President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that both Israel and Hamas had "signed off" on the first phase of a peace plan in Gaza following negotiations in the Egyptian Red Sea city of Sharm el-Sheikh. A ceasefire then came into effect on Friday.
Phase one of the deal will see all remaining hostages returned from Gaza, a number of Palestinian prisoners released from Israeli jails and the partial withdrawal of the Israel Defense Forces inside the strip.
10 killed over past 24 hours in Gaza, health ministry says
The Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health said Thursday that 10 people were killed over the previous 24 hours, with 49 people injured.
Displaced Palestinian children run behind a man pushing his bicycle on the sand at sunrise at a makeshift camp by the beach in Al-Zawayda city, near Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip on Oct. 9, 2025.
Bashar Taleb/AFP via Getty Images
The Palestine Red Crescent Society said its hospital was treating at least two people injured in southern Gaza.
The total death toll now stands at 67,194 people killed since Oct. 7, 2023, with 169,890 people injured, according to the health ministry.
Since the end of the last ceasefire in March of this year, 13,598 people have been killed, per ministry figures.
-ABC News' Diaa Ostaz and Victoria Beaule
Oct 09, 2025, 5:57 AM EDT
Explosions across Gaza as ceasefire agreement nears
There were reports of large explosions across the Gaza Strip on Thursday as the Israeli government prepared to ratify a ceasefire deal to end the fighting.
A smoke plume billows following Israeli bombardment on the Gaza Strip as pictured from across the border in southern Israel on Oct. 9, 2025.
Ahmad Gharabli/AFP via Getty Images
Photos and videos from Gaza showed large explosions in the center and south of the devastated strip.
A ceasefire is expected to come into effect some time after the Israeli government votes on the agreement at around 6 p.m. local time -- 11 a.m. ET. The government is expected to vote in favor of the proposal.
-ABC News' Victoria Beaule
Oct 09, 2025, 4:50 AM EDT
Living hostages expected to be released on Sunday or Monday, official says
A senior Israeli official told ABC News that the 72-hour window for Hamas releasing all hostages will begin after the Israeli government ratifies the deal, which it is expected to do at around 6 p.m. local time -- 11 a.m. ET -- on Thursday.
The 20 hostages thought to still be alive are expected to be released all in one group on Sunday or Monday, the official said.
People celebrate at Hostage Square in Tel Aviv on Oct. 9, 2025, following news of a new Gaza ceasefire deal.
Maya Levin/AFP via Getty Images
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller and Joe Simonetti
Oct 09, 2025, 4:01 AM EDT
Abbas backs deal, says Gaza sovereignty 'belongs to the state of Palestine'
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas welcomed the Gaza ceasefire in a Thursday statement, saying that ultimate sovereignty over the devastated coastal territory "belongs to the state of Palestine."
This handout picture provided by the Palestinian Authority's press office shows Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at his headquarters in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank on Sept. 22, 2025.
Thaer Ghanaim/PPO/AFP via Getty Images
"President Abbas expressed hope that these efforts would be a prelude to reaching a permanent political solution, as announced by President Trump, leading to an end to the Israeli occupation of the state of Palestine and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the June 4, 1967, borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital," the statement said.
Abbas also expressed Palestinian "readiness to work with relevant mediators and international partners to ensure" the success of the ceasefire proposal, and urged "all parties to commit to the immediate implementation of the agreement."
The statement said that Abbas "reiterated that sovereignty over the Gaza Strip belongs to the state of Palestine, and that the connection between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip must be achieved through Palestinian laws and government institutions, through a unified Palestinian administrative committee and Palestinian security forces, within the framework of a single system and law, and with Arab and international support."
