Israel and Hamas have agreed a ceasefire deal in the Gaza war and to release some hostages, the Qatari prime minister has announced, after 15 months of conflict.
A week before US president-elect Donald Trump takes over from president Joe Biden, a breakthrough was achieved in talks in Doha, on a three-phase agreement that is due to come into effect on Sunday.
Both Mr Trump and Mr Biden claimed credit for the deal.
Qatari prime minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said measures would be taken in the coming days to enforce the agreement.
Hamas killed around 1,200 people in a terror attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, and abducted another 250. Some 100 Israelis are still being held captive inside the Gaza Strip, and the military believes at least a third of them are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive killed more than 46,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were combatants.
Here is everything we know about the deal:
Over six weeks, 33 of the nearly 100 hostages are to be reunited with their loved ones after months in in captivity with no contact with the outside world, although it’s unclear whether all are alive.
They include children, women including female soldiers, men above 50 and the wounded and sick.
Hamas will release the hostages over a six-week period, with at least three freed each week and the remainder of the 33 before the end of the period. Living hostages will be released first, followed by remains of dead hostages
Israel will release 30 Palestinian detainees for every civilian hostage and 50 Palestinian detainees for every Israeli female soldier Hamas releases.
The first stage will last up to 60 days.
Israel will also release all Palestinian women and children under 19 detained since 7 October 2023 by the end of the first phase. The total number of Palestinians released will depend on hostages released, and could be between 990 and 1,650 Palestinian detainees including men, women and children.
The second and most difficult phase will mark the end of the war, President Biden said. It will include the release of all remaining living hostages, including male soldiers, and Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza. The third phase calls for the start of a major reconstruction of Gaza, which faces decades of rebuilding from devastation caused by the war.
