PinnedA senior Biden administration official outlined the exchange formula used for hostages held by Hamas and Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. Under the deal, 33 hostages will be released in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
Hamas holds nearly 100 Israeli hostages, and the Israeli military believes about a third are dead.
There is an equation for the number of prisoners needed to free certain hostages, referred to in the negotiation as “keys,” the official told reporters during a press call on Wednesday.
While American and Qatari leaders have announced a cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the deal is still not finalized.
Netanyahu said in a statement on Jan. 15 that the final details are still being worked out.
He added that he will only issue a formal statement “after the final details of the agreement, which are currently being worked on, are completed.”
A senior Biden administration official said a cease-fire in the Israel–Hamas war was determined to be impossible as long as Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar remained in charge of the Gaza Strip.
Authorities concluded this last summer when it became clear that Sinwar was not interested in making a deal, the official said in a press call Wednesday. After Hamas refused a cease-fire proposal in August 2024, the group killed several hostages in a tunnel underneath Rafa, including Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin.
“Obviously that event set back any effort, say the least, to pursue a hostage deal,” the official said. “And we basically concluded that so long as Yahya Sinwar was alive, we are not going to get a deal for a cease-fire, hostage release.”
A senior Biden administration official confirmed that five female Israeli soldiers will be released in the first wave of hostage–prisoner exchange beginning as early as Jan. 19.
“These are women Israeli soldiers who have been living in horrific conditions for a year and a half, and we hope to see them coming out and being returned to their families,” the official said. “On Sunday, they will be exchanged for a number of Palestinian Prisoners."
The official also said that negotiating teams on both sides have gone through the list of prisoners and hostages and “there is now no question” on which hostages will be released.
The two Americans that are expected be freed in the first phase of the cease-fire are Keith Siegel and Sagui Dekel-Chen, a Biden administration official told reporters on Wednesday.
In total, 33 hostages being held in Gaza will be released by Hamas for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners being held by Israel during the six-week deal. If negotiations continue after this time, the cease-fire will remain in place.
There will be a meeting in the Egyptian capital of Cairo on Friday to discuss how the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas will be implemented, a BIden administration official told reporters in a press call.
This includes provisions related to the cease-fire, humanitarian aid to Gaza, and the release of hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza as well as Palestinian prisoners.
Former President Barack Obama called the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas “good news.”
The agreement includes a swap of hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza for Palestinian prisoners. It consists of three phases with the ultimate aim being a permanent end of the war, which began when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
“The ceasefire and hostage release deal announced between Israel and Hamas is good news – for the families of the hostages taken on October 7th, for the Palestinian civilians who have suffered for more than a year, and for everyone who has prayed for an end to this awful chapter,” Obama posted on social media platform X.
A deal has been struck between Israel and Hamas to temporarily stop the fighting and exchange hostages being held by both Hamas and Israel.
Here is what we know so far about the agreement:
While announcing the Israel–Hamas cease-fire deal on Wednesday, President Joe Biden said the negotiations have proven the most difficult of his political career.
“I worked in foreign policy for decades,” he said. “This is one of the toughest negotiations I've ever experienced. And we reached this point because of the pressure that Israel built on Hamas backed by the United States.”
Biden referenced his administration’s efforts to build a multi-national coalition to stop Iran’s attacks on Israel and destroy Iranian air defenses without further escalating the war.
President Joe Biden said that the details of the cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas will be revealed soon, and the first phase will include the release of American hostages.
The first phase will take effect on Sunday, and hostages being held by Hamas will be released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, the president said.
The six-week cease-fire will allow time for negotiations to bring about a permanent end to the war, Biden said. He added if negotiations take longer than six weeks the ceasefire would continue as long as talks continue.
President Joe Biden briefed the nation on the cease-fire deal Wednesday afternoon, saying that his people and the incoming Trump administration have been “speaking as one team” in recent days on making the deal a reality.
“I told my team to coordinate closely with the incoming team to make sure we're all speaking with the same voice because that's what American presidents do,” Biden said, acknowledging that it will ultimately be the incoming Trump administration that will be responsible for implementing the deal.
President-elect Donald Trump is set to be inaugurated on Jan. 20, and Biden said he is confident that the incoming administration will uphold the terms of the deal.
A spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will not be withdrawing from a crucial corridor along the border between Gaza and Egypt.
"The reports of a 'withdrawal from the Philadelphi axis' are a complete lie. Prime Minister Netanyahu did not give up a millimeter of Israeli control over the Philadelphi axis," posted Omri Dostri on social media platform X on Wednesday.
President Joe Biden released a statement on Wednesday confirming that a hostage and cease-fire deal has been reached between Israel and Hamas.
“I laid out the precise contours of this plan on May 31, 2024, after which it was endorsed unanimously by the UN Security Council,” he said. “It is the result not only of the extreme pressure that Hamas has been under and the changed regional equation after a ceasefire in Lebanon and weakening of Iran—but also of dogged and painstaking American diplomacy.
“My diplomacy never ceased in their efforts to get this done.”
The Israel–Hamas hostage and cease-fire deal will take effect on Sunday, announced Qatar’s foreign minister, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim bin Jabr Al Thani, who also serves as the country’s prime minister.
Nonetheless, “with the approval of both negotiating sides, work continues tonight to complete the executive aspects,” he said.
Qatar has been acting as an intermediary between Israel and Hamas in the negotiations.
As the news of a possible Israel–Hamas cease-fire deal spread, U.S. lawmakers on both sides of the aisle celebrated the news, although some expressed caution.
Republicans were quick to credit the return of President-elect Donald Trump to the White House.
Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) shared Trump’s initial announcement of the deal on social media platform X, calling it “The Trump Effect.” Waltz is Trump's incoming national security adviser.
The families of hostages being held by Hamas expressed caution and hope amid the reported Israel–Hamas cease-fire and hostage deal.
“The coming days and weeks will be just as painful for our families as the entirety of our loved ones’ horrific ordeals,” said some of the families in a statement.
“That is why we ask all parties to stay committed to this agreement, every phase until it is fully implemented and everyone has been returned.”
The reported cease-fire and hostage deal would consist of some hostages being released in exchange for a pause in the war between Israel and Hamas, according to The Associated Press, which cited three unnamed U.S. officials.
The deal will take effect in the coming days, the officials told the AP.
President Joe Biden is scheduled to address the reported deal Wednesday afternoon.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has called the reported hostage and cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas “welcome news.”
“A cease-fire is very good news for Israel, for America, for the Palestinian people, and particularly for the hostage families who have waited so long in agony,” he said on the Senate floor on Wednesday.
“A cease-fire will reduce violence in Gaza and harm to innocent civilians,” he continued. “It couldn't have happened without steadfast diplomacy and until the potency of Hamas was radically reduced.
Trump Says Cease-fire Deal Reached
The Israel–Hamas hostage and cease-fire agreement is not a done deal, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.
Hamas backed down on a last-minute demand that the Israeli military “change the deployment of forces on the Philadelphi corridor,” which is on the Egypt–Gaza border, according to a statement from the prime minister's office, citing “Netanyahu's firm stance.”
“I am thrilled American and Israeli hostages will be returning home to be reunited with their families and loved ones.”
The deal if consummated will mark a way out of a war that has lasted more than 15 months so far. It would mark a halt to the relentless violence that began with Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israeli communities and military bases near the Gaza border.
Trump credited his own representative on the negotiations and made no mention of those from Biden’s administration.
“With this deal in place, my national security team, through the efforts of Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, will continue to work closely with Israel and our allies to make sure Gaza never again becomes a terrorist safe haven,” Trump wrote.
“We will continue promoting peace through strength throughout the region, as we build upon the momentum of this ceasefire to further expand the historic Abraham Accords. This is only the beginning of great things to come for America, and indeed, the world!”
Thousands of terrorists penetrated Israel’s border defenses that day, in some cases paragliding over them. They killed 1,200 people, mostly Jewish civilians but also non-Jewish Israelis and foreign farmworkers. The attackers outmatched troops at bases that were lightly manned on a Saturday that was both the Sabbath and a Jewish holiday.
The terrorists heavily damaged certain communities such as the Kfar Aza and Be'eri kibbutzes, murdering entire families, raping, setting buildings on fire, beheading people, setting bodies on fire, and even killing family dogs. They killed more than 300 attendees at the Nova music festival—an event promoting peace and love at a site near the border. They took 250 hostages and wounded thousands.
The IDF immediately began mobilizing for a counterattack. Ground operations began on Oct. 13, 2023, with a full-scale invasion on Oct. 27.
Israel’s ground forces, artillery, and air attacks have laid waste to the 140-square-mile coastal strip, leaving much of it uninhabitable.
Gaza civilians face shortages of food, with many relief shipments from Israel or abroad diverted by Hamas. Many people have had to evacuate multiple times, often after IDF warnings about buildings or areas designated for attack.
Gaza’s health authorities—who do not distinguish between civilians and terrorists—said last week that more than 46,000 people have been killed in the conflict. The IDF has said it has killed over 17,000 militants, with many of the remaining casualties being civilians who were used as human shields as militants hid in residential areas, shelters, schools, and hospitals. The IDF has also accused Gaza of inflating the numbers with people who died of natural causes.