October 12, 2025: Israel-Hamas Ceasefire Deal; Timeline and Developments

Arguably, the most important event this week in international affairs occurred in the Middle East: the beginning of an official ceasefire in Gaza, agreed to by Israel and Hamas on Wednesday and mediated by U.S. President Trump. The deal, which is in its first stage, has massive implications.

Last Sunday, meetings bringing Israel and Hamas to the negotiating table began in the Egyptian city of Sharm El Sheikh. Turkish, Qatari and Egyptian tactical teams and officials facilitated the negotiations. On Wednesday morning, Jared Kushner and U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, arrived in Sharm El Sheikh. There, they continued working to reach an initial agreement between Israel and Hamas and to resolve issues that had recently emerged over the redeployment of IDF troops and the timing of the hostage release. During the meetings, they established two phases of the peace plan, the first being a hostage release and the second being a near permanent ceasefire with ongoing negotiations on governance, disarmament and withdrawal.

On Wednesday evening in Sharm El Sheikh, the deal experienced “very serious breakthroughs,” as described by a U.S. official. One of these “breakthroughs” was the unanimous agreement reached on the release of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners.

A few hours later, on Wednesday evening in the U.S., Trump took to Truth Social to announce the deal. “BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS,” Trump wrote. Following a meeting with Egyptian President El-Sisi, Witkoff and Kushner flew to Tel Aviv to meet with Israeli President Herzog and Prime Minister Netanyahu. U.S. officials did express caution regarding the implementation of the deal, emphasizing the need to “make sure everyone fulfills their obligations.” Trump, on Friday, ordered the deployment of U.S. troops to Israel to oversee the ceasefire as the conditions of its first phase are met. The troops come from the U.S. Central Command, and none will enter Gaza.

Under the terms of the ceasefire, Hamas has until 12:00 pm local time on Monday to release the remaining hostages. Trump, along with other members of his administration, is currently on his way to Israel for the hostage release. Israel will release 250 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences and over 1,700 detainees from Gaza — including women and children — arrested after Hamas’ October 7th attacks.

Immediately following the hostage release, Trump is expected to co-chair a summit in Egypt with El-Sisi that will draw over twenty world leaders. The summit’s focus will be the future of Gaza and “efforts to achieve peace and stability in the Middle East,” according to El-Sisi’s website.

As anticipation builds for the hostage release, Palestinian civilians are making their way back to Northern Gaza after almost two exhausting years of relentless displacement, bombing and hunger. Meanwhile, internal violence has escalated in Gaza as Hamas reportedly attempts to reassert control over areas recently withdrawn from by IDF troops. Hamas has recalled thousands of its fighters for this purpose, with armed units already allegedly deployed in several districts. Hamas denies this. Killings between Hamas and the Gazan Dughmush clan have ramped up within the last few days. This development presents another obstacle to Trump’s plan, which centers around Hamas’ disarmament and a new government for Gaza.

But despite these emerging issues, optimism is high among Israelis and Palestinians, who wait nervously for the upcoming aspects of the ceasefire deal to unfold. This coming week will definitely be full of developments.