Mediators said Israel and Hamas have agreed to pause the fighting in Gaza starting Sunday after 15 months of war and to begin exchanging dozens of hostages held there for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had yet to confirm on Tuesday that the deal had been finalized. But the ceasefire could eventually bring an end to the bloodiest and most destructive war ever fought between Israel and Hamas, one that transformed the wider region and leaves the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict at the heart of the turmoil unresolved.

The Israel-Hamas deal was made possible by 18-hour days and a "remarkable" partnership between Joe Biden and Donald Trump's Mideast envoys -- but even then it seemed it might come apart at the last minute.

In the final four days of talks, Biden's pointman Brett McGurk was joined in the region by Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, to get the deal over the line, U.S. officials said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that a "last minute crisis" with Hamas was holding up Israeli approval of a long-awaited agreement to pause the fighting in the Gaza Strip and release dozens of hostages. Israeli airstrikes meanwhile killed dozens of people across the war-ravaged territory.

Netanyahu's office said his Cabinet won't meet to approve the agreement until Hamas backs down, accusing it of reneging on parts of the agreement in an attempt to gain further concessions, without elaborating.

Qatar's prime minister announced that Israel and Hamas had agreed Wednesday to a ceasefire and the release of hostages held in Gaza, adding he hoped the deal would pave the way for a permanent end to the fighting.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump hailed a hostage release and ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas on Wednesday, agreed just five days before he returns to power.

An Israeli air strike for the first time hit a military target belonging to Syria's new Islamist-led authorities on Wednesday, killing three people, a war monitor and a medical source said.

"An Israeli drone launched an attack targeting a military convoy... killing two members of the Military Operations Department, and injuring another person" in southern Syria's Quneitra region, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. A medical source told AFP a local official was among the three killed in the strike.

The Palestinian prime minister says it's unacceptable for any entity other than the Palestinian Authority to run the Gaza Strip in the future, as Israel and Hamas appear to be at the closest point yet to sealing a deal to end 15 months of war.

“While we’re waiting for the ceasefire, it’s important to stress that it will not be acceptable for any entity to govern Gaza Strip but the legitimate Palestinian leadership and the government of the State of Palestine,” Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa said Wednesday. He was visiting Norway, one of three European countries that formally recognized a Palestinian state in May.

Israel supplied Iran with centrifuge platforms containing explosives for its nuclear enrichment program, a top Iranian official has acknowledged for the first time, underscoring the sophistication of sabotage programs targeting the Islamic Republic.

The comments by Mohammad Javad Zarif, a former foreign minister who serves as vice president for strategic affairs for reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian, appear aimed at explaining to the country's disaffected public the challenges Iran's government faces under crushing Western sanctions over the program. The comments also acknowledged details previously reported in Israel about a 2021 attack on Iran's underground Natanz nuclear enrichment facility.

Hamas has approved a Gaza truce and hostage release deal, Palestinian sources close to negotiations said Wednesday, after mediator Qatar expressed hope an agreement to end the war could be reached very soon.

After months of failed bids to end the deadliest war in Gaza's history, negotiators were making a final push in Qatar to seal a ceasefire.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken made a last-minute case Tuesday for a plan for the post-war reconstruction and governance of Gaza as a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas appears tantalizingly close to completion.

Blinken touted the proposal, which has been in the works for a year, and discussed the importance of ensuring its success after the Biden administration leaves office in a speech to the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based think tank.