How did we get the cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas in Gaza?

Israel and Hamas have agreed to a cease-fire in Gaza and a deal to release hostages, the US and mediator Qatar said.

If the Israeli cabinet and government formally approve the agreement, which is still pending, the first six-week phase will take effect on January 19.

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

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

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

More than 46,700 people – most of them civilians – have been killed by Israel’s attacks, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.

Here’s a reminder of the key developments in the negotiations.

2023

October 7: Hundreds of gunmen led by Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on southern Israel, breaching the border fence and targeting nearby communities, police stations and army bases. About 1,200 people were killed and 251 hostages were taken back to Gaza. Hamas also fires thousands of rockets at Israel. The Israeli army immediately responded with air and artillery strikes on Gaza.

October 27: Israel begins ground invasion of Gaza. Israel’s massive military campaign will continue to devastate Gaza, displacing most of its 2.3 million population and killing more than 46,000 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

November 21: A deal brokered by the US, Qatar and Egypt saw Hamas release 105 of the hostages in exchange for about 240 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons during a week-long ceasefire. Israel and Hamas blame each other for causing the truce to collapse.

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

2024

May 31: US President Joe Biden outline an Israeli proposal for a three-phase ceasefire in exchange for the release of the Israeli hostages. It is at the heart of the deal that was agreed eight months later.

June 10: The UN Security Council adopts a resolution support for the ceasefire plan.

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

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

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

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

November 27: Israel agrees to a ceasefire with Lebanon to end the 13-month conflict with the militant group Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas, which was sparked by the war in Gaza. It reignited hope for a deal in Gaza, with Biden saying he would press ahead with regional powers.

December 2: The newly elected president of the United States, Donald Trump says there will be “hell to pay” if the hostages still being held in Gaza are not released by the time he returns to the White House on January 20, 2025.

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

2025

January 13: Biden and Netanyahu spoke by phone about the talks in Biden’s final week in office after US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said it was an agreement “very close” and that he hoped to “cross the line” before Trump took office.

January 15: Qatar’s prime minister said Israel and Hamas had reached an agreement on a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages, and that it would take effect on January 19. Biden says it will “stop the fighting in Gaza, increase much-needed humanitarian aid to Palestinian civilians and reunite hostages with their families.”