Biden says Israel, Hamas have reached ceasefire deal after ‘intensive diplomacy’
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The deal was reached after negotiations involving representatives of both the Biden and incoming Trump administrations. The 15-month-old war that began with the October 7, 2023 terror attacks on Israel by Hamas will come to an end with a ceasefire deal brokered by the United States with the aid of the Egyptian and Qatari governments, President Joe Biden has said.
In a statement, the president said the agreement had been the product of “intense diplomacy” and would “halt the fighting in Gaza, surge much needed-humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians, and reunite the hostages with their families after more than 15 months in captivity.”.
The agreement, which Biden called a result of both “the extreme pressure that Hamas has been under and the changed regional equation after a ceasefire in Lebanon and weakening of Iran” and “dogged and painstaking American diplomacy,” tracks the details first laid out in a United Nations Security Council-endorsed plan put forth by the United States last year.
It provides for the release of dozens of living hostages still held by Hamas — plus the remains of hostages who’ve died in captivity — in phases, while Israel will in turn release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and permit the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who’ve been forced from their homes to return.
Humanitarian aid would also be permitted to surge into the territory to meet the needs of the millions who’ve been cut off from reliable food and medical supplies during the course of the conflict, and Israeli forces will carry out a full withdrawal from Gaza as part of the deal.
