Deal to release all of the hostages from Gaza has been struck, Trump announces

JTA -Dozens of Israeli hostages held for two years in Gaza, including 20 who remain alive, are to be released imminently following an agreement between Israel and Hamas that could lead to a permanent ceasefire.

United States President Donald Trump announced the deal on Wednesday evening, 8 October, saying that both sides had signed off on a “first phase” of the peace proposal he unveiled last week. The agreement came a day after the second anniversary of Hamas’s attack on southern Israel, when the group that has controlled Gaza took about 250 hostages. Of them, 48 remain.

“This means that all of the hostages will be released very soon, and Israel will withdraw its troops to an agreed upon line as the first steps toward a strong, durable, and everlasting peace. All parties will be treated fairly!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “This is a great day for the Arab and Muslim world, Israel, all surrounding nations, and the United States of America, and we thank the mediators from Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey, who worked with us to make this historic and unprecedented event happen. Blessed are the peacemakers!”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed the agreement in a post on X. “With the approval of the first phase of the plan, all our hostages will be brought home. This is a diplomatic success, and a national and moral victory for the state of Israel,” he wrote.

Soon, social media began to fill with footage of celebrations. In Israel, hostage families who have battled for their loved ones’ return could be seen dancing in jubilation, and hostages freed in past ceasefires posted videos of themselves weeping as they addressed the men they were forced to leave behind. In Gaza, Palestinians who have endured two years of deadly bombing, pressing hunger, and mass displacement expressed hope that the dangers they face could soon recede.

An exact timeline for the hostage release wasn’t immediately clear, but Israeli media reported that urgent preparations were taking place with the expectation that hostages could come home by the weekend, ahead of the Simchat Torah holiday that marks the two-year anniversary of the attack in the Jewish calendar. Family members abroad were being flown to Israel, and hospitals were being prepared to receive 20 men who have experienced two years of brutality and hunger.

Special attention was being paid, Israeli media reported, to the families whose loved ones wouldn’t immediately return. Though Hamas has committed to returning the bodies of deceased hostages, it has reportedly not yet located all of them, and there’s a widespread expectation that some may never be found.

US Jewish groups as well as Israeli hostage advocacy groups welcomed the announcement in press releases and videos that expressed appreciation for Trump’s aggressive efforts to press for a deal. Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and his Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff joined the Gaza talks earlier on Wednesday, in a sign that an agreement was potentially imminent.

“The Israeli government must convene immediately to approve the agreement,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum wrote on Instagram. “Any delay could exact a heavy toll on the hostages and soldiers.”

The exact terms of the deal are still emerging, but Israeli media is reporting that Israel will retain control of a majority of Gaza until the last hostage is released, and that Israel won’t be required to release from its prisons anyone involved in the 7 October 2023 attack.

Many elements of Trump’s peace proposal, including demands that Hamas disarm and that a postwar governance structure be established, are expected to be negotiated after the first phase.

Israel ended the last ceasefire, in February, rather than continue negotiating. But Trump has indicated that he plans to maintain pressure on both sides to extend their truce into a permanent peace.