Closing summary
We’re going to close this blog for now, you can read our full report here. Here’s the latest on the situation:
Israel’s government approved a ceasefire deal to end the fighting in Gaza and see the return of all remaining Israeli hostages.
The ceasefire should take hold sometime in the next 24 hours, with the hostages being released within 72 hours after it officially begins. In exchange, Israel will free about 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country was on the cusp of achieving a central aim of the war in the release of the hostages. At a meeting with Jared Kushner, president Donald Trump’s son-in-law, and Steve Witkoff, the US special envoy to the Middle East, Netanyahu thanked Trump for his work on the deal.
Trump is set to head to the region on Sunday, possibly to attend a signing ceremony in Egypt. Israel’s Knesset has also invited him to speak before the body.
While the full terms of the deal remain unclear, the announcement was greeted with cautious joy across the region. Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, said he hopes “peace, security and stability will prevail”.
Thanks for sticking with us.
Netanyahu says Israel at a ‘momentous development’, thanking Donald Trump
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country had reached a “momentous development” in its war in Gaza. He said earlier:
In the last two years, we’ve fought to achieve our war aims. And a central one of these war aims is to return the hostages. All of the hostages, the living and the dead. And we’re about to achieve that.
We couldn’t have achieved it without the extraordinary help of president Trump and his team, Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner. They worked tirelessly. …
That, and the courage of our soldiers who entered Gaza, had a combined military and diplomatic pressure that isolated Hamas. I believe these brought us to this point.
WATCH: Remarks by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the government meeting for the approval of the hostages release framework, together with President Trump's Special Envoy to the Middle East, @SteveWitkoff, and with the President's son-in-law, @JaredKushner. pic.twitter.com/zMALibPcEY
— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) October 9, 2025
Netanyahu expressed his personal thanks to Witkoff and Kushner, saying the pair had put forward both “your brains and your hearts”.
We know that it’s for the benefit of Israel and the US, for the benefit of decent people everywhere.
