Nov 22, 2023. Posted by Balkan Periscope - Hellas
Israel and
Hamas have agreed to a four-day ceasefire, during which the Palestinian group
is set to release dozens of hostages taken on October 7.
As part of the agreement, the Israeli government and Hamas have agreed on a four-day pause in fighting to allow for the release of 50 hostages held in Gaza in exchange for 150 Palestinians imprisoned in Israel, as well as the entry of humanitarian aid into the besieged enclave.
Officials from Qatar, which mediated the
negotiations, as well as from the United States, Israel, and Hamas, have been
stating for several days that an agreement is imminent.
A statement
from the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu specified that 50
women and children would be released over four days, during which there would
be a pause in the fighting, as reported by Reuters.
Hamas is
believed to be holding over 200 hostages, taken when its fighters attacked
Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people according to Israeli estimates.
For every
additional 10 hostages released, the “pause” will be extended by another day,
the statement said, without mentioning the release of Palestinian prisoners in
return.
“The
government of Israel has committed to bringing all the hostages home. Tonight,
it approved the proposed agreement as a first step toward achieving this goal,” the
statement said, following hours of secret deliberations to which the press had
no access.
Hamas
stated that the 50 hostages would be released in exchange for 150 Palestinian
women and children detained in Israeli prisons. The ceasefire agreement will
also allow the entry of hundreds of trucks carrying humanitarian, medical, and
fuel aid into Gaza, Hamas added.
The
agreement is the first ceasefire in a war where Israeli bombardments destroyed
extensive areas of Gaza, led by Hamas, killing 13,300 civilians in this densely
populated enclave and leaving about two-thirds of its 2.3 million inhabitants
homeless, according to Gaza authorities.
Before
announcing the agreement, Netanyahu said that the intervention of U.S.
President Joe Biden helped improve the provisional agreement, including more
hostages and fewer concessions. However, Netanyahu said that Israel’s broader
mission has not changed.
“We are at
war, and we will continue the war until we achieve all our goals. To destroy
Hamas, to bring back all the hostages, and to ensure that no entity in Gaza can
threaten Israel again,” he said in a prerecorded message at the beginning
of the cabinet meeting.
Three
Americans, including a 3-year-old girl whose parents were among those killed
during the October 7 Hamas attack, are expected to be among the hostages to be
released, a senior U.S. official said.
The Israeli
press reported that the first release of hostages is expected on Thursday. The
implementation of the agreement must wait for 24 hours to give Israeli citizens
the chance to ask the Supreme Court to block the release of Palestinian
prisoners, according to reports.
So far,
Hamas has only released four prisoners: American citizens Judith Raanan, 59,
and her daughter Natalie Raanan, 17, on October 20, citing “humanitarian
reasons,” and Israeli women Nurit Cooper, 79, and Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, on
October 23.
On the
other hand, Israel also releases a list of 300 Palestinian prisoners and
detainees who could be released as part of the deal to free Israeli hostages
held by Hamas and other terror groups in Gaza, Times of Israel reports.
Most of them are teen boys.
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