Gaza ceasefire deal reached after 15 months

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al Thani announced that negotiators had reached a deal for a ceasefire in the Gaza war between Israel and Hamas.
The ceasefire deal comes after 15 months of conflict that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and inflamed tensions across the Middle East.
Reports said the deal outlines a six-week initial ceasefire phase and includes the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and release of hostages held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian detainees held by Israel, an official briefed on the negotiations said.
The agreement follows months of on-off negotiations brokered by Egyptian and Qatari mediators, with the backing of the United States, and came just ahead of the Jan. 20 inauguration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.
Phase one entails the release of 33 Israeli hostages including all women, children and men over 50.
Negotiations on implementing the second phase will begin by the 16th day of phase one and it is expected to include the release of all remaining hostages, a permanent ceasefire and the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
The third phase is expected to address the return of all remaining dead bodies and the start of Gaza's reconstruction supervised by Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog made a televised statement shortly after a ceasefire deal between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas was announced, calling the agreement a "necessary move".
Herzog supported the deal and said releasing the Israeli hostages, the dead and the living, who've been held in Gaza for 15 months was a moral, human, Jewish and Israeli obligation.
Israel's campaign in Gaza has killed more than 46,000 people, according to Gaza health ministry figures, and left the coastal enclave a wasteland of rubble with hundreds of thousands surviving the winter cold in tents and makeshift shelters.