# Israeli–Palestinian prisoner exchange (2025)

On 15 January 2025, Israel and Hamas reached an agreement under which Hamas agreed to release hostages abducted to Gaza during the 7 October 2023 attacks in exchange for the release of Hamas militants and other Palestinian prisoners, many involved in attacks on Israelis, from Israeli prisons. The agreement also included another ceasefire — the second during the Israel–Hamas war — the first having lasted only one week. The deal was achieved through negotiations mediated by the United States, Egypt, and Qatar. The State Department also credited the Trump team with "critical involvement" in negotiating the deal.
Prior to its conclusion, U.S. president-elect Donald Trump repeatedly warned that failure to release the hostages, including seven American citizens, before his 20 January inauguration would result in "hell to pay". After the agreement was finalized, Trump stated that Gaza would never again serve as a "terrorist safe haven". A diplomat told The Washington Post that Trump pressured the Israeli side to accept the deal. Israeli sources also claim that the incoming Trump administration revived the talks for a ceasefire. CNN reported that both the Biden administration and Trump's incoming administration played equal roles, with the role of the former administration facilitated by Middle Eastern negotiator Brett McGurk, and were willing to work together and compromise due to a desire for a solution prior to the latter's inauguration. The New York Times also remarked on U.S. President Joe Biden's heavy involvement in the negotiations, mentioning particularly how McGurk collaborating with Trump's future special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, was instrumental in the deal being agreed to.
The deal received approval from the Israel security cabinet on 17 January 2024, with the full cabinet afterwards approving it as well before it was signed by its negotiators. The deal will go into effect 19 January 2025.

## Background

On 7 October 2023, Hamas launched a surprise attack on southern Israel, which involved a rocket barrage and a few thousand militants breaching the Gaza–Israel barrier, attacking Israeli civilian communities and military bases. During the attack, dozens of Israeli women and girls were subjected to sexual violence, including rape, 1,195 Israelis were killed and 251 were taken captive. Israel responded by invading Gaza, tightening its blockade on the Gaza Strip and unleashing a destructive bombing campaign. During the war, the United Nations (UN) warned that Gazans faced the danger of famine, and both Hamas and Israel were accused of war crimes. The Gaza Health Ministry reported that over 45,000 Palestinians have been killed as a result of the war, with Israel saying that over 17,000 Hamas fighters were killed.
The hostages held by Hamas were considered critical in any ceasefire proposal. Israel refused to accept a ceasefire without the return of hostages. Israeli officials said the war would not stop until all hostages were brought back. Hamas held on to Israeli hostages in order to force Israeli concessions. During 2024, Israel conducted several rescue operations and several hostages, including American-Israeli Hersh Goldberg, were executed by Hamas. Hostages under Hamas suffered from malnourishment and ill treatment. Female hostages reported sexual assault in captivity.Toward the end of 2024, Israel dealt severe blows to Hamas ally Hezbollah through airstrikes and a ground invasion, during which it killed Hezbollah leaders including Hassan Nasrallah. The Assad Syria regime collapsed after Syrian rebel forces launched a series of offensives, taking advantage, according to The Times of Israel, of the weakening by Israel of Syrian allies Hezbollah and Iran, as well as the weakened state of Syria's ally Russia due to its ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Discussions on a deal for the return of hostages and a ceasefire were held for many months, and according to White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby, the reason no agreement was reached was that Hamas rejected the offers presented to it.
Prior to the 2023 war, Israel held over 5,200 Palestinians as prisoners, including at least 170 children. About 1,310 Palestinians were held in Administrative detention, a practice that allows Israel to detain Palestinians indefinitely without charges or trial. By November 2023, the number of Palestinian prisoners had increased to 10,000. Following the deportation of several thousand detained Gazan workers, the Palestinian Commission for Detainees and Ex-Prisoners' Affairs placed the number at approximately 8,300. Some have been convicted of terrorism by Israeli authorities; But according to Francesca Albanese, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, many of the convictions as resulting from "a litany of violations of international law, including due process violations, that taint the legitimacy of the administration of justice by the occupying power."

## Terms of the deal

In the first phase of the deal, according to The Jerusalem Post and CNN, Hamas agreed to release 33 out of 98 hostages, including infants, children, women, and men over the age of 50, in exchange for about 1,900 Hamas members held in Israeli prisons. On the 16th day of the ceasefire, the parties will resume discussions regarding the second phase of the hostage deal, which is expected to culminate in the return of all Israeli hostages and the withdrawal of Israel Defense Forces (IDF) from the Gaza Strip. Hamas is keeping the number of dead hostages secret. In return, Israel will release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, among them prisoners deemed responsible for the murder of Israelis who will not be returned to the West Bank, but will be transferred to Gaza or other countries. Additionally, Israel will permit the return of Gaza residents to the northern part of Gaza. The Israeli military will begin a withdrawal from Gaza, but it will maintain control over key routes during this phase.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told hostages' families that he was ready for a prolonged ceasefire should hostages be returned.
The ceasefire will begin at the earliest on Friday, 17 January 2025, and the first group of Israeli hostages will be released on Sunday, 19 January 2025.
On 17 January, a deal – involving the release of Israeli and Palestinian hostages as well as a 42 day ceasefire – was agreed to and then approved by the Israeli security cabinet in an afternoon vote. Later in the day, the deal was given full cabinet approval and signed by its negotiators. The ceasefire agreement passed with 24 ministers voting in favor and 8 opposed, most of which belonged to the far-right Otzma Yehudit and Religious Zionist Party. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office would confirm the deal shortly after midnight on 18 January local time. The deal will go into effect on 19 January. On the morning of January 19, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu announced the ceasefire will not be implemented as long as the Hamas leadership does not provide Israel with the list of captives to be released. As a result of delay in delivering the list of captives, the ceasefire only began on 11:15 AM Israeli time.

## Responses

On the evening of 15 January 2025, US president-elect Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that a ceasefire agreement had been reached, paving the way for the imminent release of hostages. He stated that his national security team "will continue to work closely with Israel and our Allies to make sure Gaza NEVER again becomes a terrorist safe haven".
President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen expressed support for the deal and said: "Hostages will be reunited with their loved ones and humanitarian aid can reach civilians in Gaza. This brings hope to an entire region". Also German foreign secretary Annalena Baerbock supported the deal and said that there is hope that hostages will finally be released and that deaths in Gaza will come to an end.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer expressed his support for the deal, emphasizing that it would end the conflict which was "triggered by the brutal terrorists of Hamas, who committed the deadliest massacre of Jewish people since the Holocaust". He added that "The hostages, who were brutally ripped from their homes on that day and held captive in unimaginable conditions ever since, can now finally return to their families". Furthermore, he underscored the importance of remembering "those who won't make it home – including the British people who were murdered by Hamas. We will continue to mourn and remember them". In addition, he expressed hope that the ceasefire would help innocent Palestinians in Gaza and "allow for a huge surge in humanitarian aid, which is so desperately needed to end the suffering in Gaza".