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JERUSALEM – War-torn families in Israel and Gaza woke up Wednesday in a hopeful but agonizing state of limbo after a deal between Israel and Hamas was approved in the early hours of the morning. The agreement allows the exchange of at least 50 Israeli hostages for 150 Palestinian prisoners during a four-day lull in fighting in Gaza. The timing of the ceasefire was expected to be announced on Wednesday.
But with the deal potentially subject to review by Israel’s Supreme Court, the fighting and waiting continued for a 47th day. Bombs fell across the Gaza Strip on Wednesday. Hostage families endured the agonizing reality that the longed-for day of release may or may not include their loved ones.
“I am excited and hope it will be my family; On the other hand, there are other hostages,” said Romina Shvalb, whose sister, brother-in-law and two daughters are believed to be among the 240 held somewhere in the ruins of Gaza since they were abducted on October 7. “The other day I had to pull the car off the road because I had an anxiety attack.”
According to Israeli and U.S. officials, the hostages will not be released in a single group but will likely be transferred in small numbers to the International Committee of the Red Cross.
António Guterres, the United Nations secretary-general, welcomed the agreement, calling it an important step in the right direction, although more needed to be done. “The United Nations will mobilize all its capacities to support the implementation of the agreement and maximize its positive impact on the humanitarian situation in Gaza.”
Each hostage is exchanged for three Palestinians – women or children – held in Israeli prisons. Israel has agreed to potentially extend the bombing pause by a day for every additional 10 hostages released beyond the initial group of 50.
Israel will allow more fuel and humanitarian aid into Gaza during the pause, US officials said. An Israeli military official said the military situation would not allow any of the hundreds of thousands of displaced Gazans to travel back north.
U.S. officials said they hoped the agreement – which came after Israel refused for weeks to slow its military assault despite pleas from allies, hostage families and humanitarian organizations in Gaza – will change the dynamics of the war and potentially become a more all-encompassing one would lead to a ceasefire.
The families of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas eagerly awaited details of the hostage release deal agreed between Israel and Hamas. (Video: Portal)
Israel and Hamas agree on deal to release hostages
But even as Israelis celebrated the longed-for release of at least some hostages, military and political leaders stressed that the pause did not mean peace.
“We are at war and we will continue the war until we achieve all of our goals: destroying Hamas, returning all of our hostages and ensuring that no one in Gaza can threaten Israel,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a recorded statement , which was published during the Cabinet meeting to debate the deal.
The final legal steps to bring the agreement into force began on Wednesday with the publication of a list of about 300 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons. The law allows Israeli citizens who have been victims of militant attacks to appeal to the Supreme Court for the release of prisoners. These petitions, if any, are expected to be submitted within 24 hours of the list being published.
According to Suzie Navot, a constitutional lawyer at the Israel Democracy Institute, the Supreme Court has never blocked a prisoner release agreement before and is expected to allow the agreement with Hamas to continue.
The number of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel has risen in the weeks since the conflict began, most of them taken during Israeli raids in the West Bank. According to a Palestinian human rights group, about 200 boys and 75 women could be released as part of the swap.
Qadura Fares, head of the Palestinian Authority’s Prisoners’ Affairs Commission, told Portal he expected the Palestinian prisoners to be released on Thursday. There were 33 women on the list published by the Israeli authorities. “We should take into account that the number of female prisoners at the beginning of the war was 38, which means that almost all Palestinian women who were imprisoned in Israel at the beginning of the war will be released,” he said.
“The release of a number of our prisoners of war is a very important thing,” he said. “This deal may signal the beginning of a change in the general atmosphere of this war.”
There were no signs of violence easing in Gaza on Wednesday as heavy bombings rocked parts of the northern Gaza Strip, killing dozens of people, according to witnesses. A resident of Jabalya refugee camp, who did not want to be named, told The Washington Post that the dead and injured would be taken to Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia, one of the remaining accessible health facilities in the north.
On November 22, clouds of dust and smoke rose over Gaza near the Israeli border, hours after Israel and Hamas agreed to a deal to release hostages. (Video: Portal)
Munir al-Bursh, the director general of Gaza’s hospitals, said in a voice message from the besieged Indonesian hospital that staff were trying to evacuate patients using smoke and tear gas.
In the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis, officials moved dozens of blue body bags from a truck into a new cemetery ditch as a bulldozer stood ready to fill one of the growing number of mass graves. The 110 bodies, some badly decomposed, had been taken by Israeli forces from Gaza City’s al-Shifa hospital more than a week ago when they took over it and had only just returned, according to Mohammed al-Najjar returned to the Ministry of Health Gaza’s Ministry of Religious Affairs.
He said the bodies had not been identified and should all be buried in a mass grave due to the large number of dead and ongoing fears of bombing.
Sirens continued to blare in southern Israel and militants fired rockets from the Gaza Strip in the hours before the expected break in fighting.
Leaders around the world expressed hope that the hostage deal would mark the first outbreak of violence that began when Hamas militants killed more than 1,200 Israelis six weeks ago and has raged in Gaza ever since. More than 11,000 Palestinians had been killed in attacks as of November 10, when the Health Ministry said it could not keep exact figures but estimated another 2,000 had died since then.
Pope Francis described the fighting on Wednesday as “terrorism” and classified it as a fight that “goes beyond war.” After meetings with family members of Israeli hostages in Gaza and Palestinian prisoners in Israel, Francis appeared to speak without notes.
“I’ve heard how both sides suffer, and that’s what wars do, but here we’ve moved beyond war,” Francis said. “This is terrorism. Please let us move towards peace. Pray for peace.”
The Vatican did not immediately respond to a request for clarification on whether the pope was referring to specific measures or the overall conflict.
Balousha reported from Amman. Claire Parker, Louisa Loveluck in Jerusalem and Naomi Schanen in London contributed to this report.