Washington: Israel and Hamas said they had agreed to a long-awaited ceasefire and hostage deal, the first phase of U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to end a war in Gaza that has killed more than 67,000 people and reshaped the Middle East.

Just a day after the second anniversary of Hamas militants’ cross-border attack that triggered Israel’s devastating assault on Gaza, indirect talks in Egypt yielded an agreement on the initial stage of Trump’s 20-point framework to bring peace to the Palestinian enclave.

The accord, if fully implemented, would bring the two sides closer than any previous effort to halt a war that had evolved into a regional conflict, drawing in countries such as Iran, Yemen and Lebanon, deepened Israel’s international isolation and reshaped the Middle East. Show

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