United States President Donald Trump has announced that Israel and Hamas have agreed on the first phase of a peace framework that aims at a Gaza ceasefire and the release of Israeli captives and Palestinian prisoners.The announcement follows from Trump’s 20-point plan to end the war on Gaza, which he announced last week, and which Israel, Hamas and most of the world broadly welcomed.More than 67,000 people have been killed in Israel’s war on Gaza, described by many international rights organisations and a United Nations commission as genocidal in nature.Here is what we know about the ceasefire agreement:What happened on Wednesday?Trump said Israel and Hamas had agreed to the first step of his Gaza ceasefire plan.In a post on Truth Social at 23:17 GMT, he wrote that all captives would be released “very soon” and that Israel would pull its troops back to an agreed line as part of the deal.Just hours earlier, Trump had told reporters he was ready to travel to the Middle East as soon as this weekend to help push the plan forward.He had first unveiled his 20-point proposal on September 29, following a White House meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, framing it as a roadmap to end the war in Gaza.That possibility grew more concrete during a White House event on Wednesday, when Secretary of State Marco Rubio entered the room and handed him a note. Secretary of State Marco Rubio writes a note before handing it to President Donald Trump during a roundtable meeting [Evan Vucci/AP Photo]After reading it, Trump told reporters: “I was just given a note by the secretary of state saying that we’re very close to a deal in the Middle East, and they’re going to need me pretty quickly.” Advertisement Concluding the event, Trump said: “I have to go now to try and solve some pro …
