How did we reach the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas in Gaza?

Israel and Hamas have agreed to a ceasefire in Gaza and a deal to release hostages, the United States and Qatari mediators said.

If the Israeli cabinet and government formally approve the agreement, which has not yet been concluded, the first six-week phase will take effect on January 19.

The agreement follows 15 months of fighting between Israel and Hamas, a Palestinian armed group and political movement.

The current conflict began when hundreds of Hamas fighters stormed Israel’s southern border on October 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages back to Gaza.

Israel responded with a military campaign, beginning with an immediate aerial bombardment and then a full-scale ground invasion launched on October 27. Since then, Israel has attacked targets across Gaza by land, sea and air, while Hamas has attacked Israel with rockets.

More than 46,700 people – mostly civilians – have been killed by Israeli attacks, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza.

Here is a reminder of the key events of the negotiations.

2023

October 7: Hundreds of Hamas-led gunmen launch an unprecedented attack on southern Israel, breaching the border fence and targeting neighboring communities, police stations and military bases. Around 1,200 people are killed and 251 hostages taken back to Gaza. Hamas also fires thousands of rockets into Israel. The Israeli army immediately responds with air and artillery strikes on Gaza.

October 27: Israel launches ground invasion of Gaza. Israel’s massive military campaign will continue to devastate Gaza, displacing most of the 2.3 million residents and killing more than 46,000 people, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry.

November 21: A deal brokered by the United States, Qatar and Egypt calls for Hamas to release 105 hostages in exchange for some 240 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails during a week-long ceasefire. Israel and Hamas blame each other for causing the truce to break.

December 28: Shuttle diplomacy on a new ceasefire agreement and hostage release begins.

2024

May 31: US President Joe Biden describes a Israeli proposal for a three-phase ceasefire in exchange for the release of Israeli hostages. It formed the basis of the agreement reached eight months later.

June 10: The United Nations Security Council adopts a resolution support the ceasefire plan.

July 31: Talks are suspended following the assassination of Israel of Hamas political leader and chief negotiator Ismail Haniyeh in the Iranian capital, Tehran. Discussions resumed two weeks later, initially in the absence of Hamas.

October 17: Israeli forces kill Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in southern Gaza. Netanyahu calls this the “beginning of the end” of the war.

November 9: After months without a breakthrough, Qatar suspends its efforts as a mediator in negotiations. He says Israel and Hamas must change their positions. Both sides blame each other for the impasse.

November 20: United States vetoes a project UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire, saying it “abandons” the need for “a link between a ceasefire and the release of hostages.”

November 27: Israel agree to a ceasefire with Lebanon to end a 13-month conflict with the armed group Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas, triggered by the Gaza war. This revives hopes for a deal in Gaza, with Biden saying he will make further efforts with regional powers.

December 2: US President-elect Donald Trump says there will be “hell to pay” if the hostages still held in Gaza are not released by his return to the White House on January 20, 2025.

December 17: A senior Palestinian official says indirect talks are in a “decisive and final phase”, while Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz says a deal is closer than ever.

2025

January 13: Biden and Netanyahu speak by phone about negotiations during Biden’s final week in office, after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said an agreement was “very close” and that he hoped to “cross the finish line” before Trump took office.

January 15: The Prime Minister of Qatar said that Israel and Hamas had agreed to a ceasefire agreement and the release of hostages in Gaza, and that the agreement would come into force on January 19. Biden says he will “stop the fighting in Gaza, increase much-needed humanitarian aid to Palestinian civilians, and reunite hostages with their families.”