The Israeli Cabinet agreed late Tuesday to a four-day cease-fire in the Gaza Strip in exchange for Hamas releasing 50 of the roughly 240 hostages it took during its Oct. 7 terrorist assault on Israel.
The agreement is the culmination of weeks of intense behind-the-scenes negotiations between Jerusalem and the Islamist militant group, with the U.S. and other Middle Eastern nations such as Qatar playing key roles. Hamas officials told regional media that the deal will go into effect at 10 a.m. Thursday. The first hostages are expected to be released the same day.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted Tuesday that his nation’s war against Hamas in Gaza will continue and that the temporary halt does not indicate that Israel is backing away from its goal of destroying the Palestinian group, which killed more than 1,200 Israelis during its Oct. 7 rampage.
“We are at war, and we will continue the war,” Mr. Netanyahu said. “We will continue until we achieve all our goals.”
The Israeli Cabinet approved the deal with Hamas over the objections of some right-wing figures in the Israeli government who opposed the idea of negotiating with the group at all. But Mr. Netanyahu faced growing pressure, both domestically and internationally, to secure the release of the hostages before the Israeli military forges ahead with its offensive in Gaza.
Families of the hostages had also grown more vocal and pressured Mr. Netanyahu to secure their release as soon as possible.
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Under the terms of the deal, Israel will halt its military offensive in Gaza for four days. During that time, Hamas has agreed to free 50 of the hostages, with 12 or 13 being set free each day, beginning with women and children, Israeli media reported.
Israeli media also reported that Mr. Netanyahu’s government has agreed to free about 150 Palestinian prisoners as part of the deal.
During the four-day cease-fire, Israel also will allow fuel, food and other humanitarian aid into Gaza, which has been devastated by the Israeli military campaign in the weeks since Oct. 7.
The Israeli government also said it could extend the cease-fire by an additional day for every 10 hostages Hamas releases beyond the original group of 50.
Late Tuesday evening, President Biden praised the agreement and said that some Americans are expected to be among those released.
“As president, I have no higher priority than ensuring the safety of Americans held hostage around the world,” the president said in a statement. “Today’s deal should bring home additional American hostages, and I will not stop until they are all released. Today’s deal is a testament to the tireless diplomacy and determination of many dedicated individuals across the United States government to bring Americans home.”
Other world leaders praised the deal but cast it as only a first step. Officials from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan each said Wednesday that the cease-fire must be extended beyond the initial four days.
“Whatever humanitarian access now increases as a result of this hostage deal must remain in place and must be built upon,” Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud said during an event in London, according to Al-Jazeera.
“There must, at no point, be a reduction in this access based on progress for further release of hostages,” he said. “Punishing the civilian population of Gaza for the holding of those hostages is absolutely not acceptable.”
Strife in Gaza
The plan was announced as Israeli troops battled Palestinian militants in an urban refugee camp in northern Gaza and around hospitals overcrowded with patients and sheltering families.
In weeks of Israeli airstrikes and a ground invasion, more than 11,000 Palestinians have been killed, two-thirds of them women and minors, and more than 2,700 others are missing and thought to be buried under rubble, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry says it has been unable to update its count since Nov. 11 because of the health sector’s collapse.
Gaza health officials say the toll has risen sharply since. Hospitals continue to report deaths from daily strikes, often dozens at a time.
The Health Ministry in the West Bank last reported a toll of 13,300 but stopped providing its count Tuesday without giving a reason.
Because of that, and because officials there declined to explain in detail how they tracked deaths after Nov. 11, The Associated Press decided to stop reporting its count.
The Health Ministry toll does not differentiate between civilians and combatants. Israel says it has killed thousands of Hamas militants but has not provided evidence for its count.
In southern Lebanon, an Israeli strike killed two journalists with Al-Mayadeen TV, according to the Hezbollah-allied Pan-Arab network and Lebanese officials. The Israeli military gave no immediate comment.
A Palestinian official and a Lebanon security official said an Israeli drone strike in Lebanon killed four Hamas members.
The Israeli military has been trading fire almost daily across the border with Lebanon’s Hezbollah group and Palestinian militants since the outbreak of the war.
Hospital war zone
Inside Gaza, the front line of the war shifted to the Jabaliya refugee camp, a densely built district of concrete buildings near Gaza City that houses families displaced in the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation. Israel has bombarded the area for weeks, and the military said Hamas fighters have regrouped there and in other eastern districts after being pushed out of much of Gaza City.
The fighting in Jabaliya also affected two nearby hospitals, trapping hundreds of patients and displaced people sheltering inside. A strike Tuesday hit inside one of the facilities, al-Awda, killing four people, including three doctors, the hospital director told Al-Jazeera TV. The director, Ahmed Mahna, blamed the strike on Israel, a claim that reporters could not independently confirm. The medical aid group Doctors Without Borders confirmed that two of the doctors killed worked for the hospital.
Residents of Jabaliya reported heavy fighting as Israeli forces tried to advance under the cover of airstrikes. “They are facing stiff resistance,” said Hamza Abu Mansour, a university student.
The Israeli military said strikes hit three tunnel shafts where fighters were hiding and destroyed rocket launchers. Footage released by the military showed Israeli soldiers patrolling on foot as gunfire echoed around them.
With Israeli troops surrounding the Indonesia Hospital, also near Jabaliya, staff had to bury 50 dead in the facility’s courtyard, a senior Health Ministry official in the hospital, Munir al-Boursh, told Al-Jazeera TV.
Up to 600 wounded people and some 2,000 displaced Palestinians remained stranded at the hospital, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
A similar standoff played out in recent days at al-Shifa Hospital, Gaza’s largest, where more than 250 patients and medical workers were stranded after the evacuation of 31 premature babies.
Israel has provided evidence in recent days of a militant presence at al-Shifa. It has yet to substantiate claims that Hamas had a major command center beneath the facility. Hamas and hospital staff denied the allegations.
Strikes overnight crushed residential buildings in the Nusseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, killing at least 20 people, according to hospital officials. Footage from the scene showed the legs of five boys sticking out from under a collapsed concrete slab of one home.
Israel continues to strike what it says are militant targets throughout Gaza, often killing women and children. Israel accuses Hamas of using civilians as human shields.
• This article is based in part on wire service reports from the Middle East.
• Ben Wolfgang can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.
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