With the approval, a ceasefire now comes into immediate effect, two Israeli officials told CNN, speaking on condition of anonymity. However, it is not clear if the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office has given the order to the Israel Defense Forces to cease fire.
Earlier, Israeli tanks opened fire in at least one part of the Gaza Strip. At least 30 people have been killed in the enclave since the deal was announced yesterday, according to a Palestinian health official.
Here’s everything we’ve learned so far:
Role of the United States:
The United States is sending 200 troops to monitor the plan’s implementation, a senior US official said. The troops will join soldiers from Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. “No US troops are intended to go into Gaza,” another official said.
Trump personally assured interlocutors of his commitment as a guarantor of his Gaza plan, an official said.
The deal remains a fragile arrangement and the plan could still fall apart amid mutual distrust between Hamas and Israel, senior US officials acknowledged.
Trump instructed special envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner to “get it done” on a Gaza deal before they departed for Egypt, according to senior US officials. The top negotiators traveled to Sharm el-Sheikh once they sensed that Hamas wanted to finalize a deal and the group no longer saw the hostages as an advantage.
Hamas: Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan said a “formal declaration” ending the war in Gaza must be made for a hostage release to take place. “It is not merely Hamas’s position. And this is what the Israelis have signed up to,” he said. Take a look at other key points in Hamdan’s interview.
Outstanding issues: Negotiations are ongoing for the list of Palestinian prisoners to be released under the deal, according to an Israeli source. Trump said the remaining hostages will be released from Gaza on Monday or Tuesday next week, and that he is still aiming to travel to the region. He projected optimism that any outstanding issues will be sorted out, even as he declined to take a position on an eventual Palestinian state and acknowledged Hamas may not be able to produce all the bodies of deceased hostages.
Aid ready: Some 170,000 metric tons of food, medicine, and other supplies are ready to be surged into Gaza, the UN emergency relief coordinator said
