Good morning. After more than 460 days of conflict since Israel’s invasion of Gaza began in response to the October 7 attacks, a new ceasefire deal has finally been agreed.
Announcing the agreement last night, the Qatari prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, said he hoped it would be “the end of a dark chapter of war”. A Hamas official said the militant group had approved the text; Benjamin Netanyahu said early this morning that there were still some obstacles in place over whether Israel will be able to veto the release of specific Palestinian prisoners, but Israel’s security cabinet is expected to meet to finally approve the deal at 11am local time today.
