Qatar announced that Israel and Hamas have agreed to a humanitarian pause in Gaza that will take place in the next 24 hours and last for at least four days.
The agreement includes the release of 50 civilian women and children hostages who are currently held in the Palestinian enclave, in exchange for the release of a number of Palestinian women and children detained in Israeli prisons, the announcement said.
The Israeli government voted to accept a deal that would release some hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened his war cabinet for the vote on Tuesday.
The U.S. State Department had reiterated later in the day that “we’re close to a deal,” but cautioned that Israeli cabinet members were in the process of discussing the matter.
Earlier, Netanyahu said negotiations on the release of hostages taken by Hamas were making progress. “I don’t think it’s worth saying too much, not even at this moment, but I hope there will be good news soon,” Benjamin Netanyahu said, according to a Google-translated statement from his office.
It comes after Hamas political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, said that the Palestinian militant group and Israel were “close to reaching a truce agreement.”
Another Hamas official, Izzat al-Rishq, said ongoing talks focused on an exchange of women and children held by both Israel and the Palestinian militant group.
Qatar says there will be a humanitarian pause in Gaza, 50 hostages held by Hamas to be released
Israel and Hamas have agreed to a humanitarian pause in the Gaza Strip that will last for at least four days, Qatar announced Wednesday.
In a post on X, previously Twitter, Qatar said: “The agreement includes the release of 50 civilian women and children hostages currently held in the Gaza Strip in exchange for the release of a number of Palestinian women and children detained in Israeli prisons.”
The number of those released will increase in the later stages of the agreement, according to the ministry of foreign affairs in Qatar.
The time of the temporary cease-fire will be announced within 24 hours, and will “last for four days, subject to extension.”
— Joanna Tan
The Israeli government voted Tuesday night to accept a deal that would release some hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza.
The vote came just after 3 a.m. on Wednesday morning in Israel following more than six hours of discussion between Israeli cabinet members.
In a statement, the Israeli government said it approved “the first stage” of hostage release, which will free 50 of the roughly 240 hostages that Hamas currently holds. It said that the first tranche of hostages would be women and children, who will be released over the course of four days. During that four-day time period, Israel agreed to halt its bombardments to ensure their safe passage.
The statement also said that the war will continue.
“The Government of Israel, the IDF and the security services will continue the war in order to return home all of the hostages, complete the elimination of Hamas and ensure that there will be no new threat to the State of Israel from Gaza,” the Israeli government said.
The Israeli government noted that as part of the deal, it will agree to extend the temporary cease-fire one additional day for every additional ten hostages that Hamas releases.
A statement from Hamas said that in exchange for the 50 freed hostages, Israel will release 150 Palestinian women and children prisoners. A senior Israeli official told NBC earlier on Tuesday that the Palestinian prisoners did not directly kill Israelis themselves but rather played supporting roles in the crimes. Israel did not address this part of the deal in its statement.
Per Israeli policy, families of the victims of the Palestinian prisoners would have 24 hours to appeal their release to the Israeli Supreme Court. That means that no deal signed tonight will be able to take effect and is therefore not final until at least that 24-hour window is over.
— Rebecca Picciotto
