PinnedUpdated Oct. 8, 2025, 9:27 p.m. ETAfter months of deadlock, Israel and Hamas have reached an agreement for the release of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, a long-awaited breakthrough that could point toward an end to the two-year war in Gaza.President Trump, who helped broker the deal, said on social media Wednesday that both sides had agreed to the first phase of his plan, including that Israel would pull back its troops to an agreed-upon line.The specifics of the hostages-for-prisoner exchange and the line of Israeli withdrawal were unclear. Israel, in its initial statements, did not mention a troop pullback. Mr. Trump’s announcement came shortly before 7 p.m. in the Eastern United States — almost 2 a.m. Thursday in Israel.Qatar, one of the countries helping the negotiations, and Hamas indicated in statements that the agreement would allow for the entry of aid into Gaza.“This is a GREAT Day for the Arab and Muslim World, Israel, all surrounding Nations, and the United States of America, and we thank the mediators from Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey, who worked with us to make this Historic and Unprecedented Event happen,” Mr. Trump said on Truth Social.In late September, Mr. Trump unveiled a sweeping 20-point plan to end the war and free the remaining hostages. Under that proposal, the hostages would be exchanged for 250 Palestinians prisoners serving life sentences and 1,700 Gazans jailed by Israel during the war.“All of our hostages will be brought home,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said in a statement after Mr. Trump’s announcement, but he offered no other specifics.An official familiar with the details of the agreement, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss diplomacy, said all the living hostages, believed to number about 20, are expected to be released at once, likely on Sunday. (Mr. Trump said “probably Monday” in an interview with Fox.) The remains of up to 28 deceased hostages will be returned in stages, the official said, because it will take longer to locate some of them.Even though Israel and Hamas have now agreed to plan to exchange the last hostages for prisoners, it is still not clear whether the war will end. Mr. Netanyahu has demanded that Hamas disarm, which the militant group has publicly rejected.Mr. Netanyahu said he had spoken with Mr. Trump, and that he would convene his government on Thursday to sign off on the agreement, calling it a “great day for Israel.”Hamas in its statement called on Mr. Trump, guarantors to the agreement and others to compel Israel “to fully implement the agreement’s requirements and not allow it to evade or delay.”Here’s what else to know:Hope in Gaza: Palestinians in Gaza received the news with hope that it might finally bring their two-year-long nightmare to an end. Montaser Bahja, an English teacher displaced in Khan Younis with his family, said he felt “joy for the end of the war and the killing, and sorrow for everything we’ve lost.” Everyone, he added, was awake and glued to the news, waiting to hear when a truce might come into effect.Surviving hostages: Israel believes that about 20 hostages are still alive in Gaza and has been seeking the remains of about 25 others, out of about 250 who were captured two years ago.Talks in Egypt: The negotiations in Egypt have been taking place in Sharm el-Sheikh and on Wednesday, the Trump administration’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff joined them, along with Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law and former adviser on the region. Ron Dermer, an adviser to Mr. Netanyahu, and Qatar’s prime minister, were also present.Trump’s Deadline: On Friday, Mr. Trump warned Hamas that many more of its fighters would be killed if the group did not agree to a deal by Sunday evening. Hamas on Friday said that it would agree to release all of the hostages held in Gaza, living and dead, but wanted to negotiate elements of the plan. That evening, Mr. Trump said that he believed Hamas was “ready for a lasting peace” and called on Israel to stop bombing Gaza.Pressure on Israel: Israel’s Sept. 9 strike targeting Hamas representatives in Qatar rankled government officials both in the region and in Washington. But it also motivated an angry Mr. Trump and his advisers to pressure Mr. Netanyahu into supporting a framework for ending the war. Read more ›Two-year war: The war in Gaza began on Oct. 7, 2023, after the Hamas-led attack on Israel, in which roughly 1,200 people were killed and 250 taken hostage. Since then, the Israeli military response has killed more than 67,000 Palestinians, including both civilians and combatants, according to the Gaza health ministry, and destroyed the territory’s infrastructure.Oct. 8, 2025, 9:24 p.m. ETPresident Trump claimed he was able to bring “peace to the world” by threatening tariffs on other countries. “We’re not going to deal with people who fight,” he said on Fox News. “We’re going to put tariffs on you.”Oct. 8, 2025, 9:23 p.m. ETAsked about the next phases of the plan, President Trump answered: “I think you’re going to see Gaza being rebuilt. We’re forming a council, a Council of Peace we think it’s going to be called.” He added that he believes the council is going to be “very powerful” but did not go into specifics about how it would work.Oct. 8, 2025, 9:22 p.m. ETSenator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, an outspoken Democrat whose fervent support for Israel since the Oct. 7 attacks occasionally put him at odds with the rest of his party, praised President Trump “on this historic peace plan that releases all the hostages.” In a social media post he said that though he and the president represent different political parties the two “have a shared ironclad commitment to Israel and its people.”Oct. 8, 2025, 9:20 p.m. ETPresident Trump said the hostages would be released “probably Monday” in his interview with Fox News on Wednesday evening. “As we speak so much is happening to get the hostages freed.” One Israeli official said Israel expected the living hostages to be released on Sunday.Oct. 8, 2025, 9:16 p.m. ET“I spoke to Bibi Netanyahu just a little while ago -- he said ‘I can’t believe it, everyone’s liking me now,'” President Trump said in an interview on Fox News on Wednesday evening. “I said ‘Israel cannot fight the world Bibi, they can’t fight the world.'”Oct. 8, 2025, 9:14 p.m. ETPresident Trump hailed the deal as “peace in the Middle East” in an live interview with the Fox News host Sean Hannity on Wednesday night. “The whole world came together around this deal,” he added. Specific details of the agreement remain unclear, however, including the line of the Israeli withdrawal and whether Hamas will disarm.Oct. 8, 2025, 9:00 p.m. ETPresident Trump greeting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel at the White House last month.Credit...Doug Mills/The New York TimesPresident Trump said on Wednesday that Israel and Hamas had agreed to the initial phases of a 20-point peace plan aimed at ending their war in Gaza and bringing home hostages held in the enclave in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.Mr. Trump presented the sweeping plan during a meeting late last month at the White House with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel.The proposal called for an immediate end to the war and the release of all remaining hostages in Gaza, living and dead, in exchange for Palestinian prisoners; a pullback of Israeli troops in Gaza; and an influx of aid into the enclave, which is in the grips of a severe humanitarian crisis.But there are elements of the plan, and of Mr. Trump’s long-term vision for the enclave, that Hamas has resisted in the past, and which may yet prove to be sticking points.The proposal calls for Hamas to disarm and to have no role in the governance of Gaza. These are conditions that Israel has long demanded and that Hamas has steadfastly rejected.Under the plan, Hamas, which has governed Gaza since 2007, would be replaced by a “technocratic, apolitical Palestinian committee” overseen by a supervisory “Board of Peace,” with Mr. Trump as chairman and a leadership role for Tony Blair, the former British prime minister.According to the White House proposal, “Gaza will be a de-radicalized terror-free zone that does not pose a threat to its neighbors” and “will be redeveloped for the benefit of the people of Gaza.”The board would set a framework for the redevelopment of Gaza, including funding reconstruction for a period of time while the Palestinian Authority undergoes a “reform program” so that it can “securely and effectively take back control of Gaza.” The authority, which administers part of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, has been accused of corruption.The board is supposed to “create modern and efficient governance that serves the people of Gaza and is conducive to attracting investment.” A special economic zone is to be established, with preferred tariff and access rates to be negotiated with participating countries.Under the peace proposal, no one will be forced to leave Gaza. Those who wish to leave will be free to do so, and free to return. “We will encourage people to stay and offer them the opportunity to build a better Gaza,” the proposal says.Mr. Trump had previously suggested that Gazans could be relocated to other nations, perhaps neighboring states, a notion that drew widespread condemnation and that he has since abandoned.Under the proposal, regional partners in the Middle East will ensure that Hamas complies with its obligations, and the United States will work with Arab and international partners to develop a temporary “International Stabilization Force” to immediately deploy in Gaza.The stabilization force “will train and provide support to vetted Palestinian police forces in Gaza, and will consult with Jordan and Egypt who have extensive experience in this field,” according to the plan. That force is to work with Israel and Egypt to help secure border areas, along with newly trained Palestinian police forces.Critically, the proposal states that Israel will not occupy or annex Gaza and “will withdraw based on standards, milestones and time frames linked to demilitarization that will be agreed upon.” Far-right members of Israel’s government have called for annexation of the enclave.The United States will establish a dialogue between Israel and the Palestinians with the goal of agreeing on a political horizon for peaceful and prosperous coexistence, according to the plan.The proposal does not, however, guarantee the establishment of a Palestinian state. It says only that as Gaza redevelopment advances and the Palestinian Authority reform program is carried out, “the conditions may finally be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood, which we recognize as the aspiration of the Palestinian people.”Oct. 8, 2025, 8:55 p.m. ETAll the living hostages, believed to number about 20, are to be released at once, likely on Sunday, according to an official familiar with the details of the deal. The remains of up to 28 deceased hostages will be returned in stages, the official said, because it will take longer to locate some of them.Oct. 8, 2025, 8:32 p.m. ETIn Gaza, Palestinians received news of the planned cease-fire with hope that it might finally bring their two-year-long nightmare to an end. Montaser Bahja, an English teacher displaced in Khan Younis with his family, said he felt “a mix of joy and sadness: joy for the end of the war and the killing, and sorrow for everything we’ve lost.” Everyone, he added, was awake and glued to the news, waiting to hear when the truce might come into effect.Credit...Abdel Kareem Hana/Associated PressOct. 8, 2025, 8:14 p.m. ETMourners attend a dawn memorial service marking the two-year anniversary of the Hamas cross-border attack on Israel, in Kfar Aza, southern Israel.Credit...David Guttenfelder/The New York TimesPresident Trump has made the release of the remaining Israeli hostages held by Hamas a central part of his push for a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip.In the assault on Israel two years ago that started the war, Hamas and other militants took about 250 people captive and brought them back to Gaza, though in a few cases the hostages had already been killed and their bodies were taken back.Here is what to know about those who remain:How many hostages are in Gaza?Israel says that there are still about 20 living hostages in Gaza, along with the bodies of around 25 others.Mr. Trump’s cease-fire proposal last month called for the release of all hostages, both living and dead, within 72 hours of Israel accepting the plan. But Israel agreed nine days ago, so the timing now is unclear.Videos released by Hamas have shown captives looking emaciated and frail, shocking many Israelis and raising questions about how much longer they can survive.Hamas officials said last month that returning the bodies of dead captives would mean retrieving them from where they were buried, which would take time.What happened to the other hostages?Many of the people kidnapped on Oct. 7 have been freed in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails during two cease-fires, one in the early months of the war and a second earlier this year. At least eight other hostages were freed in Israeli military operations.More than three dozen hostages have been killed in captivity, according to an investigation by The New York Times.Seven hostages were executed by their captors as Israeli soldiers drew near, and four others died in Israeli airstrikes, according to Israeli officials and the public findings of military investigations.Three hostages were killed by Israeli soldiers who mistook them for Palestinian militants, the Israeli military has said; one was shot and killed in a crossfire. The circumstances surrounding the deaths of the others remain unclear.What does Hamas get in return?Under the Trump plan, once the hostages are freed, Israel would “release 250 life sentence prisoners plus 1,700 Gazans who were detained after Oct. 7, 2023.”“For every Israeli hostage whose remains are released, Israel will release the remains of 15 deceased Gazans,” the plan says.The timing of the Israeli prisoner releases is unclear.Oct. 8, 2025, 8:04 p.m. ETNetanyahu described the agreement as “a critical turning point,” as well as “a diplomatic success and a national and moral victory” for Israel, in a new statement. He also thanked President Trump for “his unwavering commitment to the safety of Israel and the freedom of our hostages.”Oct. 8, 2025, 8:00 p.m. ETPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has spoken with President Trump and thanked him for his efforts and his “world leadership,” according to a statement from Netanyahu’s office. “The two held a very emotional and warm conversation and congratulated each other on the historic achievement,” the statement said. Netanyahu has invited the U.S. president to address the Israeli Parliament, the statement added.Oct. 8, 2025, 7:57 p.m. ETThe hostage release is expected as soon as this weekend and preparations are already underway, an official familiar with details of the deal said.Oct. 8, 2025, 7:50 p.m. ETThe Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in statement posted to X on Wednesday the agreement had provoked “a mix of excitement, anticipation, and concern” among its members. The group expressed “profound gratitude” to President Trump, and called on the Israeli government to “convene immediately” to approve the agreement. “Any delay could exact a heavy toll on the hostages and soldiers,” the group wrote.Oct. 8, 2025, 7:46 p.m. ETIt is nearly 3 a.m. in Israel and all the main television channels here are broadcasting live, though they usually shut down for the night around midnight. Tearful relatives of hostages and former hostages were posting emotional and joyful videos on social media. “That’s it, it’s over!” Meirav Gilboa-Dalal, the mother of hostage Guy Gilboa Dallal, 24, told Channel 12 News as family members cheered in the background.Oct. 8, 2025, 7:42 p.m. ETIran had said earlier this week in a statement from its foreign ministry that it would support any decision made by Palestinians and their “resistance groups” as they negotiated with Israel on a Trump cease-fire plan. Iran has for years armed and funded Hamas as part of a regional policy that boosted regional militant groups known as the “axis of resistance’ to fight Israel. In the past two years, Israel has decimated groups like Hezbollah in Lebanon. Now if a cease-fire holds in Gaza, and Hamas disarms or retreats, it would deliver yet another blow to Iran’s regional strategy.Oct. 8, 2025, 7:36 p.m. ETHamas’s statement called on President Trump and international parties to ensure that Israel fully implements the agreement.Oct. 8, 2025, 7:30 p.m. ETIsrael’s president, Isaac Herzog, said in a post on social media that “all of Israel is with the hostages” and their families.Oct. 8, 2025, 7:29 p.m. ETWhile Israel and Hamas have agreed to an exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, it was still not clear whether the two-year-old war in Gaza would end. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted that Israel will not agree to end the war unless Hamas disarms, a demand that the militant group has publicly rejected. Statements from Hamas, Israel, President Trump and Qatar made no mention of Hamas’s arms.Credit...Saher Alghorra for The New York TimesOct. 8, 2025, 7:24 p.m. ETBenjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, just said he would convene his government on Thursday to sign off on the agreement with Hamas. He thanked President Trump and his team for helping to clinch the deal. “This is a great day for Israel,” he said in a statement. He vowed to continue to pursue “all of our goals and expand peace with our neighbours.” Netanyahu didn’t provide any more details about the arrangement, which Hamas said would lead to the end of the war.Oct. 8, 2025, 7:23 p.m. ETIn its statement on the deal, Hamas said the agreement would lead to the end of the war in Gaza and Israel’s withdrawal from the territory. President Trump said both sides had agreed to the first phase of the deal which involves a hostage and prisoner exchange and an initial Israeli military pullback.Oct. 8, 2025, 7:10 p.m. ETIsrael’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, issued a terse statement, saying only, “With God’s help, we will bring them all home,” an apparent reference to the hostages being held in Gaza. The statement did not provide additional insight, nor did it explicitly state that Israel had signed on to the plan, though it suggested as much and followed shortly after Trump’s post.Oct. 8, 2025, 7:10 p.m. ETDr. Majed Al Ansari, a spokesman for Qatar’s foreign ministry, one of the countries mediating between Hamas and Israel in the indirect negotiations, said on Wednesday evening that “an agreement was reached on all the provisions and implementation mechanisms of the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement, which will lead to ending the war, the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, and the entry of aid.” He noted that “details will be announced later.”Credit...Mahmud Hams/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesOct. 8, 2025, 7:08 p.m. ETPresident Trump announced on Truth Social on Wednesday night that Israel and Hamas “have both signed off on the first Phase of our Peace Plan,” declaring that all remaining hostages “will be released very soon.” He said that Israeli troops will be withdrawn from an “agreed-upon line” but his statement left open the question of what comes next and whether Hamas would agree to fully disarm and surrender any claim of control over Gaza.Oct. 8, 2025, 5:48 p.m. ETDavid E. SangerDavid E. Sanger has covered five American presidents and frequently writes about superpower conflict, the subject of his latest book.President Trump at a meeting at the White House on Wednesday.Credit...Anna Rose Layden for The New York TimesPresident Trump said Wednesday that negotiations over a cease-fire in Gaza and the release of Israeli hostages being held by Hamas were “going very well,” and raised the possibility he may head to the Mideast over the weekend, presumably to mark a cease-fire and release of hostages.His enthusiasm was bolstered late in the afternoon, during a public event in the East Room, when he was handed a note by Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggesting that negotiators in Egypt were “very close” — the words were underlined — and asked Mr. Trump to “approve a Truth Social post soon so you can announce deal first.”The president’s comments, combined with Mr. Rubio’s note, caught by the long lens of an Associated Press photographer, were the most definitive suggestion yet that the two-year-long conflict may be about to pause, if not end. It began with the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel, killing roughly 1,100 Israelis, and Israel has since claimed tens of thousands of Palestinian lives in Gaza. But the president did not provide specifics about the negotiations, where he is represented by his special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and by his son-in-law, Jared Kushner.“I may go there,” he said, first suggesting he could leave on Sunday, and immediately correcting himself to suggest his departure could be Saturday evening.“I’ll be going to Egypt,” he said, referring to the country where the negotiations between Israel and Hamas are underway, coaxed along by Arab states and the United States, which is represented by Mr. Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner.But he added he would be “making the rounds,’’ which seemed to suggest he might visit Israel, to celebrate the release of the remaining living hostages, and the bodies of the dead; their freedom is supposed to be the first step in the president’s 20-point plan. Asked if he would go into ruins of Gaza — a place where it would be hard to secure his safety — he said “I may do that.”Mr. Trump has made no secret of the fact that he is lobbying for the Nobel Peace Prize, which was won by three sitting American presidents, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson and Barack Obama. (Jimmy Carter won one in 2002, decades after he left the White House.)While he has cited more than a half-dozen conflicts in which he claims to have been the driving force for peace agreements, or cessations of conflict, he would be able to make a good case that he was the driving force of a Gaza agreement.His 20-point plan was both more comprehensive and better considered than many of his early foreign policy initiatives. “This cease-fire and hostage release — if it happens — only came to fruition because of Trump’s willingness to pressure Prime Minister Netanyahu,’’ said Aaron David Miller of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, who has often been critical of Mr. Trump’s starts and stops in the Mideast. “No president — Republican or Democrat — has ever come down harder on an Israeli prime minister on issues so critically important to his politics or his country’s security interests.”Last week Mr. Trump essentially forced Mr. Netanyahu to accept the 20-point plan, including the pullback of Israeli troops in Gaza and the creation of a technocratic, Palestinian-led governing group for the region. He told the Israeli prime minister he could not annex the West Bank or drive all Palestinians out of Gaza.