A Gaza ceasefire agreement was announced in Doha in the early hours of Thursday morning, following more than 30 consecutive hours of negotiations that several participants described as coming close to collapse on at least two occasions before a final text was agreed.
Qatar's prime minister, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, made the formal announcement at 4 a.m. local time, flanked by Egypt's intelligence chief and United States special envoy Steve Witkoff. His statement was brief and direct. "An agreement has been reached. It will hold," the prime minister said. The hall, which had been sealed to journalists for the duration of the negotiations, was described by those present as falling silent after the words were spoken.
The agreement provides for a 42-day ceasefire beginning at 6 a.m. Thursday, the release of 33 hostages held in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, and a staged withdrawal of Israeli forces from specified areas. Israel's security cabinet approved the deal by a vote of 14 to 7 after a session that lasted more than six hours. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, addressing the Israeli public following the vote, described the agreement as "painful but necessary." Hamas confirmed its acceptance of the terms in a written statement issued minutes after the Doha announcement.
Families of the hostages were contacted individually by an Israeli government official beginning at 3 a.m. local time, an hour before the public announcement. The decision to notify families ahead of the news becoming public was described by an Israeli official as a deliberate protocol choice made at the highest level. "They should not learn about this from a television screen," the official said.
The United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres welcomed the agreement in a statement issued within 20 minutes of the Doha announcement, calling it "a moment of profound and long-awaited relief" and urging all parties to implement its terms in full.
The deal was brokered over months of indirect negotiations led by Qatar and Egypt, with the United States playing an active mediating role through Mr. Witkoff's presence in Doha. It followed multiple prior rounds of talks that had collapsed, most recently in February.
The immediate task for all parties following the announcement is implementation. The release schedule for the 33 hostages and the Palestinian prisoner exchange are to be coordinated through a joint monitoring committee whose composition was part of the final text agreed in Doha.