CAIRO (Reuters) -Exiled Gaza chief Khalil Al-Hayya said on Thursday the group has received guarantees from the United States, Arab mediators, and Turkey that the war in Gaza has permanently ended.
Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas signed an agreement on Thursday to cease fire and free Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, in the first phase of U.S. President Donald Trump’s initiative to end the two-year war in Gaza that has upended the Middle East.
Under the deal, fighting will cease, Israel will partially withdraw from Gaza, and Hamas will free all remaining 48 hostages it captured in the attack that precipitated the war, in exchange for prisoners held by Israel. At the White House, Trump said he believed it would lead to “lasting peace.”
Hamas is expected to release the 20 living hostages together, 72 hours after the ceasefire begins.
Hayya, who survived an attempt by Israel to kill him and other Hamas leaders in Qatar a month ago, said the agreement Hamas signed with Israel ends the war in Gaza, opens a key crossing with Egypt, and sees the release by Israel of all jailed Palestinian women and children.
In addition, Israel will release 250 Palestinians serving long terms in Israeli prisons, as well as 1,700 others who have been arrested since the war erupted on October 7, 2023, Hayya said.
(Reporting by Nidal Al Mughrabi, Ahmed Tolba and Yomna Ehab;Editing by Rod Nickel)
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