A knowledgeable official told Reuters, on Wednesday, that Israel and Hamas had agreed to stop fighting in Gaza and exchange Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, paving the way for a possible end to the 15-month-old war that has turned the Middle East upside down.< /p>

The official said that Qatar, Egypt and America guarantee the implementation of the agreement, noting that all living hostages will be released first, then the remains of the dead hostages. He added: “Hamas will release the hostages over a period of six weeks, with three hostages each week and the rest before the end of the period.”

During months of intermittent talks aimed at reaching a truce in the devastating war that has been going on for 15 months, both sides (Israel and Hamas) had previously confirmed that they were close to a ceasefire, then faced obstacles in the last moments. The broad outlines of the current agreement have been in place since mid-2024.

The interim agreement will lead to an end to a war that killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, destroyed most of the Gaza Strip, forced most of its pre-war population of 2.3 million people to flee, and continues to kill dozens every day.

This would ease tensions in the Middle East, where the war has sparked confrontations in the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iraq, and raised fears of an all-out war between Israel and Iran.

Israel launched its attack on Gaza after Hamas-led fighters attacked towns in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostage, according to Israeli statistics.

Gaza health officials say Israeli forces have since killed more than 46,700 Palestinians in Gaza.

Under the agreement plan, Israel will recover about 100 hostages still in Gaza and the bodies of hostages from among those who were taken to the Strip in the October 7 attack.

In return, Israel will release Palestinian detainees.

The latest draft of the agreement is complex, as the first steps include an initial ceasefire for six weeks. The plan also includes a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from central Gaza and the return of displaced Palestinians to the northern Gaza Strip. Hamas will also have to release 33 hostages.

The draft stipulates that negotiations on the second phase of the agreement will begin by the sixteenth day of the first phase. The second phase includes the release of all remaining hostages, a permanent ceasefire, and the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces.

If things go smoothly, the Palestinians, Arab countries and Israel will still have to agree on a vision for Gaza after the war, a heavy task that includes providing security guarantees for Israel and investing billions of dollars for reconstruction. But the question that has not yet been answered is who will take over the administration of Gaza after the war.

Israel rejects any participation by Hamas, which ran Gaza before the war. But Israel was equally opposed to it being run by the Palestinian Authority, a body established under the Oslo peace accords three decades ago that has limited powers in the West Bank.

Palestinian Prime Minister Muhammad Mustafa said today that the Palestinian Authority should be the sole ruling body in Gaza after the war.