Israel and Hamas have reached a deal to pause the war in Gaza and release hostages, Qatari and Hamas officials said Wednesday, according to reports from Reuters and The Associated Press.
It comes more than 15 months into a deadly campaign that has killed more than 46,000 Palestinians in the war-torn enclave.
This is a breaking news update. A previous version of this story follows below.
Mediators gave Israel and Hamas a final draft of an agreement on Monday, an official briefed on the negotiations told Reuters, after a midnight “breakthrough” in talks attended by envoys of both outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden and president-elect Donald Trump.
Mediators had met repeatedly in recent months but intensified their work in hopes of finalizing an agreement before Biden leaves the White House on Monday.
In the past, hostages were said to be one key sticking point in the negotiations. Israel insisted on retaining a military presence in Gaza, but Hamas refused to release captives until the troops pulled out.
Canada has long called for a ceasefire, the return of hostages and an urgent flow of humanitarian aid. The country joined Australia and New Zealand in July to demand a ceasefire, saying the countries were still “unequivocal in our condemnation of Hamas” but that civilians in Gaza “cannot be made to pay the price.”
Several officials say they are on the cusp of reaching a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. The agreement is said to include the return of some hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and potentially see Israel pull back its forces in Gaza.
Last year, Canada also voted in favour of a non-binding United Nations resolution calling for a humanitarian pause — representing a shift away from its long-standing practice of voting with Israel on major resolutions at the UN.
Inauguration day in the U.S. was widely seen as an unofficial deadline to reach a deal. Trump had warned “all hell” would break out if hostages were not freed by the time his second term began.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said negotiators wanted to make sure Trump would continue to back the deal on the table, so it was “critical” to have Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff attend talks, along with Biden’s envoy Brett McGurk.
Israel launched its air and ground assault on Gaza after fighters led by Hamas stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel has said roughly 100 hostages are still being held in Gaza, but it is unclear how many are alive.
The Health Ministry in Gaza has said Israel’s attacks have killed more than 46,000 Palestinians, making it the deadliest war in decades of conflict between the two. Israel’s campaign has also pushed most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people from their homes and left most of the coastal enclave, including its health-care infrastructure, in ruins.
For those left in the strip, Israel’s tightened blockade has cut off access to basic necessities like food and medicine. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC — an initiative controlled by United Nations bodies and major relief agencies — said in November “there is a strong likelihood that famine is imminent” in parts of the northern strip.
Israel has rejected claims of famine. It called the IPC a “true master class in misinformation, bias and dishonest reporting,” according to a statement from the United Nations.
There have been various temporary pauses in fighting so military aid could be delivered, and in November 2023, there was a days-long truce as some hostages in Gaza and detainees in Israel jails were released.
The 15-month war has also led to violence in Lebanon.
Israel invaded part of the country this fall to try and weaken Hezbollah — a militant group which had launched near-daily aerial attacks against Israel since Oct. 7, 2023, on account of its allyship with Hamas.
More than 3,960 people had been killed in Lebanon as of late November, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. Israel said the violence claimed the lives of more than 70 people in Israel — more than half of them civilians — and dozens more soldiers in southern Lebanon.
The two initially agreed to a brokered truce to begin on Nov. 27, but both sides later broke the pledge.
