How do we reach an Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement in Gaza?
The US and mediator Qatar have said Israel and Hamas have agreed to a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal.
If the Israeli cabinet and government formally approve the agreement, which has not yet happened, the first six-week phase will take effect on January 19.
The agreement comes after 15 months of fighting between Israel and the Palestinian armed group and political movement Hamas.
The current conflict began when hundreds of Hamas fighters attacked Israel’s southern border on 7 October 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages back into Gaza.
Israel responded with a military campaign, beginning with immediate aerial bombardment and then launching a full-scale ground offensive on 27 October. Since then, Israel has attacked Gaza targets from land, sea and air, while Hamas has attacked Israel with rockets.
Israel’s attacks have killed more than 46,700 people – the majority of them civilians, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.
Here’s a reminder of the key events of the talks.
2023
7 October: Hundreds of Hamas-led gunmen launched an unprecedented attack on southern Israel, breaching the border fence and targeting nearby communities, police stations and army bases. About 1,200 people were killed and 251 hostages were taken back to Gaza. Hamas also fires thousands of rockets at Israel. Israeli forces immediately respond with air and artillery attacks on Gaza.
27 October: Israel launches ground offensive on Gaza. Israel’s massive military campaign will devastate Gaza, displacing much of the 2.3 million population and killing more than 46,000 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
21 November: Under a deal brokered by the US, Qatar and Egypt, Hamas has released 105 hostages in exchange for about 240 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails during a week-long ceasefire. Israel and Hamas blame each other To cause the breakdown of the armistice.
28 December: Shuttle diplomacy begins on new ceasefire and hostage release agreement.
2024
31 May: US President Joe Biden a framework israeli proposal A three-phase ceasefire in exchange for the release of Israeli hostages. This forms the basis of the deal that is agreed eight months later.
10 June: united nations security council passes a resolution Support of the ceasefire plan.
31 July: talks are suspended After the assassination of Israel Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader and chief negotiator of Hamas in Tehran, the capital of Iran. Discussions resume two weeks later, initially in the absence of Hamas.
17 October: israeli army Kill Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in southern Gaza. Netanyahu calls it “the beginning of the end” of the war.
9 November: For several months without any success, Qatar postpones his efforts As a mediator in negotiations. It says that Israel and Hamas need to change their position. Both sides are blaming each other for this deadlock.
20 November: America vetoes a draft The UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire said it had “abandoned” the need for “a link between a ceasefire and the release of hostages”.
27 November: israel agrees to a ceasefire Lebanon to end its 13-month-long conflict with Hamas’s ally armed group Hezbollah, which was triggered by the Gaza war. This has rekindled hopes for a deal in Gaza, with Biden saying he will make another attempt with regional powers.
2 December: America’s newly elected President Donald Trump They say “anything will have to be done to get paid” If the hostages still in Gaza are not released by the time they return to the White House on January 20, 2025.
17 December: a senior Palestinian official indirect conversation is called are in the “decisive and final stages”, while Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz says the agreement is closer than ever.
2025
13 January: Biden and Netanyahu spoke by phone about the talks during Biden’s final weeks in office, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said there was an agreement “Too close” And he hopes “it will be finalized” before Trump takes office.
15 January: Qatar’s prime minister says Israel and Hamas have agreed to a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal and it will take effect on January 19. Biden says it will “stop the fighting in Gaza, provide much-needed humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians, and reunite hostages with their families”.
