Qatari and Hamas officials say a ceasefire has been reached to pause Israel's war in Gaza and release dozens of hostages.
Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza began on Oct. 7, 2023, when militants stormed into southern Israel and killed about 1,200 people and abducted around 250. A third of the 100 hostages still held in Gaza are believed to be dead.
The Israel Hamas-war has killed more than 46,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to health authorities there. The Health Ministry does not distinguish between fighters and civilians, but says women and children make up more than half the fatalities.
Here's the latest:
DOHA, Qatar — Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire deal, mediators announced Wednesday, pausing a devastating 15-month war in the Gaza Strip and raising the possibility of winding down the the deadliest and most destructive fighting between the bitter enemies.
The deal, coming after weeks of painstaking negotiations in the Qatari capital, promises the release of dozens of hostages held by Hamas in phases, the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israel and would allow hundreds of thousands of people displaced in Gaza to return to what remains of their homes. It also would flood badly needed humanitarian aid into a devastated territory.
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Dozens of displaced Palestinians in the Gaza Strip lined up at a charity kitchen on Wednesday as they awaited word of a ceasefire.
Aman Abu Jarad, a displaced woman from Beit Hanoun, is yearning to return home and rejoin her siblings and loved ones, despite the massive destruction across the Gaza Strip.
“Even though it has already been bombed, at least we return to our land. The moment a ceasefire takes hold, there is a psychological relief, and you return to the land you used to live on better than being in humiliation,” she said.
Nearly 2 million Palestinians in the territory have been displaced because of the war and are suffering from malnutrition, lack of food aid, destroyed healthcare infrastructure and harsh winter conditions.
“We would ululate as we go back home safely, but our homes have been bombed and everything is gone. Where do we go?” said Kifaiya Al-Attar, a displaced woman from Beit Lahiya.
DOHA, Qatar -- Qatari and Hamas officials say a last-minute dispute in ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas has been resolved.
Israel announced late Wednesday that Hamas had tried to change agreed-upon understandings for security arrangements along Gaza’s border with Egypt. It strongly rejected the proposals.
Qatar’s prime minister, who has been mediating the talks, met separately with Hamas and Israeli delegations, and shortly afterwards, the dispute was resolved, the Qatari official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss behind-the-scenes negotiations.
The Hamas official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the matter was resolved.
There was still no official word on whether a final agreement had been reached.
___ By Najib Jobain Samy Magdy in Cairo and Josef Federman in Jerusalem contributed.
WASHINGTON — White House Middle East adviser Brett McGurk had briefed Biden administration officials on the status of the negotiations early Wednesday and told them that talks were continuing but there were still issues that needed to be ironed out, according to two administration officials familiar with the matter who were not authorized to comment publicly.
DAMASCUS, Syria — Syrian authorities have detained an Egyptian who released videos in which he vowed to overthrow the government in Cairo, a Syrian Interior Ministry official said Wednesday.
Ahmad al-Mansour has been living in Syria for years and was among the fighters led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham that toppled the government of President Bashar Assad in December.
Al-Mansour was detained late Tuesday, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
In a video recently posted on social media, al-Mansour said that like Assad, “the turn of the dictator is coming.” He was apparently referring to Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, who came to power in 2013 after ousting the democratically elected government led by the Muslim Brotherhood.
Al-Mansour’s arrest is likely to ease concerns in some Arab countries, including Egypt, that Syria could be used as a base to destabilize regional countries.
TEL AVIV, Israel — The Israeli military said it had confiscated over 3,300 weapons in the past six weeks in and around areas in Syria where Israeli troops have operated close to the Golan Heights.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said troops will occupy a buffer zone inside Syria for the foreseeable future. Israel said it has seized Syrian army tanks, weapons, anti-tank missiles, rocket propelled grenades, shells, mortars and mortar shells, and observation equipment, among other weapons.
Israel's capture of the buffer zone in December following the ouster of President Bashar Assad has sparked criticism that Israel was violating a 1974 ceasefire agreement with Syria. Syrians in the areas Israeli forces have moved into have protested their presence and complained about the lack of action by the country's new authorities to pressure Israel to withdraw.
The military said the seizure of weapons and its presence in the buffer zone are necessary to ensure the security of Israel and the Golan Heights.
Israel seized control of the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war and later annexed it — a move not recognized by most of the international community.
OSLO, Norway — Norway’s foreign minister says it’s important to look ahead to the longer-term future as hopes of a ceasefire in Gaza rise.
Espen Barth Eide said at an event in Oslo Wednesday attended by Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa that “that it’s really the moment to deep dive into what will then happen next.”
He cautioned that “just the ceasefire can easily create the sense of vacuum, of unfulfilled hope. And the problems in Gaza would not be over. The divisions will not be over. The hatred would not be laid to rest if it was only a ceasefire.”
Barth Eide said the international community expects “that Israel understands that it’s time to move on and to help solve the long outstanding issue of Palestine. And of course, that our friends in Palestine also work effectively together to build a strong government and a strong capacity that all the Palestinian territories are united, so that both sides have a good partner in building peace.”
Norway is one of three European countries that formally recognized a Palestinian state in May.
OSLO, Norway — The Palestinian prime minister says it’s unacceptable for any entity other than the Palestinian Authority to run the Gaza Strip in the future, as Israel and Hamas appear to be at the closest point yet to sealing a deal to end 15 months of war.
“While we’re waiting for the ceasefire, it’s important to stress that it will not be acceptable for any entity to govern Gaza Strip but the legitimate Palestinian leadership and the government of the State of Palestine,” Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa said Wednesday. He was visiting Norway, one of three European countries that formally recognized a Palestinian state in May.
Mustafa said “any attempt to consolidate the separation between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, or creating transitional entities, will be rejected.”
Hamas seized power in Gaza in 2007, confining the Western-backed Palestinian Authority’s limited self-rule to parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The U.S. has called for a revitalized Palestinian Authority to govern both the West Bank and Gaza ahead of eventual statehood, which the Israeli government opposes.
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