Israel and Hamas agree to ‘first phase’ of plan to end fighting and release hostages, Trump says

WASHINGTON — Israel and Hamas have agreed to the “first phase” of his peace plan to pause fighting and release at least some hostages and prisoners, President Trump said Wednesday in announcing the outlines of the biggest breakthrough in months in the two-year-old war.

“This means that ALL of the Hostages will be released very soon, and Israel will withdraw their Troops to an agreed upon line as the first steps toward a Strong, Durable, and Everlasting Peace,” Trump wrote on social media. “All Parties will be treated fairly!”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on social media, “With God’s help we will bring them all home.” Hamas said separately that the deal would ensure the withdrawal of Israeli troops as well as allow for the entry of aid and exchange of hostages and prisoners.

Hamas plans to release all 20 living hostages this weekend, people familiar with the matter told the Associated Press, while the Israeli military will begin a withdrawal from the majority of Gaza.

Negotiators have been meeting in Egypt for days to hash out a Trump-backed peace plan that he hopes will ultimately result in a permanent end to the two-year war and bring about a sustainable peace in the region.

The initial agreement was confirmed by Israeli officials and Hamas, as well as mediator Qatar. It was not immediately clear whether the parties had made any progress on thornier questions about the future of the conflict, including whether Hamas will demilitarize, as Trump has demanded, and eventual governance of the war-torn territory.

The war began with Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that killed about 1,200 people, many of them civilians. Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has left tens of thousands of Palestinians dead, devastated Gaza and upended global politics.

A growing number of experts, including those commissioned by a U.N. body, have said that Israel’s offensive in Gaza amounts to genocide — an accusation Israel denies. More than 67,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza and nearly 170,000 wounded, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

Earlier Wednesday, Trump said that he was considering a trip to the Middle East within a matter of days, a major show of optimism as top officials from the U.S. and Qatar traveled to an Egyptian resort for the third day of negotiations to end the Israel-Hamas war.

“I may go there sometime toward the end of the week,” Trump said from the White House as he opened a roundtable event on a different matter. The trip could occur Sunday, Trump said, adding that “negotiations are going along very well.”

Yet another hint of a deal came later in that event when Secretary of State Marco Rubio passed Trump a note on White House stationery that read, “You need to approve a Truth Social post soon so you can announce deal first.” Truth Social is the president’s preferred social media platform.

The note prompted Trump to proclaim, “We’re very close to a deal in the Middle East.”

The arrival of Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, and the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, on Wednesday at Sharm el-Sheikh for the discussions, as well as Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, was a sign that negotiators aim to dive deeply into the toughest issues of an American plan to end the war in Gaza. Netanyahu’s top advisor, Ron Dermer, is also present for the talks.

Hamas says it’s seeking firm guarantees from mediators that Israel won’t resume its military campaign in the Palestinian territory after the militant group releases all the remaining hostages.

In January, the two sides had a ceasefire that brought the release of some Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. Under the agreement — which Trump and Witkoff played a major role in brokering — the two sides were then supposed to enter negotiations over a long-term truce, an Israeli withdrawal and a full hostage release.

But Israel broke the ceasefire in March, resuming its campaign of bombardment and offensives, saying it aimed to pressure Hamas for the remaining hostage releases.

Past rounds of negotiations have frequently fallen apart over the same obstacle, with Hamas demanding assurances of the war’s end and Netanyahu vowing to keep fighting until the group is destroyed. The Trump plan attempts to resolve all the issues at once, by laying out Hamas disarmament and a post-war scenario for governing the territory with provisions for a major reconstruction campaign.

Magdy writes for the Associated Press. AP reporters Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv, Israel, Bassem Mroue in Beirut, Lebanon, and Seung Min Kim and Lisa Mascaro in Washington contributed to this report.