Biden Holds Talks with Middle East Leaders Following Hostage Agreement

President Joe Biden on Wednesday spoke with leaders from Israel, Qatar and Egypt after Hamas and Israel finalized an agreement to release 50 Israeli women and children in exchange for 150 jailed Palestinians.

The conversations concerned “the deal to secure the release of hostages taken by Hamas during its brutal assault against Israel on October 7 and the latest developments in the region,” the White House said, according to AFP.

The deal, brokered by Qatar, the U.S. and Egypt, was made public as fighting intensified in central neighborhoods of Gaza City. Egypt’s state-run Qahera TV channel said the truce would take effect Thursday morning local time.

It caps weeks of fitful indirect negotiations and sets the stage for a tense period that could determine the course of the war, which was set off by Hamas’ Oct. 7 raid and has killed more than 11,000 Palestinians, according to health authorities. Hamas and other militant groups abducted some 240 and killed at least 1,200 people.

Israel, Hamas and Qatar have released different details of the agreement, but those details do not appear to contradict each other.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.