The China Mail - Israel, Hamas agree to hostage release, ceasefire deal

Israel's cabinet will meet at 1500 GMT to discuss a plan for the release of all hostages, while a deal should be signed later Thursday in Egypt, where indirect negotiations are under way.

The agreement follows a 20-point peace plan for Gaza announced last month by US President Donald Trump, under which Israel should withdraw from Gaza and release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the hostages.

After more than two years of war sparked by Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel, the deal also envisions a surge of aid into Gaza, where the UN has declared famine.

The Israeli army said it was preparing to pull back troops in Gaza, in line with the agreement, while the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the agreement would only take effect with cabinet approval.

Trump's plan also calls for the disarmament of Hamas and for Gaza to be ruled by a transitional authority headed by the US president himself, though these points have yet to be addressed in any discussions.

A source within Hamas told AFP the group will exchange 20 living hostages all at the same time for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners as part of the deal's first phase, with the swap to happen within 72 hours of its implementation.

"The 72-hour countdown will begin only after the agreement is approved in the cabinet meeting, which is expected in the evening hours," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said.

- 'Tears of joy' -

The announcement sparked waves of joy in Gaza, much of which has been flattened by bombardment and most of whose residents have been displaced at least once over the past two years.

"Honestly, when I heard the news, I couldn't hold back. Tears of joy flowed. Two years of bombing, terror, destruction, loss, humiliation, and the constant feeling that we could die at any moment," displaced Palestinian Samer Joudeh told AFP.

In Israel, thousands of people gathered in a Tel Aviv square, many wearing stickers reading: "They're coming back." Others held photos of hostages still in Gaza and waved Israeli and US flags.

"We have been waiting for this day for 734 days. We cannot imagine being anywhere else this morning," said Laurence Ytzhak, 54, a Tel Aviv resident.

The deal is being thrashed out in indirect negotiations behind closed doors in a conference centre in Sharm El-Sheikh, an Egyptian resort town on the Red Sea.

While Arab leaders including Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said they hoped the ceasefire would lead to a permanent solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict, there was no indication the talks were addressing any of the deeper issues at stake.

Still, it was feted by governments around the world, with mediator Qatar saying the deal was the "first phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement, which will lead to ending the war, the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, and the entry of aid".

The hostages are to be freed in exchange for 250 Palestinians sentenced to life imprisonment and 1,700 others arrested by Israel since the war began, according to the Hamas source.

- 'With God's help' -

Netanyahu said he would bring the hostages home "with God's help", while Trump said earlier he may travel to the Middle East this week.

The fast-paced developments came after AFP journalists saw US Secretary of State Marco Rubio interrupt a White House event on Wednesday and hand Trump a note about the progress of negotiations in Egypt.

Hamas has submitted a list of Palestinian prisoners it wants released from Israeli jails in the first phase of the truce.

In exchange, Hamas is to free the remaining 47 hostages, both alive and dead, who were seized in October 2023.

The talks were taking place under the shadow of the second anniversary of the Hamas attack, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Militants also took 251 people hostage into Gaza, where 47 remain, including 25 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel's retaliatory campaign in Gaza has killed at least 67,183 people, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, figures the United Nations considers credible.

The data does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but indicates that more than half of the dead are women and children.

Gaza's civil defence agency, a rescue force operating under Hamas's authority, reported several strikes on the territory after the announcement of the deal.

- Protests, prisoners -

Pressure to end the war has escalated massively in recent weeks, and a UN probe last month accused Israel of genocide, a charge the government rejected as "distorted and false".

Hamas has also been accused of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity.

One key to the negotiations was the names of the Palestinian prisoners Hamas pushed for.

High-profile inmate Marwan Barghouti -- from Hamas's rival, the Fatah movement -- is among those the group wanted to see released, according to Egyptian state-linked media.

Hamas's top negotiator, Khalil al-Hayya, also said the group wants "guarantees from President Trump and the sponsor countries that the war will end once and for all".

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