In exchange for 150 Palestinian prisoners detained in Israel, the government of Israel and Hamas agreed to a four-day ceasefire on Wednesday. This would also permit the entry of humanitarian supplies into the besieged enclave and the release of 50 hostages held in Gaza.
Days have passed since representatives of the United States, Israel, Hamas, and Qatar, which has been mediating covert negotiations, stated that a settlement was almost certain.
Israeli counts indicate that Hamas killed 1,200 people on October 7 when its members stormed into Israel, taking more than 200 hostages.
According to a statement from the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, there will be a four-day period during which 50 women and children would be released and fighting will cease.
It said that the break would be prolonged by one day for every ten more hostages freed, but it made no mention of the release of Palestinian detainees in return.
"Israel's government is committed to return all the hostages home. Tonight, it approved the proposed deal as a first stage to achieving this goal," said the statement, released after hours of deliberation that were closed to the press.
150 Palestinian women and children detained in Israeli jails will be exchanged for the 50 hostages, according to Hamas. The Palestinian group stated in a statement that the truce agreement will also permit hundreds of trucks carrying fuel, medical supplies, and humanitarian aid to enter Gaza.
It further stated that Israel had promised not to launch an attack or detain anyone in any area of Gaza during the truce.
The agreement was praised by US President Joe Biden. "Today’s deal should bring home additional American hostages, and I will not stop until they are all released," he said in a press release.
The release "of a number of Palestinian women and children held in Israeli prisons" will be reciprocated, according to the Qatari administration, with the release of 50 civilian women and children hostages from Gaza.
It said in a statement that the start time of the truce would be disclosed within the following 24 hours.
According to Gazan authorities, the agreement marks the first cease-fire in a war in which Israeli bombing has destroyed large areas of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, killed 13,300 civilians in the small, densely populated enclave, and left almost two-thirds of its 2.3 million residents homeless.
Netanyahu asserted that Israel's overarching goal remained unaltered.
"We are at war and we will continue the war until we achieve all our goals. To destroy Hamas, return all our hostages and ensure that no entity in Gaza can threaten Israel," he said in a recorded message at the start of the government meeting.
"As we announce the striking of a truce agreement, we affirm that our fingers remain on the trigger, and our victorious fighters will remain on the look out to defend our people and defeat the occupation," Hamas said in its statement.
A senior U.S. official stated that three Americans, among the captives to be freed, are anticipated to include a 3-year-old child whose parents perished in Hamas's Oct. 7 attack.
According to Israel's authorities, more than half of the captives were not Israeli citizens and had dual citizenship with people from almost 40 other countries, including the United States, Thailand, Britain, France, Argentina, Germany, Chile, Spain, and Portugal.
According to Israeli media, the first hostage release is scheduled for this Thursday. According to sources, the agreement's implementation would be delayed for a whole day in order to allow Israeli citizens to petition the Supreme Court to prevent the release of Palestinian detainees.
Grandmother of 13-year-old Gali Tarshansky, who is reportedly being held in Gaza, Kamelia Hoter Ishay, stated she wouldn't trust rumours of a bargain until she received a call informing her that the adolescent had been released.
"And then I'll know that it's really over and I can breathe a sigh of relief and say that's it, it's over," she said.
Approximately 85 women and 350 juveniles were among the more than 7,800 Palestinians held captive by Israel, according to Qadura Fares, head of the Commission for Prisoners' Affairs of the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, who spoke with Reuters. According to him, the majority of those detained had not been charged with anything and had just been involved in non-violent acts like throwing rocks at Israeli forces.
The International Committee of the Red Cross will be working inside Gaza to facilitate the release of the hostages, according to Reuters, who was informed by Mohammed Al-Khulaifi, the Minister of State at the Foreign Ministry and senior negotiator for Qatar in the ceasefire talks.
According to him, there will be "no attack whatsoever" because of the ceasefire. Nothing in terms of military manoeuvres or growth."
Qatar expects that the accord "will be a seed to a bigger agreement and a permanent cease-fire," Al-Khulaifi continued. And that is our goal.
So far, Hamas has only freed four prisoners: on October 20, Judith Raanan, 59, and her 17-year-old daughter Natalie Raanan were freed due to "humanitarian reasons," and on October 23, two Israeli women, Nurit Cooper, 79, and Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, were freed.
Islamic Jihad, the militant Palestinian organisation that took part in the raid on October 7 with Hamas, announced late on Tuesday that one of the Israeli hostages it had been holding since the bombings on October 7 had passed away.
"We previously expressed our willingness to release her for humanitarian reasons, but the enemy was stalling and this led to her death," Al Quds Brigades said on its Telegram channel.
The ground warfare continued as attention was drawn to the hostage release agreement. The Israeli military gave the order to evacuate the Indonesian Hospital in Gaza City, according to Mounir Al-Barsh, director general of the health ministry in Gaza, who spoke with Al Jazeera TV. Israel said that militants were based out of the site and that they would take action against them in four hours.
Additionally, Israel declared on Tuesday that its forces had surrounded the Jabalia refugee camp, which is a crowded urban expansion of Gaza City and the site of Hamas's resistance against Israeli armoured forces on the advance.
An Israeli airstrike on a section of Jabalia resulted in 33 fatalities and numerous injuries, according to the Palestinian news agency WAFA.
According to Hamas-affiliated media in southern Gaza, an Israeli airstrike on an apartment block in the city of Khan Younis resulted in 10 fatalities and 22 injuries.
(Source:www.theprint.in)
Days have passed since representatives of the United States, Israel, Hamas, and Qatar, which has been mediating covert negotiations, stated that a settlement was almost certain.
Israeli counts indicate that Hamas killed 1,200 people on October 7 when its members stormed into Israel, taking more than 200 hostages.
According to a statement from the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, there will be a four-day period during which 50 women and children would be released and fighting will cease.
It said that the break would be prolonged by one day for every ten more hostages freed, but it made no mention of the release of Palestinian detainees in return.
"Israel's government is committed to return all the hostages home. Tonight, it approved the proposed deal as a first stage to achieving this goal," said the statement, released after hours of deliberation that were closed to the press.
150 Palestinian women and children detained in Israeli jails will be exchanged for the 50 hostages, according to Hamas. The Palestinian group stated in a statement that the truce agreement will also permit hundreds of trucks carrying fuel, medical supplies, and humanitarian aid to enter Gaza.
It further stated that Israel had promised not to launch an attack or detain anyone in any area of Gaza during the truce.
The agreement was praised by US President Joe Biden. "Today’s deal should bring home additional American hostages, and I will not stop until they are all released," he said in a press release.
The release "of a number of Palestinian women and children held in Israeli prisons" will be reciprocated, according to the Qatari administration, with the release of 50 civilian women and children hostages from Gaza.
It said in a statement that the start time of the truce would be disclosed within the following 24 hours.
According to Gazan authorities, the agreement marks the first cease-fire in a war in which Israeli bombing has destroyed large areas of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, killed 13,300 civilians in the small, densely populated enclave, and left almost two-thirds of its 2.3 million residents homeless.
Netanyahu asserted that Israel's overarching goal remained unaltered.
"We are at war and we will continue the war until we achieve all our goals. To destroy Hamas, return all our hostages and ensure that no entity in Gaza can threaten Israel," he said in a recorded message at the start of the government meeting.
"As we announce the striking of a truce agreement, we affirm that our fingers remain on the trigger, and our victorious fighters will remain on the look out to defend our people and defeat the occupation," Hamas said in its statement.
A senior U.S. official stated that three Americans, among the captives to be freed, are anticipated to include a 3-year-old child whose parents perished in Hamas's Oct. 7 attack.
According to Israel's authorities, more than half of the captives were not Israeli citizens and had dual citizenship with people from almost 40 other countries, including the United States, Thailand, Britain, France, Argentina, Germany, Chile, Spain, and Portugal.
According to Israeli media, the first hostage release is scheduled for this Thursday. According to sources, the agreement's implementation would be delayed for a whole day in order to allow Israeli citizens to petition the Supreme Court to prevent the release of Palestinian detainees.
Grandmother of 13-year-old Gali Tarshansky, who is reportedly being held in Gaza, Kamelia Hoter Ishay, stated she wouldn't trust rumours of a bargain until she received a call informing her that the adolescent had been released.
"And then I'll know that it's really over and I can breathe a sigh of relief and say that's it, it's over," she said.
Approximately 85 women and 350 juveniles were among the more than 7,800 Palestinians held captive by Israel, according to Qadura Fares, head of the Commission for Prisoners' Affairs of the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, who spoke with Reuters. According to him, the majority of those detained had not been charged with anything and had just been involved in non-violent acts like throwing rocks at Israeli forces.
The International Committee of the Red Cross will be working inside Gaza to facilitate the release of the hostages, according to Reuters, who was informed by Mohammed Al-Khulaifi, the Minister of State at the Foreign Ministry and senior negotiator for Qatar in the ceasefire talks.
According to him, there will be "no attack whatsoever" because of the ceasefire. Nothing in terms of military manoeuvres or growth."
Qatar expects that the accord "will be a seed to a bigger agreement and a permanent cease-fire," Al-Khulaifi continued. And that is our goal.
So far, Hamas has only freed four prisoners: on October 20, Judith Raanan, 59, and her 17-year-old daughter Natalie Raanan were freed due to "humanitarian reasons," and on October 23, two Israeli women, Nurit Cooper, 79, and Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, were freed.
Islamic Jihad, the militant Palestinian organisation that took part in the raid on October 7 with Hamas, announced late on Tuesday that one of the Israeli hostages it had been holding since the bombings on October 7 had passed away.
"We previously expressed our willingness to release her for humanitarian reasons, but the enemy was stalling and this led to her death," Al Quds Brigades said on its Telegram channel.
The ground warfare continued as attention was drawn to the hostage release agreement. The Israeli military gave the order to evacuate the Indonesian Hospital in Gaza City, according to Mounir Al-Barsh, director general of the health ministry in Gaza, who spoke with Al Jazeera TV. Israel said that militants were based out of the site and that they would take action against them in four hours.
Additionally, Israel declared on Tuesday that its forces had surrounded the Jabalia refugee camp, which is a crowded urban expansion of Gaza City and the site of Hamas's resistance against Israeli armoured forces on the advance.
An Israeli airstrike on a section of Jabalia resulted in 33 fatalities and numerous injuries, according to the Palestinian news agency WAFA.
According to Hamas-affiliated media in southern Gaza, an Israeli airstrike on an apartment block in the city of Khan Younis resulted in 10 fatalities and 22 injuries.
(Source:www.theprint.in)
