Where things stand
• Plan approved: The terms of a Gaza ceasefire deal are in effect after Israel’s government approved a US-brokered plan, according to two officials. However, it is not clear if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has officially given the order to the Israel Defense Forces to cease fire.
• US presence: The United States is sending 200 troops to the Middle East to monitor the plan’s implementation, a senior US official said. “No US troops are intended to go into Gaza,” another official said.
• What’s in the deal: The release of all hostages held in Gaza, Israeli military withdrawal to an agreed point and the release of some Palestinian prisoners. A senior Hamas official said a “formal declaration” ending the war in Gaza must be made before hostages are released.
On the ground, questions swirl around hostage releases, aid and Israeli withdrawal from Gaza
Though the ceasefire in Gaza should now be in effect, it’s not clear if that order has been given to the Israel Defense Forces, and officials are essentially “building the plane and flying it at the same time,” said CNN’s Chief International Correspondent Clarissa Ward on Friday.
Speaking from Tel Aviv, Ward described “a lot of moving parts” as all parties prepare for the release of Israeli hostages, as well as Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
Part of the agreement includes Israel withdrawing its troops to an agreed-upon perimeter. To allow the return of hostages, Israeli forces will remain “positioned along the yellow line withdrawing from Gaza City and the Netzarim Corridor, while still remaining in 53 percent of the strip,” an Israeli official told CNN on Thursday.
The yellow line is a reference to a proposed ceasefire map released by the White House late last month that showed multiple stages of withdrawal. Afterward, an international task force will be put in place, according to US President Donald Trump’s proposal.
Ceasefire push an “opportunity to move forward,” says relative of young former hostage
The great-aunt of an Israeli former child hostage has said the suffering on both sides of the Israel-Gaza conflict should serve as a catalyst for dialogue, and what she called “an opportunity” for peace.
Liz Naftali’s great-niece Abigail Mor Edan was 3 years old when both her parents were killed by Hamas, during the October 7 attack. The Israeli-American infant was taken hostage to Gaza, and subsequently released about six weeks later during an early truce in the war.
Asked by CNN’s Jim Sciutto if the shared suffering could create space for connection, Naftali said: “I think so.”
She acknowledged the deep pain of both Israelis and Palestinians, saying ordinary people have long yearned for peace. “You also hear from the people that they want to be living in peace, and they wanted peace beforehand.”
Naftali vowed to continue speaking out. “I think this is that opportunity, and I’m going to use my voice, and I hope that the press and everybody around the world is starting to say, ‘OK, this is our opportunity for us to figure out how to move forward.’ If we don’t, then shame on us.”
US military will establish coordination center in Israel to help stabilize Gaza, official says
The US military will establish a coordination center in Israel to “support stabilization efforts for Gaza,” according to a US official.
The official added that about 200 service members will “support” the CMCC and they will have expertise in a number of fields.
“Approximately 200 U.S. service members with expertise in transportation, planning, security, logistics, and engineering will support the CMCC located in Israel,” the official said.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt echoed those comments in a post on social media.
“Up to 200 U.S. personnel, who are already stationed at CENTCOM, will be tasked with monitoring the peace agreement in Israel, and they will work with other international forces on the ground,” Leavitt wrote on X.
A White House official told CNN the military personnel will be tasked with monitoring the peace agreement, and that it’s possible some will be on the ground in Israel.
A senior US official told CNN earlier that that the service members the United States is sending will join soldiers from Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates to provide oversight.
Israel has approved the ceasefire resolution. Here's everything you need to know
We’ve just heard that the Israeli government has approved the ceasefire resolution that was brokered by US President Donald Trump and that will lead to the release of all Israeli hostages held in Gaza.
With the approval, a ceasefire now comes into immediate effect, two Israeli officials told CNN, speaking on condition of anonymity. However, it is not clear if the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office has given the order to the Israel Defense Forces to cease fire.
Earlier, Israeli tanks opened fire in at least one part of the Gaza Strip. At least 30 people have been killed in the enclave since the deal was announced yesterday, according to a Palestinian health official.
Here’s everything we’ve learned so far:
Role of the United States:
- The United States is sending 200 troops to monitor the plan’s implementation, a senior US official said. The troops will join soldiers from Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. “No US troops are intended to go into Gaza,” another official said.
- Trump personally assured interlocutors of his commitment as a guarantor of his Gaza plan, an official said.
- The deal remains a fragile arrangement and the plan could still fall apart amid mutual distrust between Hamas and Israel, senior US officials acknowledged.
- Trump instructed special envoy Steve Witkoff and the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner to “get it done” on a Gaza deal before they departed for Egypt, according to senior US officials. The top negotiators traveled to Sharm el-Sheikh once they sensed that Hamas wanted to finalize a deal and the group no longer saw the hostages as an advantage.
From Hamas: Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan said a “formal declaration” ending the war in Gaza must be made for a hostage release to take place. “It is not merely Hamas’s position. And this is what the Israelis have signed up to,” he said. Take a look at other key points in Hamdan’s interview.
Outstanding issues: Negotiations are ongoing for the list of Palestinian prisoners to be released under the deal, according to an Israeli source. Trump said the remaining hostages will be released from Gaza on Monday or Tuesday next week, and that he is still aiming to travel to the region. He projected optimism that any outstanding issues will be sorted out, even as he declined to take a position on an eventual Palestinian state and acknowledged Hamas may not be able to produce all the bodies of deceased hostages.
Aid ready: Some 170,000 metric tons of food, medicine, and other supplies are ready to be surged into Gaza, the UN emergency relief coordinator said.
Sources: Israeli government approval of phase one of Trump Gaza plan brings ceasefire into immediate effect
With the Israeli government’s approval of the agreement reached in Sharm el Sheikh, a ceasefire now comes into immediate effect, two Israeli officials told CNN, speaking on condition of anonymity.
However, it is not clear if the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office has given the order to the Israel Defense Forces to cease fire.
Kushner and Witkoff say Netanyahu’s decisions led to ceasefire deal
US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and special envoy Steve Witkoff praised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decisions during the war, saying his actions pressured Hamas into striking a ceasefire deal.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu made some very, very difficult calls, and lesser people would not have made those calls. And here we are today, because Hamas had to. They had to do this deal. The pressure was on them,” Witkoff said during the opening remarks of an Israeli government meeting on the proposed ceasefire plan, which he and Kushner attended.
Kushner also praised the prime minister, saying he did a “great job in negotiations” and held his lines firm.
Netanyahu, meanwhile, thanked both men for their efforts to reach this point.
“I think you put in your brains and your hearts, and we know that it’s for the benefit of Israel and the United States, for the benefit of decent people everywhere, and for the benefit of these families, who will finally get to be with their loved ones,” he said.
This post has been updated with a video of Kushner and Witkoff’s remarks.
In exchange with far-right Israeli minister, Witkoff made the case for forgiveness
As the Israeli government met late Thursday evening to hammer out the details of a high-stakes ceasefire resolution, US special envoy Steve Witkoff and US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner joined the meeting and discussed the merits of the deal with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his fellow ministers.
According to an Israeli official briefed on the meeting, Witkoff shared his personal story about his son, who died from an overdose in 2011, and presented the case for forgiveness.
“I had a child who died from an overdose, and I wanted to kill the family of the person who gave him the dose. But when I got to court, I saw his parents, who were so ashamed and asked for forgiveness, and I forgave them,” Witkoff said, according to the Israeli official.
The Israeli official told CNN Witkoff was responding to an exchange with Itamar Ben Gvir, a far-right Israeli minister who proclaimed that he would not support the proposed deal due to the release of Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
CNN reached out to the White House and the State Department for comment.
The Israeli source described the discussion as beginning with Ben Gvir suggesting that, if the US were in Israel’s position, it would not accept a deal that included the release of prisoners, whom he called “terrorists” and “baby killers, rapists of women.”
“You would never release them in the United States. I appreciate the hard work you do and the help you give Israel, but let’s be real - you would not support such a deal,” Ben Gvir asserted.
When Witkoff made his personal account of forgiveness, Ben Gvir replied: “That’s the difference - those who murdered us on October 7 do not ask for forgiveness. Their families are proud of it. They want to kill Jews.”
Ben Gvir, who leads Israel’s far-right Otzma Yehudit party, has consistently opposed ceasefire and hostage release deals for Gaza. He has previously been convicted for supporting terrorism and inciting anti-Arab racism in Israel.
Watch: How the ceasefire news — and celebrations — spread throughout Gaza and Israel
CNN has seen crowds celebrating in both Gaza and Israel since they heard news Wednesday of the ceasefire and hostage release agreement, which was just formally approved by the Israeli government a short time ago.
Watch a report from CNN’s Jeremy Diamond below:
Trump instructed negotiators to "get it done" on Gaza deal, officials say
President Donald Trump instructed special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to “get it done” on a Gaza deal before they departed for Egypt, according to senior US officials.
The top negotiators traveled to Sharm El-Sheikh once they sensed that Hamas wanted to finalize a deal and the group no longer saw the hostages as an advantage. Trump had given his delegates “full authority to go and do what needs to be done to make a deal,” one of the officials explained.
There was a sense that finalizing the agreement in person was important, the officials said, with the second saying that “everybody could see the line and they wanted to cross it.”
The first US official said there was not a sense of needing to apply “leverage” to Israel because the Netanyahu government trusted Trump was “not going to ask them to do anything that would compromise their security.”
“Because they know that if they agree together on what the end state should be, President Trump and his team are able to have much more frank and creative conversations with Israel on how to get there,” the official said.
Trump personally assured interlocutors of his commitment as guarantor of Gaza plan
President Donald Trump personally assured interlocutors of his commitment as a guarantor of his Gaza plan, a senior US official said Thursday.
The US president thought it was important to tell the Arab mediators – and through them, Hamas – that he would stand by “every principle and aspect” of his 20-point proposal and “that he was guaranteeing that people would do, with their best intentions, would do exactly what they said they were going to do,” the official said.
They noted the mistrust between the Israel and Hamas, as well as some of the Arab nations, and said Trump “wanted to make it very, very plain that it was important for him” that the deal be finalized.
“There were points where the president actually got on the phone with…the interlocutors. And it was very, very spontaneous,” the official said.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier mentioned that Trump “had some extraordinary phone calls and meetings that required a high degree of intensity and commitment, and made this happen.”
Israeli government approves Gaza ceasefire resolution
The government has approved the ceasefire resolution, which includes the release of all hostages held in Gaza, the prime minister’s office said.
The government met late on Thursday evening to vote on the measure.
The resolution includes all living hostages and the remains of those who have died.
US officials acknowledge deal is still fragile
The Gaza deal President Donald Trump helped push to conclusion this week remains a fragile arrangement, senior US officials said Thursday, acknowledging the plan could still fall apart amid mutual distrust between Hamas and Israel.
“There’s still, you know, just a lot of ways that this can go wrong. So we’re staying on top of the details to make sure everyone fulfills their obligations and that any misunderstandings are quickly discussed and adjudicated,” the official told reporters.
Trump’s delegates at the talks, foreign envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner, are in Israel to discuss the plan with members of the Israeli government.
At a government meeting earlier Thursday, the men heard a range of views from across the political spectrum.
“There were plenty of differences of opinion that we heard there. There were hardliners, there were people who want to see the 20 hostages come home above all else,” the official said, adding Witkoff and Kushner “explored different pathways to get to good compromises.”
US sending 200 troops on the ground to provide oversight of Gaza plan, official says
The United States is sending 200 troops to be on the ground to monitor the Gaza plan’s implementation, a senior US official said.
The official added that the troops the United States is sending will join soldiers from Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates to provide oversight, though another official cautioned that “no US troops are intended to go into Gaza.”
The contingent of US troops will be under the purview of US Central Command commander Adm. Brad Cooper, the first official detailed.
“His role will be to oversee, observe, make sure there are no violations, incursions. Everybody is worried about the other side,” the official said in a briefing with reporters.
Palestinians in Gaza speak of "mixed feelings" about what could come after a ceasefire
Some Palestinians in Gaza raised their hands to the sky and bared wide grins on Thursday, after Israel and Hamas agreed to the first phase of a ceasefire deal.
But for other survivors in the enclave, the potential relief from Israeli bombardment is being eclipsed by the fear of what lies ahead.
“I feel helpless in front of my children. I have suffered so much with them to stay alive, but I cannot fulfil their desires and ambitions,” the father-of-three said.
At least 914,102 children have been deprived of an education, the Ministry of Health in Gaza reported on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the United Nations has warned that Palestinians sleeping on the streets and staying in tents face a cold winter.
“We are very exhausted from this war that has hurt us a lot and made us lose everything,” Wassim Khalifa, a 22-year-old medical student displaced in Nuseirat, central Gaza, told CNN on Thursday. “(I hope) we can continue our lives and restore everything as it was before.
CNN’s Ibrahim Dahman contributed reporting.
Israeli bombing in Gaza has killed 30 people since ceasefire deal announced, Palestinian health official says
At least 30 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire deal yesterday, according to a Palestinian health official, hours after residents reported clouds of smoke and explosions in the enclave.
An Israeli strike on the Ghaboun family home late Thursday in northern Gaza’s Al-Sabra neighborhood trapped more than 40 Palestinians under the rubble, Gaza’s Civil Defense said.
At least six people were killed by the attack, Dr. Mohammed Abu Salmiya, the director of the local Al-Shifa Hospital, told CNN. In total, 30 Palestinians have been killed since Wednesday evening, according to Abu Salmiya.
The Israel Defense Forces said it “struck a Hamas terrorist cell” in northern Gaza that was “operating in close proximity to IDF troops” and “posed an immediate threat.” CNN cannot verify the IDF’s statement.
Civil Defense footage of the aftermath showed emergency crews furiously raking through mounds of ash and debris as they attempted to recover men, women and children from the rubble.
In one clip, a rescue worker gently lifts a little boy from the razed house. The child’s body is covered in a thick layer of dust and bloodied scrapes. He can be heard screaming.
170,000 metric tons of food, medicine, supplies are ready to be surged into Gaza, UN coordinator says
Some 170,000 metric tons of food, medicine, and other supplies are ready to be surged into Gaza, the UN emergency relief coordinator said Thursday.
In the first 60 days of the ceasefire, the aim is to send hundreds of trucks of supplies a day into the enclave, Tom Fletcher told reporters.
The humanitarian situation in Gaza is catastrophic. Famine has been declared amid sharp Israeli restrictions on aid. The infrastructure has been destroyed by two years of Israeli military operations. Much of the population has been displaced numerous times.
Aid officials are hopeful that the ceasefire will allow for a sustained increase in the aid reaching the people but they told CNN that there are still questions about the details of when, where, and what kinds of aid will be allowed in.
In order to accomplish the dramatic scaling up of aid and services, Fletcher said the UN needs 10 things, including sustained entry of nearly 2 million liters of fuel per week, allowing cooking gas into the enclave, protection of humanitarian workers, facilitated access for NGOs, adequate funding, and additional crossings with swifter movement into the strip.
“We’ve had useful clarifications today on more crossings becoming open in the hours and days ahead,” he noted.
Knesset speaker invites Trump to deliver address to Israel
The Speaker of the Knesset, Amir Ohana, has invited US President Donald Trump to give a formal address in front of the Israeli parliament.
“You have demonstrated that under your leadership, America is not only a military superpower but a moral superpower as well - and that peace comes through strength,” Ohana said in a letter addressed to Trump.
He noted that Trump’s speech would be the first by a sitting US president since President George W. Bush’s visit in 2008.
"I'm holding my breath": Released hostage tells CNN about what it was like in captivity
The hostages still alive in Gaza are likely experiencing a sense of hope, but also deep skepticism that this will finally be the time they are released, one former captive said.
CNN’s Dana Bash talked to Keith Siegel, an American-Israeli and former hostage held in Gaza, who told her about what it was like and what he knows about the people still believed to be alive.
“Obviously I feel joy, but I’m holding my breath,” Bash said Siegel told her.
Here’s what else he said:
Kushner and Witkoff join Israeli government meeting on Gaza ceasefire plan, Israeli sources say
US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and special envoy Steve Witkoff have joined an Israeli government meeting on the proposed Gaza ceasefire plan, Israeli sources told CNN on Thursday.
CNN is reaching out to the White House for comment.
Houthi leader says resumption of attacks on Israel depends on Gaza ceasefire implementation
Yemen’s Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi said the group’s decision to resume attacks on Israel will depend on how the Gaza ceasefire is implemented by the US and Israel.
“We will remain in a state of full alertness and readiness. We will monitor the implementation phase of this agreement with complete accuracy and care,” al-Houthi stated in a televised speech on Thursday. “If it is achieved, then that is a blessing, which we wish for. Otherwise, we will continue our path of (military) support and backing,” al-Houthi added.
Iran-backed Houthi rebels, who control large parts of Yemen, have been attacking Israel and targeting Israeli-linked shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden with drones and missiles since October 2023 following the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war.
