The ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas officially went into effect in Gaza on Thursday, Al Arabiya reported hours after US President Donald Trump announced that a deal was reached between the warring sides.

Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas signed the agreement to end the fighting and free Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, in the first phase of Trump’s initiative to end the war in Gaza.

Officials on both sides confirmed they had signed the deal following indirect talks in the Egyptian beach resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

Joyous celebrations broke out in Gaza after the announcement was made. Israel, however, was cautious in its announcement saying that an agreement to secure the release of hostages in Gaza will take effect only after receiving cabinet approval.

“The final draft of phase one was signed this morning in Egypt by all parties to release all the hostages,” Israeli government spokeswoman Shosh Bedrosian told journalists.

“Now phase one stands very clear: All of our hostages, the living and the deceased, will be released 72 hours later, which will bring us to Monday,” she said.

Bedrosian said the ceasefire will take effect “within 24 hours” from a meeting of Israel’s security cabinet scheduled for Thursday at 1400 GMT, in which the plan is expected to be approved.

“The IDF will then redeploy to the yellow line as shown on maps which have been widely distributed at this point in time and now after this 24 hour period the 72 hour time window will then begin where all of our hostages will be released back into Israel,” she said.

The security cabinet meeting will be followed by a full government meeting at 1500 GMT.

Trump had announced that Israel and Hamas have agreed to the first phase of a Gaza deal involving the exchange of hostages and Palestinian prisoners, with the swap set to occur within 72 hours of the deal’s implementation.

Netanyahu’s office had said that Israel has stopped the offensive operations in Gaza, according to Al Arabiya.