After weeks of negotiations, a hostage deal has been struck between Israel and Hamas. Under the terms of the deal, Hamas will release 50 of the women and children it kidnapped on 7th October in exchange for a four-day ceasefire.
In return, Israel will release 150 Palestinians from its prisons. Substantial amounts of humanitarian aid, which will include medical supplies and fuel, will also be sent by Israel into the Gaza strip.
The ceasefire has been structured so that it can potentially continue after the first four days are over. Israel has said that for every additional ten hostages Hamas releases, the truce will be extended by 24 hours. It is not yet clear whether an extension will involve the release of more Palestinian prisoners in return, with the Israeli Prime Minister’s office releasing the below statement:
The government of Israel is obligated to return home all of the hostages. Tonight, the government has approved the outline of the first stage of achieving this goal, according to which at least 50 hostages – women and children – will be released over four days, during which a pause in the fighting will be held. The release of every additional 10 hostages will result in one additional day in the pause.
The final deal was announced by Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday at 1am UK time, after a gruelling six-hour meeting with his war cabinet in Tel Aviv, with the Israeli Prime Minister telling his ministers that it was ‘a difficult decision, but it’s a right decision.’ At the start of the meeting Netanyahu praised Joe Biden and said that the president had ensured more hostages would be released at a lower cost to Israel. Hamas has released a statement supporting the ‘humanitarian truce’.
Under Israeli law, the hostage swap will not come into effect for another 24 hours, to give judges the chance to review any potential legal challenges. Israel has already published the names of the 300 prisoners who could be released in the hostage swap and an organisation for the victims of terror groups is reported to be preparing a legal petition. The vast majority of the 300 being put forward for release are male, and most are around 17 to 18 years old.
Under the terms of the Qatar-brokered deal, around 12 hostages will be released by Hamas every day to ensure the ceasefire lasts for the entirety of the four days. It is expected that 30 children, eight mothers and 12 other women will be the first of the hostages to be released by Hamas, who currently hold around 240 hostages.
The Qatar government says the start time of the truce will be announced in the next 24 hours. The IDF confirmed that its military operations were continuing in the Gaza strip this morning, with the focus on destroying terrorist infrastructure, eliminating terrorists and locating weapons.
To get this deal over the line, Netanyahu has made it clear that the current truce does not mean the war is over, and Israel will continue until it has achieved all of its goals, namely:
Eliminating Hamas, returning all of our hostages and assuring that the day after Hamas, Gaza will no longer threaten Israel, that there will be no other element that supports terrorism, educates its children for terrorism and threatens the State of Israel.
But for the next few days at least, there will be some respite in the fighting.
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