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An overnight deal for the release of all hostages held by Hamas in Gaza marks a huge moment for Israelis, Palestinians and the Middle East as a whole.

US President Donald Trump said the 48 hostages, 20 of whom are thought to be alive, will probably be freed on Monday and that he may travel to Israel for the handover.

The teams of negotiators in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh still have plenty to discuss.

There’s no guarantee Hamas will lay down its arms, and Israel might balk over some of the roughly 2,000 prisoners the militant group wants freed. There are big question marks over the future of Gaza — who will run it, who supplies peacekeeping forces, and who will provide the tens of billions of dollars needed to rebuild it.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio informs Trump about the status of the Gaza talks during a roundtable at the White House yesterday. Photographer: Francis Chung/Politico

Yet this marks the closest the US and other mediators such as Qatar and Egypt have come to ending a war that’s lasted more than two years, devastating Gaza, triggering multiple conflicts in the Middle East and triggering protests across the world.

At the least, it should calm the wider region.

The fighting in Gaza led to Israeli strikes on Iran-backed groups in Lebanon, Syria and Yemen. It precipitated a 12-day war between Israel and Iran in June and an Israeli missile strike on Qatar — a key US ally — less than a month ago.

In Gaza, some 67,000 of the strip’s 2 million people have been killed since the war began, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Israel has witnessed international isolation, while the economic impact has been profound. Israeli markets jumped today on the prospects of peace.

There’s a long way to go before an end to hostilities can be declared.

But the agreement in Egypt — fathered by Trump — was a big step forward. — Paul Wallace

The Nova music festival memorial site in southern Israel on Tuesday, the second anniversary of the Hamas attack. Photographer: Kobi Wolf/Bloomberg

Global Must Reads

When Vladimir Putin joins summits with former Soviet republics starting today in Tajikistan, leaders around the table will underline their close bonds with Russia, though in reality many have distanced themselves from Moscow since the invasion of Ukraine by forging deeper ties with rivals like China, the European Union, Turkey or the Gulf states. Meanwhile, recent Russian strikes have wiped out more than half of Ukraine’s domestic natural-gas output.

French President Emmanuel Macron said he’ll name a new prime minister by tomorrow evening, avoiding for the time being pressure to call a snap election that could deepen the nation’s political crisis. Outgoing premier Sébastien Lecornu, who has been negotiating this week with political groups in the fractured National Assembly, said sufficient progress had been made to allow work to begin on forming a new cabinet.

WATCH: Lizzy Burden reports on efforts to resolve the latest French political crisis on Bloomberg TV.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Keir Starmer began a bilateral meeting in Mumbai today as the UK premier pushes for swift implementation of the free-trade agreement they signed earlier this year. Starmer’s trip with 125 UK business and cultural figureheads is the first by a British PM in nine years and comes as the leaders seek to deepen commercial ties amid growing risks from US tariffs.

Madagascar President Andry Rajoelina asked protesters to give him a year to turn things around in the Indian Ocean island nation that’s in its third week of youth-led political upheaval. The 51-year-old leader, who first came to power in a coup in 2009, told a group of young, pro-government supporters yesterday he wouldn’t stand in the next elections in 2028 after moves including firing his government failed to end Gen Z riots.

Anti-government protesters in Antsiranana, Madagascar, on Oct. 2. Photographer: Fita/AFP/Getty Images

US air travel is beginning to show signs of strain with nationwide flight delays as lawmakers remain at loggerheads over ending a government shutdown that has stretched into a second week with limited appetite in Congress for a quick resolution. Meanwhile, the Internal Revenue Service will furlough just under half of its staff and pause most of the agency’s taxpayer services due to gridlock in Congress.

Argentine short-term interest rates soared as the government stepped up efforts to defend the peso, deepening a cash crunch that’s throttling an already fragile economy.

A scorching gold rally is helping China get one step closer to its goal of offering an alternative to US financial dominance.

Gold bullion featuring an illustration of a dragon on display in a store in Hong Kong. Photographer: Lam Yik/Bloomberg

Communist Party of Vietnam chief To Lam will kick off a three-day state visit to North Korea today, marking the first trip to Pyongyang by the country’s most powerful leader in almost 20 years.

Trump will undergo a physical exam tomorrow following mounting questions about his health prompted by noticeable bruising and swelling in recent months.

This week’s episode of Trumponomics explores why the current US government shutdown may be different from previous iterations. Host Stephanie Flanders, head of government and economics, speaks with Matthew Glassman, senior fellow at the Government Affairs Institute at Georgetown University, and Anna Wong, chief US economist for Bloomberg Economics. You can also listen on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Chart of the Day

Beijing tightened curbs on rare earths to include items manufactured abroad, meaning that overseas exporters of goods that use certain materials sourced from China will need to request a license. The move, which mirrors the US use of export controls to stop Chinese firms from buying some advanced chips and the tools to make them, risks raising trade frictions between Beijing and Washington ahead of a planned meeting between Trump and President Xi Jinping.

And Finally

Artificial-intelligence companies are in an arms race to build the infrastructure needed to one day support self-driving cars and empower robot doctors, and a lot of it needs machines produced by Dutch chip equipment maker ASML. It’s planning a huge 100-hectare (247-acre) expansion in Eindhoven to meet growth targets, though the project hinges on the firm and government officials resolving problems such as having enough affordable housing, transport, electricity, and eventually workers in a region already suffering from a shortage.

ASML’s headquarters in Veldhoven, the Netherlands. Photographer: Peter Boer/Bloomberg

(Please note that yesterday’s edition corrected the percentage appreciation in the Chart of the Day.)

Global Must Reads

Chart of the Day

And Finally

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