Mediators herald Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal. Israel says final details are in flux

DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Israel and Hamas have agreed to pause the devastating war in the Gaza Strip, mediators announced Wednesday, raising the possibility of winding down the deadliest and most destructive fighting between the bitter enemies.

The three-phase ceasefire deal promises the release of dozens of hostages held by militants in Gaza and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israel, and to allow hundreds of thousands of people displaced in Gaza to return to what remains of their homes. It would also flood desperately needed humanitarian aid into the territory ravaged by 15 months of war, mediators said.

The prime minister of Qatar, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, said the ceasefire would go into effect Sunday and that its success would depend on Israel and Hamas "acting in good faith in order to ensure that this agreement does not collapse.” He spoke in the Qatari capital of Doha, the site of weeks of painstaking negotiations.

U.S. President Joe Biden touted the deal from Washington, saying the ceasefire would stay in place as long as Israel and Hamas remain at the negotiating table over a long-term truce. Biden credited months of “dogged and painstaking American diplomacy” for landing the deal, noting that his administration and President-elect Donald Trump’s team had been “speaking as one” in the latest negotiations.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said late Wednesday that the ceasefire agreement with Hamas was still not complete and final details were being worked out.

An Israeli official familiar with the talks who spoke on condition of anonymity said those details center on confirming the list of Palestinian prisoners to be freed. Any agreement must be approved by Netanyahu’s Cabinet.

Netanyahu thanked Trump and Biden for “advancing” the ceasefire agreement, but did not explicitly say whether he has accepted it, saying he would issue a formal response only “after the final details of the agreement, which are currently being worked on, are completed.”

His measured reaction may reflect domestic politics. Netanyahu's governing coalition depends on the support of two hard-line factions whose leaders have threatened to leave the government over the planned release of Palestinian prisoners. Although opposition leaders have vowed to support the ceasefire deal, the loss of his hard-line allies could lead to the collapse of the coalition and trigger early elections.

Early Thursday morning, Netanyahu’s office issued a statement accusing Hamas of backtracking on an earlier understanding that he said would give Israel a veto over which prisoners accused of murder would be released. Netanyahu said he told the negotiators to stand firm on the earlier agreement.

Hamas did not immediately respond.

Earlier, Israeli President Isaac Herzog called on Netanyahu’s government to approve the ceasefire in a nationally televised speech. Hamas said in a statement the ceasefire was “the result of the legendary resilience of our great Palestinian people and our valiant resistance in the Gaza Strip.”

Mediators from Egypt, Qatar and the U.S. are to meet in Cairo on Thursday for talks on implementing the deal, according to a senior U.S. official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Once the first phase of the deal takes effect, it is expected to deliver an initial six-week halt to fighting along with the opening of negotiations on ending the war altogether.

Over those six weeks, 33 of the nearly 100 hostages are to be reunited with their loved ones after months in captivity with no contact with the outside world, though it’s unclear if all are alive.

It remained unclear exactly when and how many displaced Palestinians would be able to return to their homes, and whether the agreement would lead to a complete end to the war and the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza — key Hamas demands for releasing the remaining captives.

Many longer-term questions about postwar Gaza remain, including who will rule the territory or oversee the daunting task of reconstruction after a brutal conflict that has destabilized the broader Middle East and sparked worldwide protests.

Hamas triggered the war with its Oct. 7, 2023, cross-border attack, which killed some 1,200 in Israel and took 250 others hostage. Israel responded with a fierce offensive that has killed over 46,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, who do not distinguish between civilians and militants but say women and children make up more than half of those killed.

More than 100 hostages were freed from Gaza in a weeklong truce in November 2023.

The U.S., along with Egypt and Qatar, have brokered months of indirect talks between the bitter enemies that finally culminated in this latest deal. It comes after Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire in November, after more than a year of conflict linked to the war in Gaza.

U.N. and international relief organizations estimate some 90% of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been displaced, often multiple times. They say tens of thousands of homes have been destroyed and hospitals are barely functioning. Experts have warned that famine may be underway in northern Gaza.

Abed Radwan, a Palestinian father of three, called the ceasefire deal "the best day in my life and the life of the Gaza people. ... Thank God. Thank God.”

Radwan, who has been displaced from the town of Beit Lahiya for over a year and has been sheltering in Gaza City, said he hopes to return and to rebuild his home. As he spoke to AP by phone, his voice was overshadowed by the celebrations of fellow Gazans.

“People are crying here. They don’t believe it’s true," he said.

In Israel, hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside Israel’s military headquarters in Tel Aviv, calling for a deal to be completed. Many held posters of hostages, others hoisted candles in the air.

As the deal was announced, some people were unaware it had gone through. Sharone Lifschitz, whose father Oded is being held in Gaza, told the AP by phone she was stunned and grateful but won’t believe it until she sees all the hostages come home.

“I’m so desperate to see them, if by some miracle my father has survived,” she said.

The Hostage Families Forum, which has long pressed Israeli leaders to make a deal that would bring the captives home, said it welcomed Wednesday's announcement with joy and relief.

“After 460 days of our family members being held in Hamas tunnels, we are closer than ever to reuniting with our loved ones,” it said in a statement.

Biden, who has provided crucial military aid to Israel but expressed exasperation over civilian deaths in Gaza, announced the outline of the three-phase ceasefire agreement on May 31. The agreement eventually agreed to followed that framework.

He said the first phase would last for six weeks and include a “full and complete ceasefire,” a withdrawal of Israeli forces from densely populated areas of Gaza and the release of a number of hostages, including women, older adults and wounded people, in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Humanitarian assistance would surge, with hundreds of trucks entering Gaza each day.

The second and most difficult phase would include the release of all remaining living hostages, including male soldiers, and Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza. The third phase calls for the start of major reconstruction of Gaza, which faces decades of rebuilding from devastation caused by the war.

Hamas had been demanding assurances of a permanent end to the war and complete withdrawal of all Israeli forces from Gaza. Israel, meanwhile, has repeatedly said it would not halt the war until it destroys Hamas’ military and governing capabilities.

With Biden’s days in office numbered and Trump set to take over, both sides had been under pressure to agree to a deal.

Trump celebrated the agreement, posting on his Truth Social social media platform: “WE HAVE A DEAL FOR THE HOSTAGES IN THE MIDDLE EAST. THEY WILL BE RELEASED SHORTLY. THANK YOU!”

Jonathan Panikoff, director of the Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative at the Atlantic Council, said Biden deserves praise for continuing to push the talks. But Trump’s threats to Hamas and his efforts to “cajole” Netanyahu deserve credit as well.

“The ironic reality is that at a time of heightened partisanship even over foreign policy, the deal represents how much more powerful and influential U.S. foreign policy can be when it’s bipartisan,” Panikoff said.

Hezbollah’s acceptance of a ceasefire in Lebanon after it had suffered heavy blows, and the overthrow of President Bashar Assad in Syria, were both major setbacks for Iran and its allies across the region, including Hamas, which was left increasingly isolated.

Israel has come under heavy international criticism, including from its closest ally, the United States, over the civilian toll in Gaza. Israel says it has killed around 17,000 militants — though it has not provided evidence to support the claim. It also blames Hamas for the civilian casualties, accusing it of using schools, hospitals and residential areas for military purposes.

The International Court of Justice is investigating allegations brought by South Africa that Israel has committed genocide. The International Criminal Court, a separate body also based in The Hague, has issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu, his former defense minister and a Hamas commander for war crimes and crimes against humanity linked to the war.

Israel and the United States have condemned the actions taken by both courts.

Netanyahu also faced great domestic pressure to bring home the hostages. Their families have become a powerful lobbying group with wide public support backed by months of mass protests urging the government to reach a deal with Hamas.

Israeli authorities have already concluded that more than a third of the roughly 100 remaining people held captive are dead, and there are fears that others are no longer alive. A series of videos released by Hamas showing surviving hostages in distress, combined with news that a growing number of abducted Israelis have died, put added pressure on the Israeli leader.

Hamas, a militant group that does not accept Israel’s existence, has come under overwhelming pressure from Israeli military operations, including the invasion of Gaza’s largest cities and towns and the takeover of the border between Gaza and Egypt. Its top leaders, including Yahya Sinwar, who was believed to have helped mastermind the Oct. 7, 2023, attack, have been killed.

But its fighters have regrouped in some of the hardest-hit areas after the withdrawal of Israeli forces, raising the prospect of a prolonged insurgency if the war continues.

Netanyahu has vowed to continue the war until Hamas’ military and governing capabilities are destroyed. But it has never been clear what that would entail or if it’s even possible, given the group’s deep roots in Palestinian society, its presence in Lebanon and the occupied West Bank, and its exiled leadership.

Both sides still face many difficult and unanswered questions.

As the war winds down, Netanyahu will face growing calls for postwar investigations that could find him at least partially responsible for the security failures of Oct. 7 — the worst in Israel’s history. His far-right governing partners, who opposed a ceasefire deal, could also bring down the coalition and push the country into early elections.

There is still no plan for who will govern Gaza after the war. Israel has said it will work with local Palestinians not affiliated with Hamas or the Western-backed Palestinian Authority. But it's unclear if such partners exist, and Hamas has threatened anyone who cooperates with Israeli forces.

The United States has tried to advance sweeping postwar plans for a reformed Palestinian Authority to govern Gaza with Arab and international assistance. As part of those plans, the U.S. hopes Saudi Arabia would normalize relations with Israel in return for U.S. security guarantees and aid in setting up a civilian nuclear program.

But those plans depend on credible progress toward the creation of a Palestinian state, something Netanyahu and much of Israel’s political class oppose. Netanyahu has said Israel will maintain open-ended security control over Gaza as well as the occupied West Bank, territories captured by Israel in the 1967 war that the Palestinians want for their future state.

Federman reported from Jerusalem. Magdy reported from Cairo. Fatma Khaled in Cairo, Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv, Wafaa Shurafa in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, and Aamer Madhani, Zeke Miller, Matthew Lee and Ellen Knickmeyer in Washington, contributed.

Palestinians celebrate the announcement of a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

FILE - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a news conference in Jerusalem, Sept. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg, File)

President Joe Biden, center, with Vice President Kamala Harris, left, and Sec. of State Anthony Blinken, right, speaks in the Cross Hall of the White House on the announcement of a ceasefire deal in Gaza and the release of dozens of hostages after more than 15 months of war, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Palestinians celebrate the announcement of a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Relatives and friends of people killed and abducted by Hamas and taken into Gaza, react to the ceasefire announcement as they take part in a demonstration in Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Relatives and friends of people killed and abducted by Hamas and taken into Gaza, react to the ceasefire announcement as they take part in a demonstration in Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

Palestinians celebrate the announcement of a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians celebrate the imminent announcement of a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel in Khan Younis, central Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025.(AP Photo/(AP Photo/Mariam Dagga)

Relatives and friends of people killed and abducted by Hamas and taken into Gaza, react to the ceasefire announcement as they take part in a demonstration in Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

Palestinians celebrate the announcement of a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Relatives and friends of people killed and abducted by Hamas and taken into Gaza, take part in a demonstration in Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

A boy looks at the bodies of Palestinians killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip as they are brought for burial at Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Relatives and friends of people killed and abducted by Hamas and taken into Gaza, take part in a demonstration in Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

FILE - Destroyed buildings are seen through the window of an airplane from the U.S. Air Force overflying the Gaza Strip, on March 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa, File)

FILE - Relatives of Israelis held hostage by Hamas in the Gaza Strip and their supporters protest outside of the hotel where U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is staying during a visit with Israeli leadership in Tel Aviv, on Oct. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo, File)

FILE - Palestinian children play next to buildings destroyed by Israeli army strikes in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, on Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana, File)

FILE - Palestinians walk through the destruction in the wake of an Israeli air and ground offensive in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana, File)

FILE - Demonstrators wave flags and signs during a protest demanding a cease-fire deal and the immediate release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip by Hamas in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Jan. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit, File)

FILE - A Palestinian man mourns a relative killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip at a hospital morgue in Deir al-Balah on Aug. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana, File)

FILE - People visit the site of the Nova music festival, where hundreds of revelers were killed and abducted by Hamas and taken into Gaza, on the one-year anniversary of the attack near Kibbutz Reim, southern Israel, on Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit, File)

FILE - Rockets fired from Gaza and intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system over Israeli skies are seen from Gaza City, on May 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair, File)

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Liberian man arrested over the weekend after heavily armed immigration agents used a battering ram to break through the front door of his Minneapolis home had been checking in regularly with federal authorities for years, his attorney said Tuesday.

The arrest of Garrison Gibson, 37 during a Minnesota immigration crackdown that the Department of Homeland Security has called its largest enforcement operation ever, was a “blatant constitutional violation,” since the agents did not have a proper warrant, said attorney Marc Prokosch.

The arrest Sunday came in a city increasingly on edge after an immigration agent shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Good last week, setting off waves of angry protests and clashes between authorities and activists.

“This was an illegal search, absolutely,” said Prokosch, because agents had brought only an administrative warrant, which authorizes someone’s arrest but does not allow officers to forcibly enter private homes. Forced entry requires a criminal warrant signed by a judge.

Gibson, who fled the Liberian civil war as a child, had been ordered removed from the U.S., apparently because of a 2008 drug conviction that was later dismissed by the courts. But he had remained in the country legally under what’s known as an order of supervision, with the requirement that he meet regularly with immigration authorities.

Only days before his arrest, Gibson had checked in with immigration authorities at regional immigration offices — the same building where agents have been staging enforcement raids in recent weeks.

“He would have had another check-in in a couple of months,” Prokosch said. “So if he’s this dangerous person, then, why are they letting him walk around?

Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Homeland Security Department, said earlier this week that Gibson has “a lengthy rap sheet (that) includes robbery, drug possession with intent to sell, possession of a deadly weapon, malicious destruction and theft.” She did not indicate if those were arrests, charges or convictions.

McLaughlin did not respond to questions about whether the agents’ use of force was justified.

But court records indicate Gibson’s legal history — dominated by a few traffic violations, minor drug arrests and an arrest for riding public transportation without paying the fare — shows only one felony, the 2008 conviction for third-degree narcotics sales that was later dismissed.

Prokosch said Gibson had been flown to Texas by immigration authorities in the hours after his arrest, then quickly flown back to Minnesota on a judge's order after the lawyer filed a habeas corpus petition, used by courts to determine if an imprisonment is legal. The courts have not yet ruled on the petition.

Gibson is currently being held at an immigration detention center in Albert Lea, Minnesota, after being held at a large camp on the Fort Bliss Army base in El Paso, Texas. according to ICE’s detainee locator.

The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to an email from The Associated Press with follow-up questions about Gibson's case.

Gibson’s wife, Teyana Gibson Brown, a nurse who was inside the home with the couple's 9-year-old child during the raid, was deeply shaken by the arrest, Prokosch said.

During their conversations, she “was having a hard time just completing sentences because she’s just been so distraught,” he said.

Activists who had been keeping watch on the immigration agents before Gibson's arrest banged on drums, blew whistles and honked car horns in attempts to disrupt the operation and warn neighbors, some of whom poured into the streets.

Video taken at the scene by the AP shows agents pushing and pepper-spraying demonstrators.

The Twin Cities — the latest target in President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement campaign — has been convulsed by the killing of Good, who was shot Jan. 7 during a confrontation with agents.

The Trump administration has defended the officer who shot Good in her car, saying he was protecting himself and fellow agents and that Good had “weaponized” her vehicle.

City and state officials have dismissed those explanations based on videos of the confrontation.

State and local authorities are urging the public to share video and any other evidence as they seek to investigate Good’s death after federal authorities insisted they would work on their own and not share information.

More than 2,000 immigration arrests have been made in Minnesota since the enforcement operation began at the beginning of December, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told Fox News over the weekend that the administration would send additional federal agents to the state to protect immigration officers and continue enforcement.

—

AP correspondent Elliot Spagat contributed to this report from San Diego.

A family member, center, reacts after federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

A woman gets into an altercation with a federal immigration officer as officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Bystanders are treated after being pepper sprayed as federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

A federal immigration officer deploys pepper spray as officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

A family member reacts after federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)