Hamas commander Rafa Salama and around a 100 Palestinian civilians were killed by an MK-84 bomb in Rafah's Al-Mawasi on July 13, 2024

Smotrich said he has received assurances that Israel will resume the war after the first phase, during which 33 hostages held in Gaza are to return home and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners are to be freed. The second phase, which must still be negotiated, is to work out an end to the war and return of all remaining hostages.

Biden had put the hold on the delivery of the bombs due to concern over the impact they could have on the civilian population, during Israel’s war in the Palestinian enclave.

Israel and Hamas agreed to a deal to halt fighting in Gaza and exchange Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, an official briefed on the deal told Reuters on Wednesday, opening the way to a possible end to a devastating 15-month conflict.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah ... was killed by the Israeli military in Rafah in mid-October. Much of the conventional wisdom on counterterrorism, however, suggests that killing ...

The three female hostages who were freed on Sunday are now in Israel, the IDF and Shin Bet said in a joint statement. President Joe Biden on Sunday said the long, arduous negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage release deal have "finally come to fruition."

Both the Trump and Biden administrations have publicly claimed credit for pushing the agreement over the line.

President Donald Trump has overturned a decision by his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, to stop the supply of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel. The White House confirmed the policy change, first reported by Reuters. The hold was initially imposed over concerns of civilian casualties in Gaza's city of Rafah.

President Donald Trump's White House has instructed the U.S. military to release a hold imposed by the Biden administration on the supply of 2,000pound bombs

The Biden administration's particular concern was over the use of such large bombs in Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians in Gaza had taken refuge.

After months of conflict and tens of thousands of deaths, Israel and Hamas have agreed a ceasefire deal to end the war, officials have told Sky News. In this story, Sky News looks back at what has happened since the Hamas attacks on 7 October 2023.