Live updates: Hamas leader says deal with Israel will ‘end the war’ in Gaza

'The hostages ar coming back': ruff reacts after Israel-Hamas initial sell

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Trump says Israel, Hamas agree to 1st phase of plan to end war in Gaza

The moment: Trump handed note about ceasefire deal being ‘close’

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In his remarks, Al-Hayya said Hamas has received guarantees from the U.S., Arab mediators and Turkey that the war on Gaza has permanently ended.

The group's leader the agreement will also see Israel’s release of all jailed Palestinian women and children, as well as the eventual reopening of the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza.

Al-Hayya did not say when that crossing would reopen. He did not speak about other terms of the deal, including whether Hamas would lay down its arms or who would govern the Gaza Strip post-war.

In a post to Telegram, Hamas said its leader Khalil al-Hayya will provide a statement on the ceasefire.

Al-Hayya was among those targeted in Israel’s attack on Hamas headquarters in Qatar last month. He is involved in indirect talks with Israel on ending the war through mediation in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.

Based in Qatar with the rest of Hamas’s leadership, al-Hayya lost his son during this war and his two other sons in previous conflicts.

Earlier, we reported that explosions were seen in Gaza, despite reports of the first phase of the peace plan having been signed by Israel and Hamas.

Israeli strikes continued today, though at a scaled-back pace in comparison to the frequency of attacks in the days before negotiations resumed this week.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said at least 11 Palestinians were killed and 49 wounded by Israeli fire and brought to hospitals in Gaza in the past 24 hours, a figure far below the daily death toll in recent weeks, which had mounted during Israel’s all-out assault on Gaza City

Last Friday, Trump had demanded Israel halt its bombing when Hamas first indicated partial acceptance for his 20-point plan. But airstrikes and shelling on Gaza, particularly in and around Gaza City, continued in the following days.

UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher says that in the last several months, aid partners have only been able to deliver 20 per cent of what’s needed to address the famine throughout the Gaza Strip.

For the past 12 hours, Fletcher says the UN has been in direct contact with Israeli officials to bring in aid from the West Bank, Jordan, Egypt and Cyprus.

Fletcher noted that the estimated 170,000 tonnes of aid is just the tip of the iceberg to address what’s needed in Gaza.

"So every government, every state, every individual who has been watching this crisis unfold and wondering, ‘What can we do? If only there is something we can do,' Now is the time to make that generosity count," he said. "And I plead with the level of kindness and generosity that, frankly, the world owes right now."

Celebrations were still going strong in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square around 8 p.m. Local time.

“I’m a skeptic. I wasn’t sure it was going to happen. I’ve been through a lot here,” Egoz said. He pointed to previous ceasefire agreements that fell through, and the fact that “people kept dying.”

“I wasn’t sure. But when I saw the happiness of people here, there was some kind of release.”

'The hostages are coming back': Trump reacts after Israel-Hamas initial deal

U.S. President Donald Trump, speaking Friday during a cabinet meeting after Israel and Hamas agreed to the first phase of a peace plan, said the hostages held by Hamas will be returned early next week. Trump, who spoke about the 'terrible' losses of Oct. 7, said Hamas also saw 'big retribution' over the course of the deadly war.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the achievement of the deal will go down as a historic moment.

“Remember a month ago, no one thought this was possible,” Rubio told Trump at the cabinet meeting.

Trump made the deal happen with “some extraordinary phone calls and meetings that required a high degree of intensity and commitment,” Rubio said

“Not only is there no other leader in the world that could have put this together, Mr. President, but frankly, I don't know of any American president in the modern era that could have made this possible,” he said.

Israelis chanted, cheered, sang and banged drums in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square after the sun set Thursday evening.

“They’re hugging, they’re handing out stickers, they have really spent the entire day here,” she said amid a pulsing crowd.

Earlier in the day, the Times of Israel described a “mix of cautious optimism and euphoria” as relatives of hostages and supporters filled the square.

“There have been so many moments of longing and suffering here,” said Misha Nataf, who told the Times he has come to the square every week since Oct. 7. €œWe came here as a corrective in order to really celebrate with everyone, and it’s really exciting,” he said.

Avi Duek, a teacher in the nearby city of Ramat Gan who came to Hostages Square with his 14-month-old son, told The Associated Press he’s cautiously excited.

“Of course, it’s not over until it’s over, but today is a day we can have a little bit more hope,” he said.

“God willing, this will be completed. First and foremost to serve the interests of the people of Gaza and the Palestinian people,” said Wael Abdullah, a resident in Ramallah, a city in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. €œEnough killing, enough destruction, enough displacement.

“But based on what we’ve seen throughout history, we know that Israelis neither keep promises nor commitments, and we fear that they might break the agreement after they retrieve their prisoners,” he told The Associated Press Thursday.

Sharon Canot, who lives in Jerusalem, said Israelis have been anxiously waiting for the hostage release.

“I really wish for it to be over, and we cannot wait for the hostages to come here,” Canot said. €œWe cried all morning … It's been two years that we are in horror.”

Opening up the aid corridor to address malnutrition and other humanitarian needs is a crucial part of the ceasefire deal. The United Nations aid chief said Thursday that 170,000 tonnes of aid was ready to go into Gaza.

More than 54,600 children under the age of five in Gaza are severely malnourished, according to a new study published in The Lancet and funded by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

The study was conducted across 16 UNRWA health centres and 78 medical sites at school shelters and tent encampments. It analyzed upper-arm measurements of children age six months to five years. Those with arm measurements of less than 125 millimetres suffer from what doctors call 'acute wasting' — the most severe and life-threatening stage of malnutrition that requires treatment.

Close to 16 per cent of children screened fit that category as of August, the study found.

The study noted that research was complicated by having to operate in an active war zone. Data collection in Rafah was temporarily halted because of military operations, for example. Researchers were also only able to take a single upper-arm measurement, which could impact the findings.

After focusing on the Gaza deal for seven minutes of the cabinet meeting, Trump did a sharp pivot to domestic political topics.

“We're here this morning for a cabinet meeting as my administration continues to deliver for the American people despite the radical left lunatics that shut down our government,” Trump said.

He continued on in this vein for 20 minutes — touching on tariffs, crime, the price of gas under Joe Biden and how Democrats “still want that transgender for everybody” — without mentioning the peace deal once, before turning the floor over to his cabinet members.

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