The first phase of Trump’s plan is now in effect – Hamas will release the 20 living hostages over the weekend, and Israel will free nearly 2,000 Palestinians
(upd27) After two years of a bloody conflict leaving approximately 70,000 dead and hundreds of thousands injured, Israel and Hamas announced in the early hours of Thursday, October 9, that they had reached an agreement for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, as part of the plan proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Trump himself announced on Truth Social that the parties had “accepted the first phase” of his Gaza plan through indirect negotiations in Egypt, stating that all hostages held in Gaza would be released soon and that Israel would withdraw its forces to the agreed line as the first step toward a “strong, resilient, and eternal peace.”
From Hamas’s side, the group confirmed that it reached the agreement following discussions on the American president’s proposal, affirming that the agreement includes Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and a hostages and prisoners exchange.
The agreement was signed today, Thursday, October 9, at approximately 12:00 noon (Greek time), although the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that for the countdown to the release of the Israeli hostages to begin, the agreement with Hamas must first be approved by the Israeli cabinet, which convenes at 18:00 today (Greek time).
Summit in France
Following these developments, later today, October 9, foreign ministers from Germany, Spain, Italy, the United Kingdom, Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, and Jordan, along with the EU’s chief diplomat Kaja Kallas, will meet in Paris for a summit convened by French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot to discuss the Gaza ceasefire plan.
Statements from participants are expected at 17:30 Greek time.
Hamas to release 20 living hostages over the weekend
Hamas has called on Trump and the guarantor states to ensure that Israel fully implements the ceasefire.
The group also stated that it will release the 20 hostages who remain alive starting this weekend, with sources indicating that a prisoner exchange involving Palestinian detainees will take place within 72 hours of signing the agreement.
According to a Hamas official, Israel will release nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the 20 living hostages.
Of these 2,000 prisoners, 250 are serving life sentences, while the remaining 1,700 have been detained since the beginning of the conflict.
Within 72 hours
The exchange is expected to take place within 72 hours of the agreement’s implementation, which, according to another Hamas source, has also been agreed upon with Palestinian factions.
A Palestinian source told the Saudi channel Al-Sharq that the release of hostages and prisoners held by Israel will begin “within 72 hours of the agreement’s implementation."
The channel cites reliable sources stating that this will happen next week.
Another Saudi channel, Al-Hadath, reports that the 72-hour countdown for the hostages’ release will start once Israeli forces withdraw to the agreed lines in Gaza, which will occur as soon as the agreement is ratified by Israel.
Hospitals in Tel Aviv preparing
Israeli media report that hospitals in Tel Aviv are working feverishly to prepare for the arrival of the 20 Israeli hostages.
According to reports, the Israeli Ministry of Health has announced that the national healthcare system is ready to receive the approximately 20 hostages expected to return from Hamas captivity.
The preparations, coordinated by Dr. Hagar Mizrahi, Head of the Ministry’s Medical Division, are based on “lessons learned from previous releases and rescue operations,” according to the official statement.
The Sheba Medical Center (Tel Hashomer), Tel Aviv Sourasky (Ichilov) Medical Center (Tel Aviv), and Beilinson Medical Center (Petah Tikva) have been designated to receive the hostages.
Israeli army begins withdrawal
Earlier, a senior Palestinian source told Al Jazeera that mediators had accepted Palestinian maps showing Israel’s withdrawal from deep inside Gaza’s cities prior to the start of the hostage release.
The agreement provides for “scheduled withdrawals” of Israeli troops, a senior Hamas official told AFP, and includes “guarantees from President Trump and the mediators.”
According to a Palestinian source cited by Al-Sharq, the agreement stipulates that Israeli forces will withdraw from the Rafah crossing and its surrounding area. The agreement also includes the transfer of Palestinian patients and the wounded to Egypt for medical treatment.
The Rafah crossing will open in both directions once the agreement comes into effect.
The agreement further stipulates that at least 400 trucks of humanitarian aid will enter the Gaza Strip daily during the first five days of the ceasefire, with the quantity to increase in the following days, according to a second Hamas source speaking to AFP.
In addition, the deal provides for the “return of displaced persons from southern Gaza to Gaza City and the north immediately,” the same source added.
IDF: “We are ready”
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced that it has begun preparations for the partial withdrawal of troops from the Gaza Strip, as part of the ceasefire and hostage release agreement with Hamas.
In a statement, the army said: "In accordance with the directives of the political leadership and following a situation assessment, the IDF has begun operational preparations for the implementation of the agreement.”
As part of these preparations, the military stated it is ready to reposition forces to “adjusted deployment lines in the near future.”
“The IDF remains deployed in the area and is preparing for any operational development,” the statement added.
Once the agreement officially enters into force, the Israeli army will have less than 24 hours to withdraw to the agreed line.
Trump: Hostages Will Return by Monday, October 13
President Donald Trump stated that he will be “involved” in maintaining peace in Gaza, noting that the hostages will “return” by Monday.
The American president described the day as a “great day” for the Arab and Muslim world, for Israel and its neighbouring countries, and for the United States.
“We thank the mediators from Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey who worked with us to make this historic and unprecedented event possible.
BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS!” he wrote in a post on Twitter.
Analysts suggest that for Donald Trump, this peace agreement could represent the greatest diplomatic achievement of his presidency.
Netanyahu: “We will bring them all home”
Responding to the announcement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “With God’s help, we will bring them all back home.”
The Israeli premier called it a “great day for Israel” and said he would convene the government today, Thursday (18:00 Greek time), to approve the ceasefire agreement for Gaza, which aims to return all the hostages to their families.
“I thank President Trump and his team from the bottom of my heart for their commitment to this sacred mission of freeing our hostages,” Netanyahu added.
According to reports, Netanyahu and Trump spoke by phone, exchanged congratulations on the agreement, and the Israeli prime minister invited the American president to address the Israeli Knesset.
Smotrich (Israel’s Finance Minister): "Hamas must be destroyed after the hostages return"
Israel’s finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, said Hamas must be destroyed after the hostages are returned — a remark made just hours before the ceasefire agreement in Gaza was signed.
According to Reuters, the hard-right Smotrich said he would not vote in favour of a ceasefire deal with Hamas to end the Gaza war, but stopped short of threatening to topple Prime Minister Netanyahu’s coalition government.
What was agreed
Although many details of the deal reached after three days of indirect talks at the Sharm el-Sheikh resort on the Red Sea in Egypt remain unclear, the challenges of implementing its terms are enormous.
The first phase of the ceasefire plan includes: the release of all hostages; the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza to the agreed line; and the release of Palestinian detainees and those arrested.
Trump also announced the creation of a “peace council” intended to secure a lasting end to the conflict in the area.
But these are the… easy points.
The… thorns
From Donald Trump’s 20-point plan, the initial stage essentially focuses on four main pillars:
- the release of hostages and Palestinian prisoners,
- an initial withdrawal of Israeli forces to an agreed line of demarcation inside Gaza, and
- extensive humanitarian aid coordinated through the UN and other organisations.
However, most elements of Trump’s plan — particularly those concerning the governance of Gaza after the war and Israel’s demands for Hamas’ disarmament — remain open.
Nevertheless, Netanyahu, who has repeatedly promised “total victory” over Hamas, presents this development as a “turning point” domestically.
Israeli officials emphasise the success of freeing 20 live hostages and several bodies, while maintaining a significant military presence in Gaza, even though Hamas had made the near-total withdrawal of Israeli forces a precondition for any release.
The majority of Israelis are celebrating the news, with polls showing that a large part of the country supports any deal that brings the hostages home.
Netanyahu’s hardline coalition partners, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, view the agreement as a defeat and threaten the stability of the government if the ceasefire proceeds.
As the hostages are set to return, Israel faces serious political contradictions, and the fragile truce could lead to early elections.
A Nobel… for Trump
The families of the hostages and their supporters began chanting “Nobel Prize for Trump” as they gathered in Tel Aviv in the early morning hours. Some opened bottles of champagne and celebrated.
Weeping with joy, families embraced former hostages as the square continued to fill with Israelis.
Palestinians’ reactions
Palestinians in Gaza reacted to the news with a mixture of joy and disbelief.
“Honestly, when I heard the news, I couldn’t hold back. Tears of joy ran down my face. Two years of bombings, terror, destruction, loss, humiliation, and the constant feeling that we could die at any moment,” said Samer Joudeh from Gaza to the AFP news agency.
“There is a huge sense of joy and relief here in Gaza,” said the global spokesperson for UNICEF, speaking from the Strip as people awoke to the news of the ceasefire agreement.
In a video posted on Instagram, James Elder from the United Nations children’s agency described the day as a “day of hope” — but underlined the devastation caused by two years of relentless war.
“I never thought we would reach the point where 20,000 girls and boys would be killed.
I never thought we would reach the point where the world would so completely fail the Palestinians, where 1,000 babies have been reported dead,” he said.
“No one ever believed we would get to this point — the destruction of homes, agriculture, education,” he added, stressing that Palestinians in Gaza have been deprived of the ability to feed and protect their families.
“People ask, do Palestinians have hope?
Yes, they do! They have hope because it’s the one thing they can control,” Elder said.
“These are the things Palestinians need right now: education, nutrition, water, no airstrikes, peace.”
UN message
UN Secretary-General António Guterres welcomed the Israel–Hamas agreement and called on all parties to “fully comply” with its terms.
Speaking from India, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer described the deal as a moment of “profound relief.”
“I am grateful for the tireless diplomatic efforts of Egypt, Qatar, Turkey, and the United States, supported by our regional partners, in achieving this crucial first step.
This agreement must now be implemented in full, without delay, and accompanied by the immediate lifting of all restrictions on life-saving humanitarian aid to Gaza,” the British Prime Minister said.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed hope that the release of hostages and increased humanitarian aid for the people of Gaza would bring them relief and pave the way for lasting peace, while Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif stated that “the announcement of an agreement that will end the genocide in Gaza is a historic opportunity to secure lasting peace in the Middle East.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also welcomed the agreement securing a ceasefire and the release of hostages in Gaza, praising the diplomatic efforts of the United States, Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey.
“Now, all parties must fully adhere to the terms of the agreement. All hostages must be safely released. A permanent ceasefire must be established. The suffering must end,” the Commission President said.
Lavrov’s Praise – Trump’s Gaza plan ‘the best proposal’
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov offered praise for Donald Trump’s 20-point plan for Gaza.
Lavrov said Russia views this roadmap for resolving the crisis in the Gaza Strip as the best available option at present, both in terms of its acceptance by Arab states and its “non-rejection” by Israel.
“US President Donald Trump has proposed his ‘20 points,’ in which the word ‘statehood’ is mentioned.
All of these, however, are formulated in rather general terms.
In this context, it refers only to what remains of the Gaza Strip.
The West Bank is not mentioned,” Lavrov said, adding: “But we are realists. We understand that this is the best proposal currently on the table.”
“At the very least, it is the best in terms of acceptance by Arab countries and ‘non-rejection’ by Israel — and that’s how I would characterise Benjamin Netanyahu’s stance,” the Russian Foreign Minister noted. Lavrov also issued indirect criticism of Israel, condemning the “collective punishment” of the entire Palestinian people for what Hamas did on 7 October, describing it as “a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law.”
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Trump himself announced on Truth Social that the parties had “accepted the first phase” of his Gaza plan through indirect negotiations in Egypt, stating that all hostages held in Gaza would be released soon and that Israel would withdraw its forces to the agreed line as the first step toward a “strong, resilient, and eternal peace.”
From Hamas’s side, the group confirmed that it reached the agreement following discussions on the American president’s proposal, affirming that the agreement includes Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and a hostages and prisoners exchange.
The agreement was signed today, Thursday, October 9, at approximately 12:00 noon (Greek time), although the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that for the countdown to the release of the Israeli hostages to begin, the agreement with Hamas must first be approved by the Israeli cabinet, which convenes at 18:00 today (Greek time).
Summit in France
Following these developments, later today, October 9, foreign ministers from Germany, Spain, Italy, the United Kingdom, Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, and Jordan, along with the EU’s chief diplomat Kaja Kallas, will meet in Paris for a summit convened by French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot to discuss the Gaza ceasefire plan.
Statements from participants are expected at 17:30 Greek time.
Hamas to release 20 living hostages over the weekend
Hamas has called on Trump and the guarantor states to ensure that Israel fully implements the ceasefire.
The group also stated that it will release the 20 hostages who remain alive starting this weekend, with sources indicating that a prisoner exchange involving Palestinian detainees will take place within 72 hours of signing the agreement.
According to a Hamas official, Israel will release nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the 20 living hostages.
Of these 2,000 prisoners, 250 are serving life sentences, while the remaining 1,700 have been detained since the beginning of the conflict.
Within 72 hours
The exchange is expected to take place within 72 hours of the agreement’s implementation, which, according to another Hamas source, has also been agreed upon with Palestinian factions.
A Palestinian source told the Saudi channel Al-Sharq that the release of hostages and prisoners held by Israel will begin “within 72 hours of the agreement’s implementation."
The channel cites reliable sources stating that this will happen next week.
Another Saudi channel, Al-Hadath, reports that the 72-hour countdown for the hostages’ release will start once Israeli forces withdraw to the agreed lines in Gaza, which will occur as soon as the agreement is ratified by Israel.
Hospitals in Tel Aviv preparing
Israeli media report that hospitals in Tel Aviv are working feverishly to prepare for the arrival of the 20 Israeli hostages.
According to reports, the Israeli Ministry of Health has announced that the national healthcare system is ready to receive the approximately 20 hostages expected to return from Hamas captivity.
The preparations, coordinated by Dr. Hagar Mizrahi, Head of the Ministry’s Medical Division, are based on “lessons learned from previous releases and rescue operations,” according to the official statement.
The Sheba Medical Center (Tel Hashomer), Tel Aviv Sourasky (Ichilov) Medical Center (Tel Aviv), and Beilinson Medical Center (Petah Tikva) have been designated to receive the hostages.
Israeli army begins withdrawal
Earlier, a senior Palestinian source told Al Jazeera that mediators had accepted Palestinian maps showing Israel’s withdrawal from deep inside Gaza’s cities prior to the start of the hostage release.
The agreement provides for “scheduled withdrawals” of Israeli troops, a senior Hamas official told AFP, and includes “guarantees from President Trump and the mediators.”
According to a Palestinian source cited by Al-Sharq, the agreement stipulates that Israeli forces will withdraw from the Rafah crossing and its surrounding area. The agreement also includes the transfer of Palestinian patients and the wounded to Egypt for medical treatment.
The Rafah crossing will open in both directions once the agreement comes into effect.
The agreement further stipulates that at least 400 trucks of humanitarian aid will enter the Gaza Strip daily during the first five days of the ceasefire, with the quantity to increase in the following days, according to a second Hamas source speaking to AFP.
In addition, the deal provides for the “return of displaced persons from southern Gaza to Gaza City and the north immediately,” the same source added.
IDF: “We are ready”
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced that it has begun preparations for the partial withdrawal of troops from the Gaza Strip, as part of the ceasefire and hostage release agreement with Hamas.
In a statement, the army said: "In accordance with the directives of the political leadership and following a situation assessment, the IDF has begun operational preparations for the implementation of the agreement.”
As part of these preparations, the military stated it is ready to reposition forces to “adjusted deployment lines in the near future.”
“The IDF remains deployed in the area and is preparing for any operational development,” the statement added.
Once the agreement officially enters into force, the Israeli army will have less than 24 hours to withdraw to the agreed line.
Trump: Hostages Will Return by Monday, October 13
President Donald Trump stated that he will be “involved” in maintaining peace in Gaza, noting that the hostages will “return” by Monday.
The American president described the day as a “great day” for the Arab and Muslim world, for Israel and its neighbouring countries, and for the United States.
“We thank the mediators from Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey who worked with us to make this historic and unprecedented event possible.
BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS!” he wrote in a post on Twitter.
Analysts suggest that for Donald Trump, this peace agreement could represent the greatest diplomatic achievement of his presidency.
Netanyahu: “We will bring them all home”
Responding to the announcement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “With God’s help, we will bring them all back home.”
The Israeli premier called it a “great day for Israel” and said he would convene the government today, Thursday (18:00 Greek time), to approve the ceasefire agreement for Gaza, which aims to return all the hostages to their families.
“I thank President Trump and his team from the bottom of my heart for their commitment to this sacred mission of freeing our hostages,” Netanyahu added.
According to reports, Netanyahu and Trump spoke by phone, exchanged congratulations on the agreement, and the Israeli prime minister invited the American president to address the Israeli Knesset.
Smotrich (Israel’s Finance Minister): "Hamas must be destroyed after the hostages return"
Israel’s finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, said Hamas must be destroyed after the hostages are returned — a remark made just hours before the ceasefire agreement in Gaza was signed.
According to Reuters, the hard-right Smotrich said he would not vote in favour of a ceasefire deal with Hamas to end the Gaza war, but stopped short of threatening to topple Prime Minister Netanyahu’s coalition government.
What was agreed
Although many details of the deal reached after three days of indirect talks at the Sharm el-Sheikh resort on the Red Sea in Egypt remain unclear, the challenges of implementing its terms are enormous.
The first phase of the ceasefire plan includes: the release of all hostages; the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza to the agreed line; and the release of Palestinian detainees and those arrested.
Trump also announced the creation of a “peace council” intended to secure a lasting end to the conflict in the area.
But these are the… easy points.
The… thorns
From Donald Trump’s 20-point plan, the initial stage essentially focuses on four main pillars:
- the release of hostages and Palestinian prisoners,
- an initial withdrawal of Israeli forces to an agreed line of demarcation inside Gaza, and
- extensive humanitarian aid coordinated through the UN and other organisations.
However, most elements of Trump’s plan — particularly those concerning the governance of Gaza after the war and Israel’s demands for Hamas’ disarmament — remain open.
Nevertheless, Netanyahu, who has repeatedly promised “total victory” over Hamas, presents this development as a “turning point” domestically.
Israeli officials emphasise the success of freeing 20 live hostages and several bodies, while maintaining a significant military presence in Gaza, even though Hamas had made the near-total withdrawal of Israeli forces a precondition for any release.
The majority of Israelis are celebrating the news, with polls showing that a large part of the country supports any deal that brings the hostages home.
Netanyahu’s hardline coalition partners, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, view the agreement as a defeat and threaten the stability of the government if the ceasefire proceeds.
As the hostages are set to return, Israel faces serious political contradictions, and the fragile truce could lead to early elections.
A Nobel… for Trump
The families of the hostages and their supporters began chanting “Nobel Prize for Trump” as they gathered in Tel Aviv in the early morning hours. Some opened bottles of champagne and celebrated.
Weeping with joy, families embraced former hostages as the square continued to fill with Israelis.
Palestinians’ reactions
Palestinians in Gaza reacted to the news with a mixture of joy and disbelief.
“Honestly, when I heard the news, I couldn’t hold back. Tears of joy ran down my face. Two years of bombings, terror, destruction, loss, humiliation, and the constant feeling that we could die at any moment,” said Samer Joudeh from Gaza to the AFP news agency.
“There is a huge sense of joy and relief here in Gaza,” said the global spokesperson for UNICEF, speaking from the Strip as people awoke to the news of the ceasefire agreement.
In a video posted on Instagram, James Elder from the United Nations children’s agency described the day as a “day of hope” — but underlined the devastation caused by two years of relentless war.
“I never thought we would reach the point where 20,000 girls and boys would be killed.
I never thought we would reach the point where the world would so completely fail the Palestinians, where 1,000 babies have been reported dead,” he said.
“No one ever believed we would get to this point — the destruction of homes, agriculture, education,” he added, stressing that Palestinians in Gaza have been deprived of the ability to feed and protect their families.
“People ask, do Palestinians have hope?
Yes, they do! They have hope because it’s the one thing they can control,” Elder said.
“These are the things Palestinians need right now: education, nutrition, water, no airstrikes, peace.”
UN message
UN Secretary-General António Guterres welcomed the Israel–Hamas agreement and called on all parties to “fully comply” with its terms.
Speaking from India, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer described the deal as a moment of “profound relief.”
“I am grateful for the tireless diplomatic efforts of Egypt, Qatar, Turkey, and the United States, supported by our regional partners, in achieving this crucial first step.
This agreement must now be implemented in full, without delay, and accompanied by the immediate lifting of all restrictions on life-saving humanitarian aid to Gaza,” the British Prime Minister said.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed hope that the release of hostages and increased humanitarian aid for the people of Gaza would bring them relief and pave the way for lasting peace, while Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif stated that “the announcement of an agreement that will end the genocide in Gaza is a historic opportunity to secure lasting peace in the Middle East.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also welcomed the agreement securing a ceasefire and the release of hostages in Gaza, praising the diplomatic efforts of the United States, Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey.
“Now, all parties must fully adhere to the terms of the agreement. All hostages must be safely released. A permanent ceasefire must be established. The suffering must end,” the Commission President said.
Lavrov’s Praise – Trump’s Gaza plan ‘the best proposal’
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov offered praise for Donald Trump’s 20-point plan for Gaza.
Lavrov said Russia views this roadmap for resolving the crisis in the Gaza Strip as the best available option at present, both in terms of its acceptance by Arab states and its “non-rejection” by Israel.
“US President Donald Trump has proposed his ‘20 points,’ in which the word ‘statehood’ is mentioned.
All of these, however, are formulated in rather general terms.
In this context, it refers only to what remains of the Gaza Strip.
The West Bank is not mentioned,” Lavrov said, adding: “But we are realists. We understand that this is the best proposal currently on the table.”
“At the very least, it is the best in terms of acceptance by Arab countries and ‘non-rejection’ by Israel — and that’s how I would characterise Benjamin Netanyahu’s stance,” the Russian Foreign Minister noted. Lavrov also issued indirect criticism of Israel, condemning the “collective punishment” of the entire Palestinian people for what Hamas did on 7 October, describing it as “a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law.”
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