Israel and Hamas have finally reached a ceasefire deal after more than a year of devastating conflict in the Palestinian territory of Gaza.

While negotiators in Qatar announced an agreement had been reached on Wednesday evening, it is not yet set in stone as the Israeli cabinet have still to vote in favour of it.

Here’s what you need to know.

Recap: How did the Israel-Hamas war start?

While tensions between the two sides have been high ever since the state of Israel was established in 1948, this particular war started on October 7, 2023.

Hamas militants, backed by the Iranian regime, crossed into Israeli land and killed 1,200 people and took a further 251 others hostage.

Israel declared war on Gaza – where Hamas is based – and launched a land offensive, locking down the Palestinian territory borders and bombarding the territory with missiles.

The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says there have been more than 46,600 deaths in the region since the war began. 

But, according to an independent study published in The Lancet, this is an underestimate. The researchers claim Israeli forces have killed more than 64,000 people in Gaza since October 2023.

The vast majority of the territory’s 2.3 million population has also been displaced due to the war, with little food, fuel, medicine or shelter due to the Israeli obstruction of aid at Gaza’s borders.

As of January 15, it is believed there are 94 Israeli people still being held in Gaza, 34 of whom are presumed dead.

The war also increased tensions between Israel and other Iranian proxies across the Middle East, including Lebanon-based Hezbollah and the Houthis in Yemen.

Israel and Lebanon reached a ceasefire deal in November 2024.

What are the terms of the new ceasefire agreement?

If signed off, the deal will come into effect from Sunday – meaning fighting continues on the ground right now – and there will be three phases.

Stage 1

The first six-week phase will see 33 Hamas hostages – children, women, the elderly, the sick and injured – released.

In exchange, Israel will free a large number of Palestinian prisoners, including around 1,000 who were detained after the October 7 attacks.

Once the deal is agreed to, the names of all those due for release – some of whom are serving time for murder or terrorism – will be published and the families of any victims will have 48 hours to appeal.

Israeli troops will then begin withdrawing from built up urban areas and relocating to buffer zones which are no more than 700 metres inside Gaza’s border with Israel.

However, that could exclude Israel’s 4km militarised belt across the middle of the territory which is meant to control movement in Gaza. That withdrawal will be staggered.

Israel will also allow displaced Palestinians in the south to head north again, and up to 600 trucks of aid may be permitted into the area, which is currently in the throes of a major humanitarian crisis.

It’s not clear if displaced Gazans will be screened before returning to their homes, as Israeli negotiators had asked.

Wounded civilians will also be allowed to leave the territory for treatment.

The Rafah crossing with Egypt will be opened a week after the first phase begins.

Israeli forces would be able to stay near the Gaza-Egypt border in the Philadelphi Corridor temporarily, but will have to withdraw completely by the 50th day after the deal comes into effect.

Stage 2

The subsequent two stages would be negotiated once the first stage of the ceasefire has started – meaning sustained peace is still pretty precarious.

It’s thought Hamas may agree to release the remaining living captives and Israel would free further Palestinian prisoners while also completely withdrawing from Gaza.

They have been agreed to in principle and mediators in Egypt, Qatar and the US promised Hamas the subsequent stages would be agreed to before stage 1′s six weeks is up.

However, Israel has refused to offer a written guarantee that it would not resume its attacks after the first phase, when the Hamas captives are returned.

The far-right members of Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet could also refuse to any such further agreements, as they have previously called for the PM to push his troops forward in Gaza until Hamas are fully defeated.

Stage 3

This is yet to be hashed out, but will most likely see all the remaining bodies of the Hamas hostages who died in captivity returned.

A three to five year reconstruction plan for Gaza may also be on the cards, overseen by international authorities.

It remains unclear exactly who would rule Gaza after the ceasefire as it is currently under Hamas’ control.

The US want to reform the Palestinian Authority – which is in control in the West Bank – to take over.

Top US diplomat Antony Blinken said Arab states should provide security in the short term, although many such countries may only agree if there is a scheme for Palestinian statehood outlined.

Israel is opposed to Palestinian statehood, but is yet to offer an alternative.

Who put forward the final plan?

The US, Qatar and Egypt developed the plan and presented it to both Israel and Hamas.

Envoys for both Joe Biden and Donald Trump have tried to take credit for any success, although it was the outgoing Democrat president who first outlined the plan eight months ago.

In a press conference on Wednesday, he said: “The result [is] not only of the extreme pressure Hamas has been under and the changed regional equation after a ceasefire in Lebanon and the weakening of Iran – but also of dogged and painstaking American diplomacy.”

But Biden also gave his successor a nod of recognition during his speech, acknowledging that Trump pressured both parties earlier this month and demanded the release of hostages before the president’s inauguration.

The president-elect posted on social media that the deal “could have only happened as a result of our historic victory in November”.

Netanyahu thanked them both, while Hamas’ chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya said the deal was a “milestone in the conflict with the enemy” – although he warned the Palestinians “will not forget, and we will not forgive”.

Why did they reach an agreement now?

US secretary of state Anthony Blinken said the deal is similar to the one put forward last May but it’s thought the upcoming change in the White House was the biggest driver.

Trump’s inauguration (January 20) has applied pressure to the talks – and it’s thought Benjamin Netanyahu was hoping to seal the deal as a welcome present for the president-elect’s return.

According to the Israeli media, Trump’s envoy told the Israeli PM over the weekend that a peace deal had to happen.

Representatives from Israel and Hamas then started to conduct indirect talks in the same building for the first time.

Blinken also pointed to regional changes, saying in a press conference on Tuesday: “Hamas has been decimated. Iran is on its back foot.”

He said Hezbollah is also a “shadow of its former self” and pointed out that the Assad regime in Syria had also fallen.