Israel army says preparing to pull back troops in Gaza as part of deal
The Israeli military said on Thursday it was preparing to pull back troops in Gaza after Israel and Hamas agreed a ceasefire deal to free the remaining hostages.
Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports that the military said in a statement:
The [Israel Defense Forces] IDF has begun operational preparations ahead of the implementation of the agreement.
As part of this process, preparations and a combat protocol are under way to transition to adjusted deployment lines soon.
Key events
Iran called on the international community to prevent Israel from violating its obligations in Gaza, its foreign ministry said in a statement on Thursday, after Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas signed an agreement to cease fire.
The foreign ministry said Tehran supports any effort that ends the “genocide” and the war in Gaza.
Russia hopes US president Donald Trump’s plan to end the Gaza war will be successfully implemented and is willing to support efforts to end the bloodshed, president Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.
“We very much hope that these initiatives of the US president will actually be realised in practice,” Putin said at a summit in Tajikistan.
The day so far
It is approaching 5pm in Gaza and Israel. Here is a summary of what we know about the Gaza ceasefire deal so far and updates from today’s blog:
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Israel and Hamas have agreed to the initial phase of a ceasefire plan in Gaza, pausing hostilities in the devastated territory and bringing the best hope yet of a definitive end to a bloody two-year conflict that has killed tens of thousands, destabilised much of the Middle East and prompted protests around the world.
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Donald Trump announced the agreement on his Truth Social network saying all of the hostages held in Gaza would be released soon and Israel would withdraw troops to an agreed line as the first step to a “Strong, Durable, and Everlasting Peace”.
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Hamas said on Thursday it had agreed the US president’s proposal and confirmed the deal included an Israeli withdrawal from the territory and a hostage-prisoner exchange. The Israeli military said on Thursday it was preparing to pull back troops in Gaza, while the office of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the agreement to secure the release of hostages will only take effect after receiving cabinet approval.
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The Israeli security cabinet will meet at 5pm local time (2pm GMT/3pm BST), government spokesperson Shosh Badrosian told journalists on Thursday. The security cabinet meeting will be followed by a full government meeting at 6pm local time (3pm GMT/4pm BST).
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Foreign ministers from Germany, Spain, Italy, the UK, Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Jordan along with the EU’s chief diplomat Kaja Kallas have been invited to a summit in Paris today convened by French foreign minister Jean Noël Barrot to discuss the Gaza ceasefire plan. Press statements are expected at 4.30pm CET (2.30pm GMT/3.30pm BST).
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Israel does not intend to release prominent Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti as part of the agreement reached with Hamas to free Israeli hostages held in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, an Israeli government spokesperson said on Thursday. Earlier, Israel and Hamas agreed in indirect talks that the 48 hostages held by militants in Gaza would be released in exchange for about 2,000 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
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Rounds of celebratory gunfire rang into the night sky and people cried tears of joy and disbelief on Thursday as news of a peace deal reached those in devastated Gaza – and in Israel, where relatives have anxiously awaited the release of hostages detained since the war broke out two years ago. Scenes from Hostage Square in Tel Aviv showed Israelis waving Israeli and American flags, while in Gaza, Palestinians waved the Palestinian flag and celebrated in the streets.
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World leaders, humanitarian organisations and charities welcomed the news of the Gaza ceasefire deal, but have also expressed caution. The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), one of the largest independent aid groups working in Gaza, said Trump’s plan to increase aid to starving people as part of a ceasefire will fail unless all aid groups can resume operations. French president Emmanuel Macron said he hoped the Gaza ceasefire agreement would lead to “political solution based on the two-state solution”. Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas welcomed the deal and “expressed hope that these efforts would be a prelude to reaching a permanent political solution”.
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Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Thursday that militant group Hamas must be destroyed after the return of hostages from Gaza. The far-right politician said he would not vote in favour of a ceasefire deal with Hamas to end the war in Gaza, but stopped short of threatening to bring down Netanyahu’s coalition government.
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The World Health Organization (WHO) director general hailed on Thursday the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas as “a big step towards lasting peace”, saying his agency was prepared to “scale up” health assistance in Gaza. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X: “WHO stands ready to scale up its work to meet the dire health needs of patients across Gaza, and to support rehabilitation of the destroyed health system.” UN secretary general António Guterres said the United Nations and its partners “are prepared to move – now”.
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Turkey will take part in a joint taskforce – alongside Israel, the United States, Qatar and Egypt – that will be established to locate the bodies of deceased hostages in Gaza whose locations are unknown, a senior Turkish official said on Thursday.
Here are some of the latest photographs coming in via the newswires:
Erdoğan says Turkey to join ‘task force’ to monitor Gaza deal
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Thursday said Turkey would participate in a “taskforce” to oversee the implementation of a ceasefire deal reached between Israel and Hamas. Erdoğan said:
We will hopefully join the taskforce that will monitor the implementation of the agreement on the ground.
Turkey, which has been closely involved in the negotiations, sent a team to the talks in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh.
The agreement, which will be signed in Egypt on Thursday, involves freeing the remaining hostages and is seen as a major step towards ending the two-year war that has killed tens of thousands of people and unleashed a humanitarian catastrophe.
Erdoğan said:
It is of great importance to urgently deliver comprehensive humanitarian aid to Gaza, exchange hostages and prisoners, and for Israel to immediately cease its attacks.
He also promised Turkey would help reconstruction efforts in Gaza.
UN secretary general António Guterres welcomed the agreement to secure a ceasefire and hostage release in Gaza on Thursday and said the United Nations is ready to help.
“The United Nations stands ready to provide its full support. We and our partners are prepared to move – now,” Guterres said at the United Nations. He pressed for full and sustained access for humanitarian workers in Gaza.
The Guardian’s international security correspondent, Jason Burke, has put together a helpful explainer on the Gaza ceasefire deal. He explains what has been agreed for the ‘first phase’ and why now at the link below:
Israel does not intend to release prominent Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti as part of an agreement reached with Hamas to free Israeli hostages held in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, an Israeli government spokesperson said on Thursday.
“I can tell you at this point in time that he will not be part of this release,” spokesperson Shosh Bedrosian told reporters, according to Reuters.
Earlier, Israel and Hamas agreed in indirect talks that the 48 hostages held by militants in Gaza would be released in exchange for about 2,000 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
Israel’s security cabinet will meet on Thursday afternoon to approve a plan to secure the release of all hostages held in Gaza, a government spokesperson said.
The security cabinet will meet at 5pm local time (2pm GMT/3pm BST), government spokesperson Shosh Badrosian told journalists.
The security cabinet meeting will be followed by a full government meeting at 6pm local time (3pm GMT/4pm BST).
Reports of an impending pause in hostilities in Gaza “signals a hopeful reprieve on the horizon for families and children – but must be a turning point to secure a definitive ceasefire”, according to Save the Children.
Inger Ashing, chief executive of Save the Children International, said:
Today we watch with hope that a long overdue reprieve may be on the horizon for the children of Gaza. With bombs and bullets silenced, families will be able to think to the future, of rebuilding and recovering.
People deprived of their liberty, including hostages and some of the many detained Palestinians, will be able to return to their families.
We dare to hope that this step provides a collective chance to end the unconscionable suffering that has gone on for far too long.
But safety for children requires more than words, it requires work, and while today’s announcements are a crucial first step for children’s survival – children who have been failed for too long as the world has watched – this survival will only be secured if it is followed by a definitive and lasting ceasefire.
Peacekeeping troops, a legal framework and a no longer dangerous Hamas are all necessary in the future as part of a plan for the Gaza Strip and will be discussed among international partners in Paris, said German foreign minister Johann Wadephul on Thursday.
“Humanitarian and medical aid must now reach Gaza quickly; the people need prospects for reconstruction,” he said on social media platform X.
Turkey will take part in efforts to monitor the implementation of the ceasefire in Gaza agreed by Israel and Hamas, president Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday.
“God willing, we as Turkey will take part in the mission force that will monitor the agreement’s implementation in the field,” he said in a speech in Ankara, adding that Turkey will contribute to the reconstruction of Gaza.
Hani Askari, who works for Christian Aid’s partner, Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, has told the charity he “can’t find the emotions to fit” as Israel and Hamas agreed to ‘first phase’ of a Gaza ceasefire plan to pause fighting and release some hostages and prisoners.
“Part of it is relief and the other part is a heavy ache,” the 35-year-old who is displaced from northern Gaza and currently living in Deir Al-Balah, said. He added:
There’s a sea of pain that doesn’t get traded or released.
Yes, hope flickers for a moment but the exhaustion, the loss, and the fear will still sit deep inside.
William Christou
Reporting from Hostage Square, Tel Aviv:
Hundreds of people are gathered in Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, where the mood is festive. The yellow stickers which have so long bore the number of days hostages have been in captivity were replaced by stickers with a simple phrase: “They’re returning”.
Israelis the country over have come to celebrate the news that at noon, Israel and Hamas signed a deal which would see the 20 remaining living hostages held in Gaza would be returned in 72 hours – with the remains of 28 repatriated as soon possible. In return, nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners would be released from Israeli jails and Israeli troops would withdraw from 47% of the Gaza strip.
“I’m feeling fantastic, it feels like I’m in a dream. Two years of this, who would have thought that it would finally happen?,” said Margo Orton, a retired nursery teacher who was holding both an Israeli and an American flag.
The jubiliation is plain to see, a band plays while crowds sing a song calling for the hostages to be returned. A man blows the shofar, a ram’s horn, which symbolises a hope for the future, while members of Israeli parliament come to pay their respects.
Many Israelis attribute the release of hostages to US president Donald Trump, whose 20-point plan is now being negotiated in Egypt. Pictures of Trump were hoisted by the crowd while some attendees wore the iconic ‘Make America Great Again’ hat.
“This is Trump, this is all Trump. We thank him for this deal,” said Sharon Kalderon, whose brother-in-law and niece and nephew were held as hostages by Hamas before being released during a previous ceasefire in February.
While the first phase of Trump’s plan has been agreed upon, the thornier, long-term parts of the plan still need to be negotiated. Large gaps remain between Israel and Hamas on the issue of disarming the Palestinian militant group and who will take part in the transitional authority which will rule over Gaza, and how the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza will take place.
A lasting peace in Gaza will need to see the gaps between Israel and Gaza on those points be narrowed. To some attendees of the rally in Tel Aviv however, what happens after the release of the hostages was not their concern.
“I know Israel will be very strong even after the war, they will catch every single [member] of Hamas, you will see. They will carry on in every country to take them down,” said Orton.
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