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.

A new report published in the U.K. medical journal The Lancet indicates that far from exaggerating the human suffering in Gaza, the ministry has likely underestimated the true number of the dead by as much as 41 percent.

Three officials from the U.S. and one from Hamas confirmed that a deal had been reached, while the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said final details were still being ironed out.

Why aren’t you in The Hague? Why aren’t you in The Hague ... to receive food aid in Deir al Balah in the central Gaza Strip on Thursday.Credit...Eyad Baba/Agence France-Presse — Getty ...

Negotiations between Israel and Hamas hit a last-minute snag, delaying the expected announcement of a ceasefire agreement to pause the devastating 15-month war in the Gaza Strip.

Chaos erupted at Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s final press conference Thursday after an announced Israel-Hamas cease-fire and hostage deal, with State Department employees forcibly removing reporters who accused the cabinet official of allowing a “genocide” in Gaza.

The U.S., along with Egypt and Qatar, have brokered months of indirect talks between the bitter enemies that finally culminated in this latest deal. It comes after Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire in November, after more than a year of conflict linked to the war in the Gaza.

Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip have meanwhile killed at least ... The International Criminal Court, a separate body also based in The Hague, has issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu ...

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

With a ceasefire agreement pausing the war between Israel and Hamas, Israeli troops have withdrawn from Gaza city centers. For the first time in eight months, NPR got a glimpse of Rafah this week.

As the long-awaited ceasefire comes into effect, here’s a look – in 6 graphics – at what Gaza is like after 15 months of war.