Israel and Hamas reach ceasefire deal after 15 months of deadly conflict

Fate of Israeli hostages seized after October 7 is still unknown.

Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire deal, bringing at least a temporary halt to the war in Gaza that has killed tens of thousands of people in the last 15 months and touched off broader turmoil across the Middle East, people familiar with the matter said.

Details of the agreement were still unclear, and the fate of the dozens of hostages captured after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, was so far unknown. A formal announcement is seen as imminent, said the people, who asked not to be identified speaking before an official statement.

ADVERTISEMENT CONTINUE READING BELOW

President-elect Donald Trump, whose envoy was involved, announced on Truth Social that the hostages “will be released shortly”.

The agreement is expected to pause fighting that has all but destroyed Gaza, a strip of land on the Mediterranean coast controlled by Hamas and home to more than 2 million people. A truce is also expected to lead to an increase in humanitarian aid to the territory. Talks had been overseen by the US, with officials from both the outgoing Biden and incoming Trump administrations involved. Qatar and Egypt mediated the negotiations.

The conflict has caused turmoil in the wider Middle East, with Iran-backed groups, including Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen, attacking Israel in solidarity with Hamas. Israel stepped up an offensive against Hezbollah in September, killing the top leadership and severely degrading the group in a ground and aerial campaign that ended with a truce in late November.

The ceasefire comes more than a year after a week-long truce in November 2023, under which more than 100 hostages were released in return for hundreds of Palestinian detainees. Since then, Israeli forces have overrun much of Gaza in their bid to destroy Hamas as both a military and governing force. Hamas hold-outs have managed to keep fighting in some parts of the enclave.

“The president’s envoy to that region, Steve Witkoff, who was charged with being an envoy toward reaching an accommodation between the Israelis and Saudis, has been working cooperatively and together with the Biden administration,” Senator Marco Rubio said at his confirmation hearing to be the next US secretary of state.

The Houthis have all but shut the southern Red Sea to Western ships with persistent missile and drone attacks, while Iran and Israel briefly exchanged direct fire in April and October.

Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis are all designated terrorist organisations by the US and many other countries.

ADVERTISEMENT: CONTINUE READING BELOW

Hamas triggered the conflict by attacking Israel in surprise raids on October 7, 2023, killing more than 1 200 people and taking about 250 hostages. More than 46 000 Palestinians have been killed in the subsequent Israeli military campaign, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, while much of the territory’s urban centres have been destroyed. Israel, which has lost hundreds of soldiers to the fighting, says it has killed around 20 000 Palestinian gunmen in Gaza.

The US and other G-7 nations have repeatedly urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to do more to protect civilians in Gaza, over whose plight the Israeli leader is wanted over charges of war crimes in The Hague.

© 2025 Bloomberg L.P.

Follow Moneyweb’s in-depth finance and business news on WhatsApp here.