After months of delays and disappointments, a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect in the Gaza Strip on Friday.
Thousands of Palestinians began walking from southern Gaza toward Gaza City in the north. The Israeli military is withdrawing its troops following an agreement approved by the Israeli government overnight.
US President Donald Trump announced the agreement in a short post on Truth Social on Wednesday. The ceasefire represents a major diplomatic breakthrough for his government, but much remains to be decided.
It is not clear whether Israel and Hamas will agree to other terms proposed by President Trump related to the difficult question of what will become of Gaza after the war.
Here’s what we know so far about this deal.
The US president announced news of the agreement on the Truth social platform on Wednesday, saying it would lead to the swift release of hostages and the withdrawal of Israeli forces to the Line of Agreement.
The Israeli military announced on Friday, following late-night government approval, that the ceasefire was in effect and that Israeli troops had begun withdrawing towards the agreed line.
Hamas’ chief negotiator Khalil al-Khaiya said on Thursday that he had received assurances from the United States and international mediators confirming that Hamas’ agreement does not mean a temporary ceasefire, as has been the case, but means “the war is permanently over.”
However, it is unclear whether the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office has issued a cease-fire order to the Israel Defense Forces.
Witnesses reported Israeli airstrikes and shelling in the center of Khan Yunis and Gaza City early Friday. Footage from Reuters cameras in southern Israel also showed large plumes of smoke rising into the sky over Gaza on Friday morning.
Israel’s partial withdrawal from Gaza is expected to be completed within 24 hours. There will also be a 24-hour grace period during which petitions opposing the deal can be filed with the Israeli High Court. Once the objection period ends, Hamas will have 72 hours to release the hostages, two Israeli officials told CNN.
Another Israeli official said the assumption was that the hostages would be released before the 72-hour period expired. President Trump has previously said they should be released on Monday or Tuesday.
The plan is for all living hostages to be released at once without any ceremony. The remains of deceased hostages must also be returned within this period.
Twenty hostages are believed to be alive, and the safety of two of them is a serious concern. A further 28 hostages were killed. CNN previously reported that Hamas may not be able to find everyone.
Osama Hamdan, a senior Hamas official, said 250 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences would also be released, as would 1,700 others in Israeli prisons.
However, an Israeli source familiar with the matter said Thursday that the negotiating team was still compiling a list of prisoners to be released and that the issue was “not yet resolved.” The official said the prisoners convicted of murder will not be released to the occupied West Bank and no decision has yet been made to transfer them to a third country.
Palestinian political leader Marwan Barghouti, who has been imprisoned in Israel since 2002, will not be released, an Israeli government spokesperson said.
The parties to the conflict have yet to agree on the key issues to be addressed in President Trump’s more comprehensive 20-point plan announced last month. They include:
• Disarmament: President Trump’s plan called for Hamas to “commit to peaceful coexistence” with Israel and lay down its weapons. Hamas members who follow this plan will be granted amnesty. Disarmament has long been a red line that armed groups cannot cross.
• Post-war governance: The plan also calls for establishing a temporary transitional government in Gaza consisting of a “technocratic, apolitical Palestinian Commission” made up of “qualified Palestinian and international experts” and overseen by a “new international transitional body” called the Peace Commission.
President Trump appeared to refer to the commission in an interview with Fox News, saying his administration was “establishing a peace council” to maintain a lasting end to conflicts in the region.
However, it is still unclear who will be appointed to these organizations and how they will exercise their authority over Gaza.
• Israel’s withdrawal: President Trump’s plan also calls for the creation of an “International Stabilization Force” (ISF) to be sent to Gaza and train “vetted Palestinian police” there. Once this force is deployed, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is expected to withdraw from Gaza. Israel has not yet agreed to these terms.
• Security: Hamas has long pointed to how Israel broke the last ceasefire agreement in March and has sought concrete guarantees that Israel would not resume it once the war ends. If Hamas agrees to disarm, it is likely to demand even stronger security, but it is unclear whether Israel will agree to that.
The hostages could be released on Monday if a ceasefire is reached and Israel withdraws to the agreed line in the Gaza Strip. However, that schedule is uncertain and the release may be accelerated.
Previous ceasefires have seen small groups of hostages released weekly, but President Trump has insisted on releasing all hostages at once.
An Israeli official and another regional source told CNN that substantive discussions about the future of the war-torn Gaza Strip have not yet begun, and the focus is now on implementing a ceasefire and hostage release agreement.
Egyptian negotiators this week set up committees on multiple lines to work on the next stages of the overall plan, regional sources said. However, active discussions on these topics will begin after the first phase of the agreement, the official added.
Full implementation of the framework of President Trump’s plan is likely to spark a revolt among hard-line members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government. Far-right ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich said Trump’s plan would mean Israel’s defeat and could threaten the government’s stability if the peace plan goes ahead.
Meanwhile, President Trump told Axios reporter and CNN analyst Barak Ravid that he plans to visit Israel in the coming days. “They want me to address Congress,” he said.
