CNN —
The first phase of the deal reached between Hamas and Israel on Wednesday includes a pause in the war and the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza and of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli custody.
But several details and the timeline of the full deal remain unclear and will be key to its success moving forward.
The deal represents the second ceasefire since the war started on October 7, 2023, when Hamas militants launched an attack into Israel, killing more than 1,200 people and taking 250 hostages, according to Israeli authorities. The military offensive launched by Israel in response has killed at least 46,645 Palestinians and injured more than 110,000 in Gaza, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
The first ceasefire, in November 2023, lasted about a week. In that period, 105 hostages being held by Hamas – primarily women, children and elderly people – were released, while Israel released about 240 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.
The current ceasefire deal is set up to progress in three distinct phases.
Phase one is expected to start at some point Sunday and last for 6 weeks. This phase will feature a ceasefire, a withdrawal of Israeli troops, a swap of hostages and prisoners and an influx of humanitarian aid into Gaza. US hostages held in Gaza will be released in that first phase, US President Joe Biden said on Wednesday.
The second and third phases are less developed, and the details will be decided during the first phase, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said in a briefing Wednesday.
“We will continue to do everything we can, everything possible together with our partners, to ensure that this deal is implemented as it’s agreed,” he said, noting that mediators had spent 411 days working on the agreement terms. “And this deal will bring us peace, hopefully, at the end of it. I believe that it all depends on the parties of the agreement acting in good faith in that agreement in order to ensure that no collapse happening to that deal.”
Hamas hailed the deal on Wednesday as a “crucial turning point.” Israel’s cabinet must still vote to approve the deal before it goes into effect.
Here’s a closer look at what’s in the current ceasefire deal and the steps ahead.
The ceasefire deal would deliver the first reprieve from war for the people of Gaza in more than a year, and only the second since the Israeli bombardment began.
The Israeli military would begin withdrawing from population centers during the first phase, but would remain along the Gaza-Egypt border, known as the Philadelphi Corridor, an Israeli official said Wednesday. Israel would also maintain a buffer zone inside Gaza along the border with Israel, the size of which has been one of the final sticking points in the negotiations.
The deal is expected to allow Palestinian civilians to return to their homes across Gaza, including in the devastated north. There would be a massive influx of humanitarian aid into the strip, where residents have long faced dire humanitarian conditions, Al Thani said.
Gaza’s wounded will also be allowed to leave the enclave to receive treatment, while aid will be allowed into the Strip with hospitals and bakeries undergoing repairs, he said.
As part of that first phase, Hamas and its allied militant groups will release 33 hostages in the first phase, including civilian and female soldiers, children, the elderly and the sick in exchange for an undisclosed number of Palestinian prisoners, Al Thani said.
Under the deal, American hostages being held by Hamas “will be part of that hostage release on phase one,” Biden said.
Hamas and its allies hold 94 people taken from Israel on October 7, 2023. Of those, at least 34 of them are dead, according to the Israeli government, though the true number is expected to be higher. Eighty-one of the hostages are men and 13 are women. Eighty-four are from Israel, while eight are from Thailand, one is from Nepal, and one is from Tanzania.
Hamas holds an additional four hostages held captive since 2014, at least two of whom are dead.
Israel holds at least 10,000 Palestinian prisoners, according to the Commission of Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society – though that number does not include an unknown number of Palestinians taken captive in Gaza. The figure of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel includes 3,376 people held under administrative detention, meaning they have had no public charges against them nor faced trial, including 95 children and 22 women.
The second and third phases of the ceasefire still have to be negotiated during the first phrase. Those negotiations would begin on the 16th day of the implementation of the deal, according to an Israeli official.
The ceasefire is not guaranteed to continue beyond the first phase of the deal. However, the official said Israel is eager to “bring all our hostages back home” and will enter negotiations to enter the second phase of the agreement in good faith, which could lead to the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
Biden said the second and third phases of the war will include a release of further hostages and beginning of Gaza’s rebuild.
“When phase two begins, there will be an exchange for release of the remaining living hostages, including male soldiers, and all remaining Israeli forces will be withdrawn from Gaza, and the temporary cease fire will become permanent,” he said.
“And finally, under phase three, any final remains of hostages who have been killed will be returned to their families, and a major reconstruction plan for Gaza will begin.”
In response to a question from CNN’s Becky Anderson, Al Thani said the US, Egypt and Qatar have put a mechanism in place to ensure neither side breaks the ceasefire.
“It will be placed in Cairo, and this follow up actually will be a joint team from the three countries that will monitor the implementation of the agreement,” he said. “Everything has been agreed upon and will be in place, hopefully, on the day of the execution.”
Al Thani said this ceasefire deal was different from the one in November 2023 that lasted just a week.
“Unfortunately, the agreement in November was very transactional. So it was like a day-by-day,” he said. “But this agreement has a clear mechanism for the first 42 days, and there is a clear mechanism to negotiate phase two and three, and all the details of the agreements will be published in the next couple of days once the details are finalized.”
