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Gaza War: Israel, Hamas agree to ceasefire, Biden hails deal

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A ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel was reached on Wednesday, following more than 15 months of extraordinary bloodshed and violence in Gaza.

The hard-won agreement will also free scores of hostages held in Gaza, as well as Palestinians in Israeli jails, bringing the first real break in violence since a weeklong truce expired Dec. 1, 2023.

The deal according to Qatar’s prime minister and foreign minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, whose country hosted weeks of intense negotiations, News Band Newspaper understand, will take effect Sunday.

The agreement, which requires ratification by a vote of Israel’s cabinet, follows an intense period of meetings and calls over the past several days, including by Biden to the leaders of Israel and mediating partners Qatar and Egypt.

Mr. Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, reportedly played a prominent role, meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the weekend to express Trump’s interest in attaining a deal before his official inauguration on Monday.

Under the phased agreement, Israeli forces would withdraw to the Gaza border, allowing displaced Palestinians to return to their homes and for the transfer of hostages and prisoners.

Large amounts of humanitarian aid would be shipped to the enclave and hospitals and health care centers would be rebuilt.

Hamas, meanwhile, will release 33 hostages in exchange for 100 Palestinian prisoners with life sentences, according to a portion of the deal shared by Hamas militants.

Israel will also release 1,000 Palestinian prisoners who were not involved in the Oct. 7 attacks and an unspecified number of Palestinian prisoners will also be released abroad or in Gaza.

Biden spokesman claims no pressure was needed on Israel to secure the deal.

Meanwhile, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller has denied that pressure was mounted on Israel to secure a ceasefire and hostage release agreement.

The stance contradicts what senior Arab diplomats and two other sources familiar with the negotiations told The Times of Israel on Tuesday, revealing that a “tense” meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President-elect Donald Trump’s Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff led to a breakthrough in the talks after the latter leaned on the premier to make the compromises needed for an agreement.

The two senior Arab diplomats according to The Times of Israel said that the level of pressure exerted on Netanyahu by Trump’s envoy in that one meeting had been absent in the countless conversations that Biden officials held with the Prime Minister throughout the war.

Asked about such reporting during a press briefing, Miller insists, “It is not because of pressure that we have seen brought to bear by any party on the government of Israel the last few days that has gotten us to a deal.”

Miller said the breakthrough was because of Hamas’s weakened and isolated position and that its fighters “needed a break” from the fighting.

He acknowledges that the Trump team has been helpful in the effort but denies that pressure from the president-elect and his team played a key role in securing the agreement.

President Biden hailed cease-fire deal.

President Joe Biden has welcomed the cease-fire agreement.

He said a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas will “halt the fighting in Gaza” and boost “much-needed” humanitarian assistance to Palestinians.

In an address on Wednesday, the outgoing US president also said the agreement will mean Israeli hostages being held in the territory will “soon” return to their families.

“Today, after many months of intensive diplomacy by the United States, along with Egypt and Qatar, Israel and Hamas have reached a ceasefire and hostage deal. This deal will halt the fighting in Gaza, surge much-needed humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians, and reunite the hostages with their families after more than 15 months in captivity,” Biden said during the address.

“I laid out the precise contours of this plan on May 31, 2024, after which it was endorsed unanimously by the UN Security Council. It is the result not only of the extreme pressure that Hamas has been under and the changed regional equation after a ceasefire in Lebanon and the weakening of Iran – but also of dogged and painstaking American diplomacy. My diplomacy never ceased in their efforts to get this done,” he added.

Moreover, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has revealed again that the final details of the ceasefire-hostage release agreement between Israel and Hamas are still being hammered out in Doha.

An official statement from Netanyahu on the deal outrightly stated that it will only be released “after the final details of the agreement are completed, which are being worked on at this time,” the PMO said.

Also, Benjamin Netanyahu who spoke with Donald Trump thanked him for his assistance in advancing the release of the Isreali hostages and for helping the Jewish nation bring an end to the suffering of dozens of hostages and their families.

The Prime Minister made it clear during phone conversation with Mr. Trump that he is committed to returning all of the hostages however he can, and commended the President-elect for his remarks that the US would work with Israel to ensure that Gaza will never be a haven for terrorism.

He also revealed that the two have decided to meet in Washington soon in order to discuss this and other important issues.

Prime Minister Netanyahu who also spoke with US outgoing President Joe Biden thanked him as well for his assistance in advancing the hostages deal.