Hamas said to agree to Gaza deal; PM’s office says no official word received yet

Long-sought hostage release-ceasefire agreement could be formally announced within hours, sources say, with captives possibly starting to go free Sunday

Demonstrators raise placards during a protest calling for action to secure the release of Israelis held hostage in Gaza since the October 2023, in Tel Aviv on January 14, 2025. (Jack GUEZ / AFP)
Demonstrators raise placards during a protest calling for action to secure the release of Israelis held hostage in Gaza since the October 2023, in Tel Aviv on January 14, 2025. (Jack GUEZ / AFP)

Israeli and Palestinian officials said Wednesday afternoon that Hamas had given its approval to a deal to release hostages and halt fighting in Gaza, though the terror group apparently had not submitted a formal written response yet.

According to reports in multiple Hebrew media outlets, Israeli officials indicated that the two sides had come to an agreement and a deal could be announced as soon as Wednesday evening.

Both Reuters and AFP reported that Hamas had given verbal approval for the deal, citing Palestinian sources. According to Reuters, the terror group had not yet given a written response to the ceasefire proposal.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office also stressed in a statement that it had not received an official Hamas response yet.

The Walla news site cited an Israeli official as saying, “There is a breakthrough in the hostage deal negotiations in Doha. Hamas military leader in Gaza Mohammed Sinwar gave his okay.” Channel 12 quoted an Israeli official saying that “there has been a breakthrough,” and assessed that a deal could be signed later in the day.

Kan news said ministers were clearing their schedules for a possible vote Wednesday night, though no cabinet meeting had been called yet, and several Hebrew media reports assessed that the cabinet would vote on Thursday.

A Palestinian source quoted by Kan confirmed that negotiations had advanced and said the deal would likely be signed by Thursday.

According to the source, Hamas leaders held a meeting into early Wednesday morning where almost all issues were sorted out, including maps Hamas had demanded Israel provide detailing its planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

Pictures in Jerusalem of Israelis held hostage by Hamas terrorists in Gaza, January 13, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/ Flash90)

Officials from mediators Qatar, Egypt and the US as well as Israel and Hamas had said on Tuesday that an agreement for a truce in the besieged Palestinian enclave and the release of hostages was closer than ever, buoying hopes among relatives of hostages and Gazans for an end to over 15 months of fighting.

If confirmed, the breakthrough could see hostages go free as early as Sunday, according to various Hebrew media reports. The deal must still be approved by the security cabinet and then the full cabinet, and there will also be a two-day window to allow for appeals against the deal to the Supreme Court.

The apparent progress came after both sides had blamed each other for delays in finalizing the deal.

Reports in Israel have indicated that Jerusalem has found the deal broadly acceptable, and on Tuesday US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the “ball is now in Hamas’s court.”

“If Hamas accepts, the deal is ready to be concluded and implemented,” said Blinken.

This picture taken from the Israeli side of the border with the Gaza Strip shows an Israeli army military convoy moving along a road inside the northern Gaza Strip on January 13, 2025 (Menahem KAHANA / AFP)

An Israeli source familiar with negotiations earlier told AFP that talks were continuing in Doha on Wednesday.

Joining Hamas in the indirect talks Wednesday were representatives from the Islamic Jihad terror group, an official from the group told AFP. Islamic Jihad, which is heavily backed by Iran, is believed to be holding some of the hostages kidnapped from Israel during the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack.

Reports in Arab media early Wednesday had cited Palestinian officials accusing Israel of delaying the talks by introducing new demands, drawing immediate pushback from Jerusalem. “Hamas is making false claims that Israel added new conditions to the negotiations — in order to avoid executing the agreement,”  an Israeli diplomatic official said in a statement to reporters.

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said Tuesday that there was a “true willingness from our side to reach an agreement.”

Hamas said Tuesday the ongoing negotiations had reached their “final stage” and that it had held consultations with other Palestinian factions and informed them of the “progress made.”

Photographs of the victims killed and hostages held by Hamas terrorists in Gaza since the October 7 massacre, on Dizengoff Square in Tel Aviv. January 05, 2025. (Miriam Alster/FLASH90)

During months of on-off talks to achieve a truce in the devastating 15-month-old war, both sides have said at several points that they were close to a ceasefire, only to hit last-minute obstacles. The broad outlines of the current deal have been in place since mid-2024.

Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza to remove Hamas from power after thousands of terrorists led by the group stormed into southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and taking 251 hostages.

The war has killed over 46,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to Hamas-controlled health officials in the enclave. The numbers cannot be verified and do not differentiate between combatants and civilians.

Hamas and other Gazan terrorist factions are believed to be holding 98 hostages, including the bodies of at least 36 confirmed dead by Israel. Most of the hostages were kidnapped on October 7, but two civilians and the bodies of two soldiers have been held for around a decade.

The latest draft is complicated and sensitive. Under its terms the first steps would feature a six-week initial ceasefire.

Israeli government spokesman David Mencer said the first phase of a deal would see 33 Israeli hostages freed, while two Palestinian sources close to Hamas told AFP that Israel would release about 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange.

People walk past pictures of the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, in Jerusalem, January 12, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

A source close to Hamas said that the initial hostage release would be “in batches, starting with children and women.”

Even if the warring sides agree to the deal on the table, that agreement still needs further negotiations before there is a final ceasefire and the release of all the hostages. Negotiations for a second phase would commence on the truce’s 16th day, an Israeli official said, with media reports saying a second phase, if agreed, would see the release of the remaining captives.

Under the proposed deal, Israel would maintain a buffer zone along the Philadelphi Corridor in southern Gaza, as well as an 800-meter-wide strip on Gaza’s northern and eastern border, according to the BBC.

In the second phase, Hamas would release the remaining living captives — non-wounded adult males under the age of 50, all of whom Hamas considers “soldiers” — in exchange for more security prisoners and the “complete withdrawal” of Israeli forces from Gaza, according to a draft agreement seen by the AP,

Illustrative: Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists stand guard as a Red Cross vehicle transports newly released hostages in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip on November 28, 2023. (Flash90)

Hamas has said it will not free the remaining hostages without an end to the war and a complete Israeli withdrawal, while Netanyahu has in the past vowed to fight until Hamas’s military and governing capabilities are eliminated.

The details of a full ceasefire remain difficult to resolve — and the deal does not include written guarantees that the ceasefire will continue until a deal is reached. That leaves the potential for Israel to resume its military campaign after the first phase ends.

If all goes smoothly, Palestinians, Arab states and Israel still need to agree on a vision for postwar Gaza, a massive task involving security guarantees for Israel and billions of dollars in investment for rebuilding.

Visiting Norway, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa said the Palestinian Authority was the sole body that should be tasked with running postwar Gaza.

“While we are waiting for the ceasefire, it is important to stress that it won’t be acceptable for any other entity to govern the Gaza Strip but the legitimate Palestinian leadership and the government of the State of Palestine,” he told a conference, according to the text of his speech.

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa speaks during a humanitarian conference for Gaza in Cairo on December 2, 2024 (Photo by Khaled DESOUKI / AFP)

Israel has rejected any involvement by Hamas, but it has been equally opposed to rule by the PA — which was violently ousted by Hamas from Gaza in 2007 — accusing it of supporting attacks against Israel.

Most in the West have backed the PA coming in to administer the Strip after the war.

The issue is one of several possible compromises Netanyahu has had to deal with as he navigates intense opposition to the deal from right-wing hardliners in his coalition. The prime minister was making headway on clinching enough political support to bypass the right wing, figures close to the talks told The Wall Street Journal.

Right-wing demonstrator holds up sign that reads: ‘You don’t have a mandate to surrender to Hamas,’ during a protest against the brewing hostage deal in Jerusalem on January 14, 2025. (Charlie Summers/Times of Israel)

In Tel Aviv Tuesday night, relatives of hostages and supporters rallied to push politicians toward a deal, while a separate march was held in Jerusalem to protest against the nascent agreement.

“Time is of the essence,” said Gil Dickmann, cousin of former hostage Carmel Gat, whose body was recovered in September.

“Hostages who are alive will end up dead. Hostages who are dead might be lost,” Dickmann told AFP. “We have to act now.”

“We can’t miss this moment,” said Hadas Calderon, whose husband Ofer and children Sahar and Erez were abducted. “This is the last moment; we can save them.” Her children were freed in November 2023, while her husband remains in captivity.

Demonstrators raise placards during a protest calling for action to secure the release of Israelis held hostage in Gaza since October 7, 2023, in front of the Israeli defense ministry in Tel Aviv on January 14, 2025. (Jack GUEZ / AFP)

Despite the efforts to reach a ceasefire, the Israeli military said Wednesday it had attacked about 50 targets throughout Gaza over the last 24 hours.

In Gaza, Umm Ibrahim Abu Sultan, displaced from Gaza City to Khan Younis in the south, said that she had “lost everything” in the war.

“I am anxiously awaiting the truce,” said the mother of five.

The United Nations said it was preparing to expand humanitarian assistance to Gaza under a potential ceasefire, but there was still uncertainty around border access and security.

Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP/Abdel Kareem Hana)

“We are waiting for the ceasefire and the truce. May God complete it for us in goodness, bless us with peace, and allow us to return to our homes,” said Amal Saleh, 54, a Gazan displaced by the war.

“Even if the schools are bombed, destroyed, and ruined, we just want to know that we are finally living in peace.”

A senior Arab diplomat told The Times of Israel on Tuesday that the three-phased hostage deal currently being finalized was largely the same as the one that was proposed by Israel last May.

“A deal could have been reached much earlier, but both sides led to talks falling apart at various times,” the diplomat familiar with the negotiations said.

Washington has placed the blame for previous failures to reach a deal squarely on Hamas.

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