Relief, joy, and rare hope washed across Israel, the Gaza Strip, and the West Bank Thursday as Israel and Hamas finalized a hostages-for-prisoners release and ceasefire deal.

The dramatic breakthrough signaled the potential end of a conflict that reverberated around the world and set the region on a knife-edge, drawing in combatants from Lebanon, Iran, and Yemen.

The prospect that the harrowing two-year war was finally coming to an end arrived almost as suddenly as the surprise Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack that triggered it. Some 1,200 people were killed and another 251 taken hostage in that attack.

It was followed by a relentless Israeli military campaign that killed tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians, leveled Gaza’s cities, and opened the deadliest chapter of the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict and occupation.

The agreed-upon first phase of the deal – Hamas’ release of the remaining Israeli hostages and a staged Israeli military withdrawal – may not be a permanent peace, but for many, it marks an end to suffering, both emotional and physical.

“I feel like I’m walking on clouds,” says Israeli Dani Miran, whose son Omri, a father of two young daughters, was taken hostage from his home on Oct. 7 and is believed to still be alive and held by Hamas.

Miran stood in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square Thursday as he was engulfed by well-wishers reaching out to hug and congratulate him on the agreement.

“We will never forget the terrible things that happened. History will be the judge. But I am focused on looking forward to the good things that await,” he says. Omri Miran “will return, and we will rebuild the country anew.”

In Gaza, displaced, hunger-stricken, and grieving Palestinians see the deal as tentative relief from an Israeli military offensive, deemed by some international experts to have become a genocide. Israel has killed 67,194 people in Gaza, including more than 18,000 children, according to Gaza health records.

“With the ceasefire, I hope my children get back to a sense of a normal life. I wish for a home and proper shelter,” says Nimah al-Qutosh, a displaced mother of three in Deir al-Balah, whose home in the Maghazi refugee camp was bulldozed by Israeli forces. “I miss a dignified life.”

But, she says, “I will not feel happy until things are real; words and pen on paper are not enough.”

“Able to breathe again”

The agreement was signed by Hamas and Israel in Egypt early Thursday, with the presence of mediators from Turkey, Egypt, Qatar, and the United States. It was ratified by an Israeli Cabinet vote Thursday night.

Mediators now expect Hamas to release hostages by Monday, according to U.S. President Donald Trump, who says he is planning to visit the region to oversee the deal.

As part of the agreement, Israel announced that a ceasefire and halting of its military operations in Gaza will go into effect Friday, 24 hours after it ratifies the deal. This will be the first suspension of its military offensive since it ended a previous ceasefire in March.

Future, peace uncertain

The agreement has deferred for now the thorniest issues of the Trump plan, such as Hamas’ disarmament, future Gaza governance, the dispatch of an Arab-international security force, reconstruction, and a further withdrawal of Israeli forces.

Contentious talks over the list of Palestinian prisoners to be released – including the status of high-profile detainees like popular Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti – continued late Thursday.

Another major sticking point is the proposed international board that would temporarily oversee Gaza’s governance. At issue is administratively splitting Gaza from the West Bank – both seen as critical to a unified Palestinian state – and putting Gazans’ prospects in the hands of foreigners. Hamas and its rival Palestinian Authority both refuse this.