Chief Hamas negotiator: We received US guarantees that ‘the war has ended indefinitely’

Khalil al-Hayya, Hamas’s chief negotiator over the ceasefire announced today, makes his first speech since the agreement was reached, confirming its terms and saying that the terror group received US guarantees that the war would end.

“We acted responsibly in relation to [US President Donald] Trump’s plan,” he says. “Today we announce an agreement to end the war, [see Israel] withdraw from the Strip and carry out a prisoner exchange.”

He says, “We received guarantees from the mediators and the Americans that the war has ended indefinitely.”

The later stages of the agreement, which call for Hamas to disarm and for Israel to fully withdraw from Gaza, have yet to be negotiated. But Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar also said earlier today that Israel is not preparing to renew the war.

In his speech, al-Hayya thanks the Middle Eastern countries that mediated the agreement — Egypt, Qatar and Turkey — as well as Iran and Yemen. Iran, Israel’s chief adversary, is a patron of Hamas, while Yemen is home to the Houthi terror group, another proxy of Iran that has regularly fired missiles at Israel.

Al-Hayya confirms the agreement includes the release of 250 Palestinian security prisoners serving life sentences and 1,700 prisoners from Gaza who were jailed following the terror group’s October 7, 2023, attack.

Al-Hayya recalls Hamas operatives who were killed during the war, saying, “Just as they were men on the battlefield, so we were men at the negotiating table.”