Israel and Hamas have reached a ceasefire agreement "with immediate effect" according to official US sources, providing for an end to Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip and the exchange of surviving Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners.

Talks to reach the agreement went on for several days in Doha, Qatar, mediated by Qatar itself, Egypt and the United States of America.

The agreement provides for a first phase lasting 42 days, during which Hamas is expected to release 33 hostages, while Israel will release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held in its jails, withdraw troops from the most densely populated areas of the Gaza Strip, allow civilians to return to the North, and permit an adequate number of trucks carrying humanitarian aid to enter Palestinian territory. The full withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Strip will then take place in a second phase, during which Hamas will release the remaining hostages, the military ones.

The ceasefire comes after more than 15 months of Israeli war on Gaza, which has caused over 46,000 deaths. According to the scientific journal The Lancet, the death toll could be more than 70,000.