The BBC has reconnected with Stephen Brisley, a man who had three family members murdered by Hamas - one of them his sister - during the 7 October attacks.

Another relative of Brisley's, Eli Sharabi, was kidnapped in the attacks. Brisley hopes to connect with him soon, after the hostages are released as part of the ceasefire deal.

But after more than a year of waiting for his return, and a rollercoaster ride of emotions, his optimism following Wednesday's deal is reserved.

"There's a long road between the announcement of a deal and hostages actually setting foot back on Israeli soil," he says.

"This is the moment that we've been waiting for twelve, fourteen months for, but it's difficult bearing in mind all of the false dawns we've had before, to get too elated about it. And we don't actually know whether Eli is alive or dead, even."

Military action in Gaza has not ended despite the ceasefire deal.

The Hamas-run Civil Defence agency reported that Israeli air strikes killed more than 20 people today following the Qatari announcement.

They included 12 people who were living in a residential block in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood of Gaza City, it said. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

The ceasefire deal does not come into force until Sunday.

Palestinians in Gaza have been speaking to our colleagues at BBC Arabic about their feelings regarding the ceasefire deal.

One woman, whose son Nabil Muhammad Zaydan Nasser was killed during the war, says she feels a mix of both joy and heartbreak at the news.

"Praise be to Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon our Prophet Mohammed, I congratulate our people; the people of the besieged and struggling Gaza on this truce, and God willing it will be fully carried out.

Another man who spoke to BBC Arabic thanks Arab nations for their efforts in helping to reach a deal.

"We were afraid that it would be our turn to die in this war, not to mention our suffering due to the lack of food and drink, as well as the nonexistence of water.

"We thank the Arab countries for making such great efforts and putting pressure on Israel to stop the war against us."

Image source, Reuters

The Israeli Prime Minister's Office says an official announcement on behalf of Benjamin Netanyahu will be made after the final details of the agreement, which it says are currently being worked on, are completed.

Earlier, during separate phone calls, Netanyahu thanked incoming US President Donald Trump and outgoing President Joe Biden for helping to secure a deal.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has thanked US President-elect Donald Trump "for his help in promoting the release of hostages", according to a statement from Netanyahu's office.

Netanyahu also "congratulated the US President-elect for his words that the United States will work with Israel to ensure that Gaza will never be a haven for terrorism".

Trump and Netanyahu agreed "to meet soon in Washington", the statement said.

The last line of the statement said: "Prime Minister Netanyahu then spoke with US President Joe Biden, and also thanked him for his help in promoting the hostage deal."

The ceasefire is proposed to take effect on Sunday - Biden's last day as president before Trump takes office again.

Biden's White House has said that Trump played a role in the deal "without question".

Earlier on Wednesday, a reporter asked President Biden whether he or President-elect Trump should get credit for the ceasefire, to which Biden responded: "Is that a joke?"

More now from John Kirby, who has been speaking with BBC News from the White House. He says that while the initial hostages are released and aid is being delivered, Israel and Hamas will be negotiating phase two of the three-part ceasefire deal.

Phase two - the terms of which have not been agreed upon yet - is likely to include the withdrawal of Israel Defense Forces from Gaza and a permanent end to the war, Kirby says.

"Phase two is a critical phase, because it really does allow you - if you can get there - to end this war permanently," he says.

When asked if he thinks that's achievable, Kirby responds: "We believe we can. This is a good deal."

"It just requires leadership and implementation," he adds.

John Kirby says the first group of hostages to be released on Sunday will be elderly women, civilians, the sick, the injured and the most at risk.

"We know that there are Americans in that tranche, and we fully expect that they will be part of this initial release," he tells BBC News.

He says the US will be "closely monitoring the surge of humanitarian aid" expected to arrive, "which is so desperately needed".

He emphasises that this too will require implementation and leadership from both Israel and Hamas.

When asked if Donald Trump had any influence on the ceasefire deal being reached, John Kirby tells BBC News: "Without question".

"Some of his comments in the public made clear that he wanted this deal, and I think that that certainly sent a strong signal to everybody in the region," the White House national security communications adviser says.

However, he adds: "This was a deal that President Biden originally put on the table back in May."

White House national security communications adviser John Kirby is currently speaking with BBC News and says that implementation of the ceasefire deal is the main focus.

Kirby says successful implementation is going "to require commitment, effort from all sides here".

When asked how confident he was about implementation, Kirby says: "That's the key question".

"Implementation is the most important thing right now, now that we have the deal in front of us."

Mallory Moench
Live reporter

Image source, Efrat Moses

Efrat Machikawa, whose uncle, Gadi Moses, now 80, was taken hostage by Hamas fighters from his home in Nir Oz on 7 October 2023, told the BBC that she had "controlled optimism", after the announcement of a ceasefire and hostage deal.

"The energy in the air here is so unique that I feel I need to invent a new word to describe it - when joy and worry meets," she said from southern Israel.

Over many months, she had joined thousands protesting in the streets, demanding the release of hostages.

She described the negotiations as a "roller coaster", adding: "We hardly breathe". She had no idea when her uncle would be released.

"I believe Gadi will be fine. It will take time but he will be hugged so warmly and slowly. Together we shall overcome," she added.

Image source, Efrat Moses

Ceasefire deal a risk Netanyahu was willing to takepublished at 22:13 Greenwich Mean Time 15 January

22:13 GMT 15 January

Jon Donnison
Reporting from Jerusalem

Benjamin Netanyahu, under pressure from his right-wing coalition, had resisted a ceasefire and hostage agreement for months, knowing a deal could bring his government down.

But it seems now that is a risk he was willing to take in order to please the incoming US President, Donald Trump, who had insisted the war must end.

Tonight both sides, Hamas and Israel, were wanting to spin that it was their enemy that was blocking a deal up to now, and that it is the other side that has backed down. So the statement Netanyahu’s office issued earlier has to be put in that context.

Before the deal was announced, the Israeli prime minister said Hamas had “backed down” because of his "firm stance". Others, including some of Netanyahu's own ministers, said it was Israel that up to now had been blocking a deal.

There was some concern that the “unresolved clauses” Netanyahu spoke of could have seen this deal collapse. But it’s also possible that he was wanting to signal to some of his more sceptical cabinet colleagues, who must approve the deal in the coming days, that he was keeping the pressure up on Hamas.

Lucy Williamson
Middle East correspondent, reporting from Jerusalem

After 15 months of waiting for his son, Nimrod, to come home, Yehuda Cohen received news of the deal tonight with barely a flicker of feeling.

“I’m done with emotion,” he told me. “I don’t have time for emotion.” Rather than crying, he said, these days the feelings come out as anger.

Yehuda has been fighting to get his son released, but acknowledges he’s likely to be “one of the last” to be freed.

Nimrod was abducted by Hamas gunmen, along with the rest of his tank unit, near the Nahal Oz military base during the 7 October attacks. He was 19 years old.

I asked Yehuda whether, tonight, he allowed himself to imagine Nimrod coming home. “I can be the father of Nimrod when he’s back here,” he told me.

“I haven’t talked to him for 15 months, seen him, heard him. He’s somewhere in the dark. So, I’m fighting to get back to being Nimrod’s father.”

Mallory Moench
Live reporter

“I feel great, I have never been this happy before,” Dima Shurrab, 19, tells the BBC in a WhatsApp message from Khan Younis. “I can't believe what's happening around me now. Am I dreaming?”

“We are happy in Gaza, but we are afraid," she adds. "The fear will disappear when the agreement enters into force.”

Just two months ago, Shurrab ended a call with the words “pray we stay alive”.

Her family was living in a partially-destroyed home after evacuating multiple times. They survived on bread, nuts, peas, beans and some very expensive vegetables. She walked up to two kilometres to get water and lit wood fires because she had no cooking gas.

“I can’t sleep because of fear, hunger and explosions. My life has become black,” she says.

She had a scholarship to study medicine in Algeria, but the war broke out two days after she submitted her passport to get a visa. She couldn’t afford to pay a broker around $5,000 (£4,088) to leave through Rafah - her only option until May, when that crossing closed.

“I felt that my future, my dreams were being blocked,” she says.

Now though, a ceasefire brings her dream of being a doctor closer.

Image source, Reuters

Hamas's chief negotiator has given a statement about the ceasefire deal, saying the group "will not forgive" Israel for the suffering in Gaza during the war.

"On behalf of all the victims, every drop of blood spilt and every tear of pain and oppression, we say: We will not forget, and we will not forgive," said Khalil al-Hayya.

He also said Israel had failed to achieve the goals of its military operation in the territory.

Reaching deal has been agonisingly difficult, but even harder work lies aheadpublished at 21:03 Greenwich Mean Time 15 January

21:03 GMT 15 January

Paul Adams
Diplomatic correspondent

Donald Trump will be president in five days’ time. That looming reality has clearly focused the minds of Israeli and Palestinian negotiators involved in the search for a ceasefire deal.

But while neither side appeared willing to incur the new president’s wrath by standing in the way of a deal, it remains to be seen whether the new administration will be willing to keep bashing heads together in pursuit of a more durable settlement.

The Israeli government of prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu may be hoping for a second helping of the indulgence that characterised the first Trump administration, which moved the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and recognised Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights.

Back in office, might Trump be willing to extend that recognition to parts of the occupied West Bank?

His choice as ambassador to Israel, former Arkansas governor and Evangelical Christian Mike Huckabee, says there is no such thing as the West Bank, or the occupation.

With other governments, including the UK, tonight urging everyone to turn their attention to the creation of a two-state solution, could this be part of Donald Trump’s plan for the Middle East?

Getting a ceasefire and hostage deal has proved agonisingly difficult. But much, much harder work lies ahead.

Image source, Reuters

Israeli President Isaac Herzog has just been delivering a news conference, marking the first official address by Israeli officials about the hostage and ceasefire deal.

Herzog says he offers his support to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his negotiating team "in their efforts to finalise this deal," as he called on the cabinet and government to accept it.

As a reminder, the Israeli cabinet still needs to approve the deal in a vote, though it's expected to do so, despite objections from some ministers in the far-right flank of the government.

But the Israeli president warned that there should be "no illusions" about the difficult path ahead.

"This deal—when signed, approved, and implemented—will bring with it deeply painful, challenging, and harrowing moments. It will also present significant challenges. This is not a simple situation - it is among the greatest challenges we have ever known."

Biden seeks to cement legacy as Trump takes credit for dealpublished at 20:29 Greenwich Mean Time 15 January

20:29 GMT 15 January

Tom Bateman
State Department correspondent

This was the moment Biden desperately wanted after the horrors of the last 15 months and the most brutally divisive issue of his foreign policy - both at home and abroad.

It’s taken eight months after he announced the ceasefire framework to get here. He expressed his relief for the Israeli and American hostages and for Palestinians in Gaza who he said had “been through hell”.

But much of Biden’s speech was about trying to cement his own role and that of his administration in closing the deal.

That’s especially acute because he knows Donald Trump - who announced the agreement before Biden did - is taking credit for it.

But despite the duelling, the two administrations’ teams have in fact worked in coordination in the run up to the agreement.

Both Biden’s envoy Brett McGurk and Trump’s, Steve Witkoff, were in Doha as the talks reached the finish line. Biden described the deal as a result of “dogged and painstaking American diplomacy”.

The reality is he now hands the critical role of guaranteeing the ceasefire and getting it to a second phase to an opponent with a very different outlook when it comes to some of their priorities in the region.

The international community has been welcoming news of the deal. Here's a round-up of what leaders have been saying:

• Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz welcomed the news of the release of hostages in Gaza, including Germans, and said the agreement "must be implemented to the letter"
• Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said the agreement was "crucial" to achieving regional stability, adding that it represents an "indispensable step" on the path towards a two-state solution
• UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said the priority must be to "ease the tremendous suffering caused by this conflict" and added that the UN is ready to scale up the delivery of aid to Palestinians
• The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk saidthe deal holds the promise of "huge relief after so much unbearable pain and misery", and that it is "imperative" that it holds
• The head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said the agreement "brings hope to an entire region, where people have endured immense suffering for far too long"

Just hours after the ceasefire deal was announced, an air strike reportedly hit a house in the Al Tufah neighbourhood of Gaza City.

Three people were killed and several have been wounded, according to the Hamas-run civil defence agency.

As a reminder, the ceasefire and hostage release deal has been confirmed, but it's not due to take effect until Sunday.

A considerable achievement, but challenges lie aheadpublished at 20:03 Greenwich Mean Time 15 January

20:03 GMT 15 January

Jeremy Bowen
International editor, in Jerusalem

It's a very significant and overdue moment because versions of this deal have been on the negotiating table since May of last year.

There have been serious delays, with both sides blaming each other. Israeli politics have also played an important role in this. There are significant and powerful people in the Israeli cabinet who are absolutely against any kind of deal with Hamas.

What seems to have happened is that the looming presence of Donald Trump returning to the White House has concentrated minds.

This is a considerable achievement, there's no doubt about it. They've got this far, but the big challenge now is what happens in the first phase - 42 days of which will see the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian detainees.

It appears some Palestinians will be allowed to go back to northern Gaza, but this is unspecified so far as we don't know much further detail.

It is clear the Israelis will stay in Gaza. But a whole raft of new questions now has been opened about what happens on the day after.

• Read more: Long-overdue ceasefire may stop the killing but won't end the conflict