Israeli Security Cabinet Meets to Discuss Gaza Deal
BBC News
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A ceasefire in Gaza will begin within 24 hours of Israeli cabinet approval, an Israeli government spokeswoman says
Israel's cabinet and security cabinet are currently meeting, and are widely expected to sign-off on the plan
The first phase of a deal was signed by Israel and Hamas earlier today in Egypt
As well as the ceasefire, it will also see Hamas release Israeli hostages; Israel release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners; Israeli troops beginning to withdraw from parts of Gaza; and hundreds of trucks of aid a day entering Gaza
Israel says the hostage release will begin within 72 hours of the ceasefire starting
Palestinians in Gaza and hostage families in Israel have been celebrating the breakthrough, which was announced late on Wednesday by President Trump
This is a major moment – but it's a ceasefire, not a peace deal, writes Lyse Doucet. The toughest of issues are still on the table
Edited by Tinshui Yeung and Jamie Whitehead, with reporting from Alice Cuddy, Yolande Knell and Hugo Bachega in Jerusalem
The Israeli security cabinet is now meeting to discuss Gaza ceasefire plans ahead of a vote, according to the Israeli government spokesperson earlier.
They'll be in discussions for an hour, before the government meets again.
We'll bring you updates as soon as we have them.
Mallory Moench
BBC News
Doa'a Karawan told me from Gaza this morning, reacting to the ceasefire deal news, that the war was "two years too long".
"I feel exhausted and tired. We lost our small Strip with lives and buildings. I am satisfied that all has stopped," she says, adding she never imagined they would survive.
"It was devastating at all levels."
The charity worker from Gaza City was displaced to Deir al-Balah. Now she faces uncertainty about returning in the future.
"I don’t know till now if my home still stands or not," she says. "I pray to God to have at least a room and bath."
Alice Cuddy
Reporting from Tel Aviv
I've been catching up with Efrat Machikawa, whose uncle Gadi Moses was released in the ceasefire earlier this year.
“I woke up early, at around 04:00 because I’ve barely slept for 733 days, and I saw so many messages waiting for me on WhatsApp – this is how I found out [about the deal],” she says.
Efrat tells me she was thinking earlier about the day of her uncle’s release in January.
“I can still feel it – the expectation, the excitement.”
But while she is feeling “joyful”, she says today is only a “first step”.
“It will bring some healing to the state of Israel, to our communities and our family as well… but we have to be realistic,” she says, speaking of the trauma here.
“For the last 733 days, I have ended every interview with ‘light shall overcome the darkness’," she says. "The meaning of today is the rising of a ray of light that will take over the darkness. It’s the beginning of that step.”
More now from Israeli prime minister's office spokesperson Shosh Bedrosian.
She says a ceasefire will begin in Gaza within 24 hours after this evening's Israeli cabinet meeting – if those at the table agree to the terms of phase one, which was approved in Egypt this morning.
Earlier, our Gaza correspondent reported that the ceasefire was expected to take effect immediately once approved by the Israeli government.
In her media briefing, Bedrosian set out a timeline of events.
At 17:00 local time (15:00 BST), there will be a cabinet meeting, followed an hour later by a government meeting.
"Within 24 hours after the cabinet meeting takes place, a ceasefire will then begin in Gaza," Bedrosian says.
After that, she says the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) will redeploy to a line, which will lead to the military controlling and holding about 53% of the Gaza Strip.
After this, there will be a 72-hour window for Hamas to release the remaining hostages back into Israel, she adds.
We're just hearing from an Israeli government spokeswoman, who confirms that a final draft of phase one of the deal was signed by all parties this morning.
This follows intense negotiations between Hamas and Israel in Egypt.
Shosh Bedrosian has just been speaking at a news briefing – we'll bring you more details in later posts.
By Richard Irvine-Brown and Emma Pengelly
People in Gaza have been posting short videos on SnapChat this morning with some celebrating the possibility of a ceasefire.
However, one video which we have located in Gaza City at dawn shows smoke rising from a possible explosion with the caption: “The war is supposed to be over.”
Whoever filmed it was taking cover and aircraft can be heard overhead. We can confirm it was filmed a block south of Omar al Mukhtar Street near Zeitoun at around dawn. The video’s timecode and the low sun in the east correspond with sunrise at 06:40 local time.
International journalists are banned from the Gaza Strip and SnapChat is one of several sites we look at to get the latest pictures. It is one of the most popular social media sites in the Middle East and has a helpful geotagging feature.
If a user allows Snap to access their device location, their videos are – generally – uploaded to a map in the approximate location of where it was filmed.
This helps us see posts from across Gaza in recent hours including scenes of celebration in Deir al-Balah but also people displaced by the fighting queuing for water in al-Mawasi.
While a ceasefire is very likely, as our correspondent Yolande Knell wrote, Israeli attacks in Gaza are still reportedly under way.
The images below are from Reuters, which says they show smoke rising from Gaza and an Israeli helicopter firing as it flew over the territory earlier this morning – after Trump's announcement.
In a text message early this morning on the US East Coast, President Trump gave a status update to the BBC’s US news partner, CBS.
Trump says he remains confident as the day begins and, as of this morning, things are still moving forward on the peace deal.
When asked if he’s confident that peace can be secured and that Hamas and Netanyahu will work towards that, Trump replies: "Yes, very much so."
Top sources close to the president tell CBS that Trump is talking repeatedly in private about how to end "all the death" and the carnage, and has told some associates that his presidency might be remembered for his pursuit of peace, more than anything else.
The sources add that the president knows how difficult it will be for the ceasefire and hostage release to happen, but believes it will move on.
"You did it!" – that's what hostage families are saying on the phone, thanking US President Trump for the peace deal.
There isn't a dry eye in the room as Trump tells them the hostages are "all coming back on Monday", which brings cheers and applause.
As a reminder, there are 48 hostages still in captivity in Gaza, and 20 are believed to still be alive.
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Trump tells hostage families their loved ones will return on Monday
As the US wakes up, the first we're hearing from US President Donald Trump is a stream of thank you messages on his Truth Social platform.
"United States Ambassador Mike Huckabee is AMAZING! He worked so hard, and did so much, to bring about Peace in the Middle East. He has very quickly become a Great Man. Thank you Mike!" the president writes.
He also thanks Congressman Brian Mast and Eylon Levy for comments they made about the deal on Fox News. Earlier, Levy, a former Israeli government spokesperson, told the US outlet that Trump "made the impossible possible" by securing the release of hostages.
"A great day in the Middle East!" Trump writes.
As we've been reporting, many Gazans are relieved and optimistic at the news that a ceasefire has been agreed between Israel and Hamas.
Although the ceasefire is yet to come into effect – and crucial details of the deal are still to be worked out – there were jubilant scenes on the streets of Khan Younis in the south, where families huddled round televisions to take in the news.
Tom Bennett
Reporting from Jerusalem
"We, the civilians, are the ones who've suffered, truly suffered," Daniel Abu Tabeekh from Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza tells the BBC.
"The factions don't feel our pain. Those leaders sitting comfortably abroad have no sense of the suffering we're enduring here in Gaza," he says.
"Whether it’s Trump or anyone else, we thank anyone who extended a hand to the people of Gaza."
Daniel says he has no home and has been living on the streets for a year and a half.
"I’m waiting," he says. "I left my wife and children in Hamad City, and I’m just waiting for the moment I can go back to our apartment."
Despite some points still being unclear, James Elder, spokesperson for Unicef in Gaza, says he’s seeing “for the first time in a long time” a “sense of relief” from people there.
“There’s an immense amount of relief right now. You can’t overstate how Palestinians have been pushed to the edge physically and psychologically,” he says.
But he says that as well as seeing smiles, “I’m also seeing emaciated children”.
There’s a lot to be done, Elder says, and today “is a very, very important beginning”.
Following Lyse Doucet's analysis, let's take a quick look at what's still unclear about the plan for Gaza right now.
What's been agreed is a plan that includes a ceasefire, the release of hostages, Israeli troops withdrawing from part of Gaza, and the entry of aid.
But that only covers part of the original 20-point peace plan created by the US.
While it's a big step forward, some key details were left out.
Notably, there are no details about the disarmament of Hamas – a key point in Trump's plan.
Hamas has previously refused to lay down its weapons, saying it would only do so when a Palestinian state is established.
The future governance of Gaza is also a sticking point.
Trump's plan says Hamas will have no future role in the Strip and proposes it be temporarily governed by a "technocratic, apolitical Palestinian committee", before being handed over to the Palestinian Authority.
Netanyahu appeared to push back on the Palestinian Authority's involvement last week, even as he accepted Trump's plan.
Hamas said today: "We will never abandon our people’s national rights until freedom, independence, and self-determination are achieved".
Lyse Doucet
Chief international correspondent
It is a major moment in this most grievous Gaza war. Most of all, it is a human moment.
The first sparks tell this story: the dancing in the dark in Tel Aviv's Hostages Square, the eruption of joy in the dead of night in the ruined streets of Gaza.
But even now some details, including the names of the Palestinian detainees to be freed, are being argued over. And there's strident opposition to this agreement inside Israel's cabinet.
It is a ceasefire, not a peace deal. The toughest of issues are still on the table.
Will Hamas agree to give up its guns? Will Israel eventually pull its troops out of Gaza? What about the vague "political horizon" mentioned in US President Donald Trump's 20-point plan, which much of the world translates as the establishment of a Palestinian state and which Israel's government still firmly rejects?
And, more immediately, will both sides implement their side of this agreement?
Those are issues for tomorrow.
How did the Gaza deal come together, and where could it lead? Our correspondents will be answering your questions live right here at 16:30 BST.
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The head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (Unrwa) is urging key parties to support the agency so it can get aid into Gaza.
Philippe Lazzarini says Unrwa has got medicines and basic supplies ready, along with enough food for the entire population for the next three months.
The agency had been banned by Israel from operating within the country and occupied East Jerusalem.
The UN and its partners are "once again scaling up humanitarian operations in Gaza", according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
"This nightmare has gone on too long. But now, there’s a chance – a real chance – to turn the tide. Every minute counts. Let this be the moment we choose humanity," it writes.
France will hold a meeting in Paris on Thursday with Arab and European nations to discuss “day after” plans for Gaza if the ceasefire goes ahead.
Ministers from Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE will attend, along with representatives from the UK, Italy, Germany, Spain, Turkey and the EU – but not Israel.
"This meeting will enable work on the implementation of the peace plan and the framework for the 'day after' by specifying the aspects of a collective commitment," France’s foreign ministry says in a statement.
Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar says the meeting is “concocted behind Israel’s back”.
"The invitation of openly hostile governments toward Israel…to discuss Israel’s affairs is especially outrageous," he adds.
Tensions between Israel and several countries have been strained after some, including France, recently announced they would formally recognise a Palestian state.
Up to 1,950 Palestinian prisoners and detainees from Gaza could be released under Trump's plan, a Palestinian source tells the BBC.
This would include around 250 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and 1,700 Gaza detainees.
Palestinian prisoners were freed in February 2025 as part of a ceasefire deal at the time
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