What to know about the Israel-Hamas truce and hostage release plan

With a ceasefire apparently in effect in the Gaza Strip and large numbers of Palestinians moving north as the Israeli military withdrew Friday, important questions persisted about what happens next in President Donald Trump’s 20-point peace plan.

Trump said he planned to travel to Egypt for a formal signing ceremony for the ceasefire agreement and had also been invited to address the Israeli parliament, or Knesset.

Here’s what we know and what we don’t know about what’s next.

Trump’s proposed plan

Key elements of Trump’s proposal include:

• The release of all living and dead hostages in Gaza within 72 hours of Israel’s acceptance of the deal.
• Once all hostages are released, Israel will release 250 life-sentenced prisoners, as well as 1,700 Palestinians detained after October 7, 2023.
• A demand from Hamas to lay down arms and a withdrawal of Israeli troops from the territory.
• The delivery of humanitarian aid and the installation of civil authority for the Palestinians.

And now ?

A ceasefire in Gaza took effect at noon local time (5 a.m. ET) on Friday and troops withdrew to agreed lines, the Israeli military said, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government approved the first phase of the deal intended to end the war.

A 72-hour window is now open during which Hamas will release the remaining hostages. The White House said it expected the hostages to be released Monday. Forty-eight hostages have yet to be returned, of whom Israel estimates 20 are alive.

An Israeli official briefed on the matter told NBC News that all living hostages would be released at the same time.

In exchange, Israel must release 250 prisoners serving life sentences and 1,700 Palestinians held after October 7, 2023. The final list of prisoners has not yet been made public, but an Israeli government spokeswoman said Thursday that it would not include prominent Palestinian political leader Marwan Barghouti, seen by many as a potential unifying figure.

The US military is preparing to deploy up to 200 troops to Israel to support the stabilization of Gaza and the delivery of humanitarian and security assistance to the enclave, according to two US officials familiar with the plan.

The agreement comes just over two years to the day after the Hamas-led terrorist attacks on Israel that killed 1,200 people and kidnapped around 250 people. Since then, Israel has killed more than 67,000 people in Gaza, more than half of whom were women and children, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

The future of Gaza?

The first phase of Trump’s plan does not address the medium- and long-term future of Gaza. With most of Gaza’s buildings damaged or destroyed in the Israeli offensive, according to the United Nations, and the population largely forced from their homes, what happens next is an urgent question.

Trump’s plan calls for the enclave to be temporarily governed by a “technocratic, apolitical Palestinian committee” overseen by a “Peace Council” led by Trump and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

And this is until the Palestinian Authority, which controls part of the occupied West Bank and is the main representative of the Palestinians on the international stage, can be “reformed”, according to the plan.

Meanwhile, Hamas agreed to participate in the hostage and prisoner exchange, but did not declare that it would disarm and disband — a key stipulation of Trump’s proposal.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Friday that Germany would make 29 million euros ($25 million) available for humanitarian aid and was considering co-hosting, with Egypt, a conference on the reconstruction of Gaza. He added that Germany was also “ready to assume its responsibilities in the Peace Council proposed by President Trump.”