Trump announces that Hamas and Israel have agreed to the first phase of ending the war in Gaza.

WashingtonUS President Donald Trump has announced that Hamas and Israel have reached an agreement to end the Gaza war. The Republican announced this in a post on Truth Social this Wednesday afternoon, early in Catalonia: "Israel and Hamas have approved the first phase of our peace plan." As a result, "all hostages will soon be released, and Israel will withdraw its troops to an agreed-upon line as a first step toward a firm and lasting peace."

The signing of this first phase will take place on Thursday at noon. "This is a great day for Israel," said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a statement, in which he also announced that he will gather his government to sign the agreement this afternoon, with the agreement taking effect at 2:00 PM in Jerusalem (1:00 PM in Catalonia). Netanyahu thanked President Trump for "his dedication to the sacred mission of freeing our hostages." As for Hamas, it also confirmed the agreement, although it says it has not yet received the list of Palestinian prisoners who would be released in exchange for the Israeli hostages. The organization plans to release the live hostages between Saturday and Sunday, according to Haaretz. In an interview on Fox, Trump indicated that the hostages would begin to be released on Monday, although the White House said that "Hamas will try to free them sooner if possible." According to Al Jazeera, Hamas sources have said that the release would begin within the next 72 hours. There are still 20 hostages alive in the Gaza Strip and around 30 more dead.

A few minutes after the agreement was announced, Mani Mahmoud, an Al Jazeera journalist in central Gaza, confirmed that the bombing had stopped and that there was no drone activity.

Trump has not provided further details on how this first phase will be carried out or under what conditions the Israeli troops will withdraw. In the 20-point agreement initially announced by the president, the withdrawal of Israeli troops was conditioned on the fulfillment of a series of vague conditions and that the International Stabilization Force created specifically for the situation would take control of the area. "All parties will be treated fairly," the president assured, who also expressed his gratitude "to the mediators from Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey."

In recent days, delegations from the Islamist group and Israel had been meeting in Egypt to finalize the details of the first phase of the 20-point plan for peace in the Gaza Strip that the Republican had agreed in advance with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Both leaders presented it jointly on September 29 from the White House, and put all the pressure on Hamas, placing it in the dilemma of accepting the plan or suffering. a "hell," as Trump later threatened.

Last weekend, Hamas announced through mediators that it agreed to release all Israeli hostages it had held since October 7 and was open to discussing the US president's peace plan.

The announcement of the agreement was anticipated hours earlier with a dramatic appearance by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who burst into the middle of a roundtable discussion where Trump was speaking about the persecution of the anti-fascist movement in the country. Rubio approached the president to hand him a written note and spoke into his ear in an image that seemed to recreate the historical epic of the moment when former President Bush received the news of the 9/11 attacks in the middle of a school lecture. "Excuse me, the Secretary of State gave me a note saying we are very close to a Middle East agreement and they will need me quickly," Trump said just before leaving the State Dining Room of the White House.

While it remains unclear what details have been renegotiated with Hamas, the 20-point plan Trump presented with Netanyahu did not mention ending the occupation of Gaza, nor did it guarantee recognition of the State of Palestine, which was simply considered an "aspiration."

Post-war Gaza would also be a kind of US-led protectorate, with Trump himself presiding over the transitional administration. According to the plan, this new governing body for the Strip will be made up of members and heads of state from other countries that have yet to be revealed. One of the few names known at this point is that of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. This transitional government, dubbed the Peace Board, was a necessary condition for Israel, for whom a Palestinian Authority government is a red line.