Latest news and live updates as a Gaza ceasefire deal is reached after more than a year of war between Israel and Hamas.

The first phase, spanning a 42-day ceasefire, would see the exchange of 33 Israeli hostages in Gaza for Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, U.S. officials said.

Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire deal to pause the devastating war in the Gaza Strip, multiple officials announced Wednesday.

Hamas is expected to release 33 hostages in the first phase of the ceasefire-hostage agreement being negotiated in Doha in relation to the situation in Gaza, CNN reported on

U.S., Qatari and Egyptian mediators shuttled between the Israeli and Hamas delegations in Doha on Tuesday, where officials said a deal to halt the war is near.

Israel and Hamas agreed to pause the devastating war in the Gaza Strip, mediators announced Wednesday, raising the possibility of winding down the deadliest and most destructive fighting between the bitter enemies.

A delegation from Palestinian group Hamas arrived in Cairo on Monday to discuss the implementation of ceasefire deal to end the war in Gaza, the group said in a statement. (Reporting by Ali Sawafta, Writing by Menna Alaa El-Din,

NBC News' Raf Sanchez reports on the fragile ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas after a crisis over the weekend threatened to unravel the peace deal with a delay from Israel in allowing displaced Palestinians to return to their homes in the north of Gaza.

Delayed by a dispute over the release of a specific hostage, an agreement has been reached to allow Palestinians to return to northern Gaza.