An agreement was announced on Wednesday to release hostages held in the Gaza Strip in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners and a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas.
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Some 240 people were taken hostage on October 7 in the bloody and unprecedented Hamas attack on Israeli soil that sparked the war. They are being held in the Gaza Strip, where the Islamist movement seized power in 2007 and has since been bombarded by the Israeli army, which has vowed to “destroy” the Islamist movement.
According to the Palestinian Prisoners Club, around 7,000 Palestinians are imprisoned by Israel.
Here are the key points of the agreement, which was brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the United States.
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Start and duration of the ceasefire
Qatar said at 0330 GMT that a “humanitarian pause” would be announced “in the next 24 hours” and would last “four days, with the possibility of an extension.”
According to several media outlets, the ceasefire is due to come into force at 10:00 a.m. local time (08:00 GMT) on Thursday.
It could take “some time” for the cessation of hostilities to be implemented on the ground, Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari said.
A senior Hamas official told AFP he expected “a first exchange of 10 hostages for 30 prisoners to be carried out on Thursday.”
Conditions
According to Israel, a first phase of the agreement involves the release of 50 Israeli hostages against 150 Palestinians held in Israel during the four-day ceasefire. According to Israel, the ratio of one hostage for every three prisoners must be maintained at all times and at least ten hostages must be released per day.
Further exchanges could then take place on the same terms as part of an extension of the ceasefire to release a total of 100 hostages for 300 Palestinian prisoners, again according to Israel.
“Prisoner lists are currently being exchanged and reviewed,” Taher al-Nounou, a senior Hamas official, said on Wednesday afternoon.
According to Hamas, “the Red Cross and the United Nations will play a role” in implementing this agreement.
Throughout the ceasefire, Israel must ensure people’s freedom of movement, especially along the Salaheddine Road, which crosses the area from north to south, the Islamist movement demanded.
The agreement also stipulates that Israeli aircraft will no longer fly over the south of the Gaza Strip for four days and the north for six hours a day.
hostages
Under the terms of the deal, “50 women and children under the age of 19” will be released as hostages in the Gaza Strip in return for the Palestinians’ release, Hamas said.
According to Majed Al-Ansari, the Qatari spokesman, the agreement does not provide for the release of the soldiers.
The hostages are in the hands of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, another Palestinian armed group involved in the October 7 attack.
The United States expects three American citizens to be among the released hostages, a senior White House official said.
Palestinian prisoners
According to Hamas, 150 Palestinian prisoners, women and teenagers under the age of 19, will be released.
Israel released a list of 300 prisoners: 33 women, 123 teenagers under 18 and 144 young people around 18, who are expected to be released gradually.
Among these hostages are 49 members of Hamas, 28 members of Islamic Jihad, 60 members of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah movement and 17 members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
Humanitarian convoys
Qatar says the ceasefire must also allow the entry of “larger numbers of humanitarian convoys and emergency aid, including fuel,” as Gaza faces a total siege imposed by Israel.
“At least 200 to 300 trucks will arrive, including eight tank and gas trucks,” said Taher al-Nounou.
