How the agreement was reached between Israel and Hamas – a timeline

Ahead of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas entering into force on Friday, the first step in implementing the first phase of President Trump’s peace agreement A plan to end the war in Gazasenior US officials shared a timeline of the months-long effort to put the deal together.

At this point, Israeli forces did just that It was withdrawn From parts of Gaza, a 72-hour countdown has begun until Hamas releases all remaining Israeli hostages. In return, Israel will release dozens of Palestinian prisoners and allow aid to flow into Gaza. Palestinians who left northern Gaza during the fighting there could be seen returning to the war-torn area on Friday.

The vast majority of Mr. Trump 20 point plan It remains to be implemented, but as work begins to achieve it, here’s what senior U.S. officials told CBS News about key moments in the negotiations.

August 2025: Hamas accepts a new ceasefire proposal

Hamas accepted a new ceasefire proposal in Gaza presented by Egypt and Qatar. One US official said that this proposal is based on principles from previous negotiations and previous hostage releases. It also took into account elements of what Israel, Hamas and Mr. Trump wanted to include. It was this proposal that would develop into a 20-point plan.

Around Monday, September 22 through Wednesday, September 24: Witkoff and Kushner present a 20-point plan to the Qataris to “toughen things out”

In New York during the UN General Assembly, special Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s foreign adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner presented the 20-point plan to the Qataris, in particular, to Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, with whom they worked to “craft, adapt, and tighten the document,” a senior US official said. They then brought the document to other Arab leaders for comments.

The senior official said that the negotiators met with Türkiye and Egypt, in addition to Qatar. On Tuesday, September 23, while at the United Nations General Assembly, President Trump presented the 20-point plan to a roundtable of Arab leaders, which sparked “a lot of backlash.”

Wednesday, September 24 to Sunday, September 28: Witkopf and Kushner’s draft plan includes Netanyahu’s apology to Qatar for the air strike in Doha

Witkoff and Kushner remained in New York City after the UN General Assembly, where they worked over the weekend to develop a plan to present to Mr. Trump in the Oval Office on Monday, September 29.

Their plan included an apology from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Mohammed, the Qatari prime minister, for the Israeli raid that killed Hamas officials in Doha in September. “Everything went well,” a senior US official said.

Monday, September 29: Netanyahu apologizes to Qatar

Mr. Trump announced the 20-point proposal during a meeting with Netanyahu at the White House. That day, the president, Netanyahu and the Qatari prime minister spoke in a phone call, and Netanyahu apologized for the Israeli raids on Doha, expressing “deep regret that the Israeli missile strike against Hamas targets in Qatar inadvertently killed a Qatari soldier,” according to a White House statement of the call.

A senior US official said the Israeli strike had caused “a lot of anxiety within the Arab world” and there was “deep mistrust between the two parties”, adding that Netanyahu’s apology to Qatar had been well received, “as a really strong thing and the kind of thing mature people do”.

“It gave us some leverage,” the official added.

Around this time, one official said, the United States was beginning to discover that Hamas had “had enough.”

“Every family in Gaza has been affected by this,” the official said. “You read some of the public opinion polls — Gazans aren’t just blaming Israel for this conflict. They were, by and large, blaming Hamas for it. We’re starting to feel this shift in influence.”

Within days, there will be a meeting in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, with the heads of Turkish and Egyptian intelligence and the Qatari prime minister.

Friday, October 3: In Miami, Kushner and Witkoff work to free the hostages

In Florida, when Kushner heard that Hamas had agreed to begin talks on releasing the hostages, he drove 20 minutes to Witkoff’s home in Miami, where they worked and made calls about the peace proposal, two administration officials said.

Sunday, October 5 – Monday, October 6: Meetings in Sharm El-Sheikh bring Hamas and Israel to the negotiating table

Officials from Türkiye, Qatar, and Egypt sat with Hamas and Israel at the table in Sharm El-Sheikh on October 5. Witkoff and Kushner set out for Sharm El-Sheikh as soon as they felt that the tactical teams “had done a lot.”

Wednesday morning, Sharm El-Sheikh, October 8: Revision of the peace plan

Kushner and Witkoff arrived in Sharm el-Sheikh at 6:30 a.m. local time and “went to work immediately,” according to a senior U.S. official. They spent “a lot of time” discussing the proposals and issues that had arisen over the previous days, such as the redeployment of the IDF and when the hostages would be released.

During these talks, they also divided the peace agreement into two phases. The first phase will be the release of the hostages, including the release of Palestinian prisoners in Israel.

Then the second stage begins. This was what one senior US official called a “semi-permanent ceasefire” that would remain in place until other issues could be negotiated: disarmament, how a technocratic government would enter and run Gaza, how the Israeli army would redeploy, and what mechanisms would be needed to implement these steps.

Before they left, Mr. Trump conveyed multiple messages to Kushner and Witkoff.

“His message was: First, get it done,” a US official said. He also reiterated that he stands behind every aspect of his 20-point plan.

“The president wanted people on both sides to understand that he was going to enforce good behavior here, and that was a critical, comprehensive message that we were there to talk about,” this official said.

One of the officials responsible for the talks in Egypt said: “We were heading for 20 straight hours.”

Sharm El-Sheikh, October 8, Wednesday evening: “Serious breakthroughs”

“We are starting to make some very serious breakthroughs on all of these issues,” the US official said, leading to another meeting on Wednesday evening with Kushner, Witkoff and officials from the Middle East.

After resolving what both sides considered important issues that the two sides had discussed, and clarifying some “misconceptions and misunderstandings,” Kushner and Witkoff contacted the president and received some guidance from him. Mr. Trump called into the talks at least three times via Witkoff’s or Kushner’s iPhone, and spoke on speaker phone with multiple stakeholders.

One of the main achievements that evening was reaching consensus on the release of the 20 living Israeli hostages and the exchange of Palestinian prisoners.

“People became more flexible,” one US official said. “You could see that as we built trust. Food was coming to us. We were exchanging ideas.” “I can’t stress enough how important that physical interaction was. We had many Arab leaders there, and I think they became convinced of the fact that we really wanted to see an agreement. We were committed to it, and we were going to support it.”

At this time, Hamas began to realize “that it did not necessarily need the hostages to impose its point of view, and that it would be better for them to acknowledge that the release of the hostages was a positive thing, and that better things would happen as a result of this decision on their part,” a US official said.

“It was very inclusive, very involved, very interactive,” this official added. “We just got there, and then everyone could see the line, and they wanted to cross it. Everyone. It really became unanimous.”

5:30 p.m., Washington, Wednesday, October 8 (2:30 a.m., Sharm El-Sheikh, Thursday, October 9): Deal announced

Witkoff and Kushner felt they had addressed all the issues and were ready to announce the deal. President Trump Announce In the US on Truth Social.

The president wrote in a tweet on Twitter: “This is a great day for the Arab and Islamic world, for Israel, all the surrounding countries, and the United States of America.” Social truth. “Blessed are the peacemakers!”

Witkoff and Kushner then traveled to Cairo, and met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to tell him that he was needed in the implementation phase. After meeting with Sisi, Witkopf and Kushner headed to Tel Aviv.

6:30 p.m., Tel Aviv, Thursday, October 9: Witkoff and Kushner receive applause in the Cabinet Room

Witkoff and Kushner arrive in Tel Aviv, although they never reach their hotel. They immediately went to meet President Isaac Herzog, to guide him through the plan, and then met with Netanyahu. They also spoke to the Israeli Cabinet, receiving a warm welcome.

An American official said that in the Cabinet Room, “everyone started applauding.” “There were a lot of differences of opinion that we heard there. There were hard-liners, and there were people who wanted to see the 20 hostages go home above all, but we talked, and we explored different ways to reach good compromises.”

The reason they went to Israel was to ensure “the implementation of the agreement.” “There are still many ways things could go wrong,” another senior US official admitted.

“Therefore, we are following up on the details to ensure that everyone fulfills their obligations and that any misunderstandings are quickly discussed and resolved,” the official said.

A US official suggested that Trump may have succeeded in reaching an agreement where other leaders had failed because he “is not trying to be middle of the road.”

“He stood side by side with Israel 100 percent,” the official said. This means that Israel “trusts him very much and that he will not ask them to do anything that would jeopardize their security. And because they know that if they agree together on what the end result should be, President Trump and his team will be able to have more frank and creative conversations with Israel about how to get there.”