Hamas and Israeli negotiators agreed on Wednesday evening Oct. 8, to a framework for phase one of a peace deal for Gaza. U.S. President Donald Trump announced in a post on Truth Social:
“I am very proud to announce that Israel and Hamas have both signed off on the first Phase of our Peace Plan. This means that ALL of the Hostages will be released very soon, and Israel will withdraw their Troops to an agreed upon line as the first steps toward a Strong, Durable, and Everlasting Peace. All Parties will be treated fairly! This is a GREAT Day for the Arab and Muslim World, Israel, all surrounding Nations, and the United States of America, and we thank the mediators from Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey, who worked with us to make this Historic and Unprecedented Event happen. BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS!”
Initial statements from the teams involved indicate that all of the Israeli hostages, and roughly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners who were seized since October 7, 2023, are to be released; Israeli troops are to withdraw to agreed-upon lines; and the flow of aid is to resume at levels consistent with the January 2025 agreement. The obvious and quite understandable concern of the Hamas team is that once the hostages are returned, Israel will abandon the deal, just as they did in March 2025. Hamas sources have pointed out that the group is looking to Trump to hold Israel to their end of the bargain.
In its statement announcing the agreement had been reached, Hamas called on the countries of the world to “force the occupation government to fully implement the demands of the agreement and not allow it to evade or delay the implementation of what was agreed,” Israeli daily Haaretz reported.
More details are to come.
