surge to happen within the first week of the agreement, while President-elect Donald Trump took to the social network Truth Social to announce the deal: “We have a deal for the hostages in the Middle East. They will be released shortly. Thank you!”. After some last-minute disputes on Thursday between Israel and Hamas, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Friday that his security cabinet had finally voted to approve the deal, which is expected to go into effect on Sunday.
Live updates on this story are being provided by several news agencies, such as AP News and The New York Times.