Donald Trump announced that Israel and Hamas have agreed to the first phase of the Gaza peace plan late last night.
He said on Truth Social: “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.”
The Israeli government will ratify the ceasefire deal – expected this evening – after which the fighting should stop.
This is arecap of what it is supposed to establish, according to Donald Trump’s initial 20-point proposal.
What should happen next:
- Once an agreement is ratified by both sides, a ceasefire will immediately come into effect;
- Israel will withdraw within 24 hours to the agreed upon line – Hamas said this will happen tomorrow;
- Within 72 hours after that, all the Israeli hostages, alive and dead, will be released by Hamas – Israel says this could be on Sunday or Monday;
- Once all the hostages are released, Israel will free 250 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences and 1,700 Gazans detained after October 7;
- Humanitarian aid entering Gaza will increase to up to 600 trucks a day, according to both sides.
What remains pending:
- Israel’s government still needs to ratify the agreement, which is supposed to happen at a security cabinet meeting at 3pm UK time;
- The ceasefire needs to take hold and last beyond the release of the hostages and the prisoners for the second phase to be initiated;
- Hamas said that the mediators have provided guarantees to assure that the agreement won’t be violated once its main leverage is gone;
- Hamas will have to disarm, according to the plan’s second phase, but has not discussed this yet;
- Gaza’s future governance remains uncertain, as Hamas says it will only relinquish its rule to a Palestinian government, not the plan’s international board.
