President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced Israel and Hamas have agreed to the first phase of a peace plan after two years of devastating war in the Middle East.
Expected to begin in the coming days with an exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners and the partial withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, the breakthrough would mark a major diplomatic achievement for Trump after months of tense negotiations.
"There is no question that if this goes as planned, if we see those remaining hostages freed and Israel begin its withdrawal, it is a remarkable achievement and President Trump most certainly deserves credit for his role," ABC News Chief Global Affairs Correspondent Martha Raddatz said on "Good Morning America" on Thursday.
"He has done this through diplomacy, pressure and the sheer force of his personality and persistence," Raddatz continued. "He dispatched diplomats again and again, made threats just in the last few days to Hamas saying again if they did not sign the deal 'All Hell would break loose' and they had the bombing of Iran as an example of that. But perhaps most importantly, he pushed [Israeli Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu in ways his predecessor and others have not."
Trump, in a social media post, called the agreement between Israel and Hamas on the initial phase the "first steps toward a Strong, Durable, and Everlasting Peace" and thanked mediators from Qatar, Egypt and Turkey for their role in brokering a deal.
World leaders celebrated the development, with many praising Trump for his direct involvement.
Netanyahu said he will convene his government on Thursday to ratify the agreement. Hamas, in an official statement, said the agreement stipulated "the end of the war on Gaza," the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip, the entry of aid into Gaza and a prisoner exchange.
But many questions remain about what comes next and whether lasting peace will be achieved.
"Throughout this process, President Trump never wavered in his support for Israel, but when Netanyahu ignored much of what Trump was trying to accomplish by continuing to bomb over the last few months, Trump laid down the hammer with Netanyahu, essentially saying enough is enough," ABC's Raddatz said. "Trump had also told Netanyahu that he was opening indirect negotiations with the Iranians, which put even more pressure on the Israeli prime minister."
"Obviously, the coming days will prove whether the rest of the plan comes to fruition, but if those hostages are freed, which would leave Hamas without their major bargaining tool, this is a huge moment for Donald Trump," she said.
Trump announced on Wednesday that Israel and Hamas had agreed to the first phase of the deal, in which all remaining hostages -- alive and dead -- will be released from Gaza in exchange for an as-yet undetermined number of Palestinians being held in Israeli prisons. Nearly 2,000 prisoners are believed to be under discussion for release.
Intense and deadly Israeli attacks on Gaza City -- the largest urban area in the Gaza Strip -- and elsewhere in the Palestinian territory continued Thursday.
Over 67,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war, the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said in a statement Thursday. More than 1,200 people were killed in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas launched a surprise attack, and about 250 people were kidnapped, according to Israeli officials.