Sawt Falasteen - Israel, Hamas agree deal for Gaza truce, hostage release: source briefed on talks

A US official confirmed the deal.

Pressure to put an end to the fighting had ratcheted up in recent days, as mediators Qatar, Egypt and the United States intensified efforts to cement an agreement.

On Wednesday, a source close to the talks said Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani was "meeting Hamas negotiators in his office for (a) final push" to seal the deal.

A source briefed on the talks later told AFP a "Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal (was) reached following (the) Qatari PM's meeting with Hamas negotiators and separately Israeli negotiators in his office".

The announcement comes after months of failed bids to end the deadliest war in Gaza's history, and days ahead of the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, who immediately hailed the deal before it was officially announced by the White House.

"We have a deal for the hostages in the Middle East. They will be released shortly. Thank you!" Trump said on his Truth Social network.

Trump had warned Hamas of "hell to pay" if it did not free the remaining captives before he took office, and envoys from both his incoming administration and President Joe Biden's outgoing one had been present at the latest negotiations.

Hamas sparked the war in Gaza by staging the deadliest-ever attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, resulting in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.

Palestinian militants also took 251 people hostage during the attack, 94 of whom are still being held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel's retaliatory campaign in Gaza has killed 46,707 people, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory's health ministry that the UN considers reliable.

- Sticking points -

Among the sticking points in successive rounds of talks had been disagreements over the permanence of any ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli troops and the scale of humanitarian aid for the Palestinian territory.

The UN's Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA, facing an Israeli ban on its activities set to take effect later this month, said it will continue providing much-needed aid.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who vowed to crush Hamas in retaliation for the October 7 attack, has opposed any post-war role for the militant group in the territory.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday Israel would ultimately "have to accept reuniting Gaza and the West Bank under the leadership of a reformed" Palestinian Authority, and embrace a "path toward forming an independent Palestinian state".

He added that the "best incentive" to achieve Israeli-Palestinian peace remained the prospect of normalisation between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Palestinian prime minister Mohammed Mustafa, speaking in Oslo, said the latest push for a Gaza ceasefire showed international pressure on Israel "does pay off".

The October 7 attack on communities in southern Israel sparked uproar around the world, as did the scale of the suffering in Gaza from the retaliatory war.

World powers and international organisations have for months pushed for a ceasefire, which up until Wednesday had remained elusive.

B.Mahmoud--SF-PST