A deal to end the conflict is said to be close. A ceasefire deal for Gaza is said to be the closest it has been for months – with a truce also allowing the freeing of hostages still held by Hamas. Hamas killed around 1,200 people in a terror attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, and abducted another 250. Some 100 Israelis are still being held captive inside the Gaza Strip, and the military believes at least a third of them are dead.
![[Supporters of Israeli hostages, kidnapped during the deadly October 7 2023 attack by Hamas, demand a deal as they protest amid ongoing negotiations for a ceasefire in Gaza, in Tel Aviv]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/14/03/2025-01-13T183911Z_700644963_RC269CAAT37I_RTRMADP_3_ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS-GAZA-CEASEFIRE-PROTEST.jpg)
Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 46,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were combatants. A week before US President-elect Donald Trump takes over from President Joe Biden, officials said a breakthrough had been achieved in talks in Doha and agreement could be near.
![[Luis Har, left, hugs his relatives after being rescued from captivity in the Gaza Strip]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/08/05/Israel_Hostages_Another_Winter_44607.jpg)
Here is everything we know about the draft deal as the future of the Middle East hangs in the balance:. In the first stage, 33 hostages would be set free. These include children, women including female soldiers, men above 50 and the wounded and sick. Israel believes most are alive but has had no official confirmation from Hamas.
![[Civilians check the site of an Israeli strike in Jabalia, in the central Gaza Strip]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/27/09/2190897485.jpg)
The first stage would last up to 60 days. If it proceeds as planned, on the 16th day from the deal taking effect, negotiations would start on a second stage during which the remaining living hostages - male soldiers and younger civilian males - would be released and the bodies of dead hostages returned.
![[An Israeli soldier as smoke billows in the Gaza Strip]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/13/17/1858851167.jpg)
In return for the hostages, Israel will free from its jails more than 1,000 Palestinians held in Israeli jails, including convicts serving long sentences for deadly attacks. Where the prisoners would be sent has not yet been agreed but anyone convicted of murder or deadly attacks would not be released to the occupied West Bank.
