Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said the agreement was a “bad and dangerous deal for the security of the State of Israel” while National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said he opposed the “disastrous deal”.

Pressure to put an end to the fighting had ratcheted up in recent days as mediators Qatar, Egypt and the United States intensified efforts to cement an agreement.

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani told a press conference Wednesday that the “two belligerents in the Gaza Strip have reached a deal”.

“We hope that this will be the last page of the war, and we hope that all parties will commit to implementing all the terms of this agreement,” he said.

He said the three countries would monitor the implementation of the ceasefire via a body based in Cairo.

During the initial 42-day ceasefire, 33 hostages would be released, he said, “including civilian women and female recruits, as well as children, elderly people, as well as civilian ill people and wounded”.

Also in the first phase, Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza’s densely populated areas to allow for the exchanges, as well as “the return of the displaced people to their residences”, he said.

The number of Palestinian prisoners to be released in exchange for the Israeli hostages in the second and third phases would be “finalised” during the initial 42 days, he said.

Palestinian militants took 251 people hostage during the October 7 attack, 94 of whom are still being held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

Unlikely pairing

Announcing the deal from the White House, Biden said he was “deeply satisfied this day has come”, calling the negotiations some of the “toughest” of his career.