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Israel, the United States and Hamas have agreed to a tentative deal that includes the release of dozens of women and children held hostage in Gaza in exchange for a five-day pause in fighting.
The release, which could begin within the next few days – barring any last-minute problems – could mark the first permanent pause in the conflict in Gaza, according to people familiar with the provisions.
Under the terms of a detailed, six-page agreement, all parties to the conflict would freeze fighting for at least five days, while initially 50 or more hostages would be released in smaller quantities every 24 hours. It was not immediately clear how many of the 239 people believed to be held captive in Gaza would be released under the deal. Monitoring from above would monitor movement on the ground to monitor the break.
The cessation of hostilities is also expected to significantly increase the amount of humanitarian aid, including fuel, entering the besieged enclave from Egypt.
The outlines of an agreement were drawn up during weeks of talks in Doha, Qatar, between Israel, the United States and Hamas, represented indirectly by Qatari mediators, according to Arab and other diplomats. But it remained unclear whether Israel would agree to a temporary pause in its offensive in Gaza if the conditions were right.
A spokesman for the Israeli embassy in Washington said late Saturday that “we will not comment on any aspect of the hostage crisis.”
Concerns about the prisoners – two of whom Israel says were found dead – as well as the rising number of Palestinian civilian casualties have steadily increased pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. More than 100 countries – but notably not the United States – have called for a complete and immediate ceasefire.
The decision to accept the deal was difficult for Israel, said a person familiar with the situation, who like others spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss delicate negotiations. While there is strong domestic pressure on Netanyahu to bring the hostages home, there are also loud voices in Israel demanding that the government not barter for their release.
In public statements, Israel remained adamant but acknowledged the pressure it is under. On Friday, Israel’s National Security Council Chairman Tzachi Hanegbi told reporters that the War Cabinet had unanimously agreed that a limited ceasefire could only come after “a massive release of our hostages… and this will be limited and brief, because after that “We do it.” We continue to work to achieve our war goals.”
In fiery comments on Saturday, Netanyahu said the offensive would continue, even as he defended a decision last week to allow the first regular fuel shipments to Gaza since the start of the war. As Israel continues its Gaza offensive, it has cut off all but minimal deliveries of food, water, fuel and medicine that the enclave’s 2.3 million people rely on for survival. “For international support to continue, humanitarian assistance is essential,” he said. “For this reason, we have accepted the recommendation to bring fuel to Gaza.”
Netanyahu spoke as thousands of hostage families and their supporters ended a five-day march from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem to demand government action, with many saying the lives of innocent Israelis were at stake were worth whatever short-term deal the government has to make to secure their release.
After initial hesitation, the Biden administration has fully embraced a temporary pause in fighting due to its own domestic political pressures between advocates for full support of Israel’s war goals and concerns about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
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Start with… With President Biden’s trip to Tel Aviv a week after the start of the war and subsequent multiple visits by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other senior officials, the administration has pressed hard on Netanyahu to understand that it loses its narrative superiority the more Palestinians die. The death toll in Gaza is now reportedly over 11,000.
However, the administration’s top priority was the release of the nine Americans and one of the U.S. permanent resident hostages. “I think we need a break,” Biden said at a campaign event two weeks ago. “A break means time to get the prisoners out.”
A week later, when asked about reports that he had pushed for a three-day halt in fighting, Biden said he had asked Netanyahu for “an even longer pause.” In his news conference Thursday after meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping, he said the hostages were “on our minds every day” and that he was working on a way to “create a period of time where there is a sufficiently long break.” release them.
U.S. officials said they believed a pause would allow Hamas to collect the hostages and arrangements could be made to escort them safely across the battlefield. It was not clear whether the Americans or other foreigners would be included in the first tranche of releases. The hope is that if women and children are successfully released, other groups of prisoners will follow.
Brett McGurk, the White House National Security Council’s top Middle East official, is on an extensive trip to the region to try to solidify the plan to release the hostages, including meetings in Israel and Qatar. Speaking at an international security conference in Bahrain on Saturday, McGurk said negotiations had been “intense and ongoing”.
The release a few weeks ago of an American mother and daughter – one of four prisoners released since the start of the war – during a briefly arranged break to allow international humanitarian workers to accompany them, provided a “lead” for “what we hope for.” be a much larger release.”
Hamas releases two Americans it held captive in Gaza
McGurk told the conference that Hamas’ release of a “large number” of the hostages, probably 239 in total, would “lead to a significant pause in fighting and a massive increase in humanitarian aid.” Hundreds and hundreds of trucks are arriving from Egypt continuously into the Gaza Strip.” If the hostages are released, he said, “you will see a significant, significant change.”
It would be “sensible,” McGurk said, “to stop the fighting and release the hostages, the women, the children, the toddlers, the babies, all of them.” The original agreement included neither civilian men nor Israeli military personnel, many of them women , among the prisoners.
These comments provoked an angry reaction from Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, who interpreted them as a signal that a pause to allow humanitarian aid would only come after Hamas’s unconditional release of the hostages. “There are a lot of negotiations,” Safadi said, “but Israel is taking 2.3 million Palestinians hostage … and denying them food and water through this war.””
An administration official said any suggestion that the United States conditioned its aid on the release of hostages “grossly misinterpreted” McGurk’s comments. “Any type of hostage-taking would likely result in an increase in humanitarian assistance,” the official said. The United States, the official said, has continually pushed for increased humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza.