U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman James Reish said at the confirmation hearing of Senator Marco Rubio as the next secretary of state that Israel and Hamas have reached an agreement on a multi-phase ceasefire and committed to ending the Gaza war.

"I just learned that a ceasefire has been declared in Gaza. But before we celebrate, obviously we all want to see how the ceasefire is being enforced," Rishi said.

In the first phase, which lasted six weeks, Hamas promised to release 33 Israeli hostages in exchange for a larger number of Palestinian detainees. It's unclear how many people were involved, as the group wants more detainees per hostage to be released alive but has not revealed how many are still alive. Israel believes most are like this. A Palestinian official, who was not authorized to speak to the media, said the total number of Palestinians expected to be released from Israeli detention was around 1,000.

The deal was reached after weeks of intensive indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas in the Qatari capital Doha, mediated by U.S., Egyptian and Qatari mediators. Special envoys from President Joe Biden's administration and President-elect Trump's team were also on hand to pressure both sides to reach a deal.

The war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel from Gaza, killing about 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages into Gaza. In late 2023, Israel and Hamas reached a similar agreement and about 100 hostages were released, while others were rescued or found dead.

As part of the deal, some 240 Palestinians were released from Israeli prisons. The war has killed more than 46,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza health authorities. The Israeli military says 405 soldiers have been killed in fighting since the invasion of Gaza.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated.