Israel and Hamas agree on 4-day truce upon exchange of hostages, Palestinian prisoners

Israel’s government and Hamas agreed on Wednesday to a four-day truce to allow the release of some hostages held in Gaza in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned in Israel, and the entry of humanitarian aid into the besieged enclave.

Qatar, which has been mediating secret negotiations, said the starting time of the truce would be announced within the next 24 hours.

Under the 4-day truce:

• 50 Israeli hostages to be released
• 150 Palestinians freed from jail
• no military operation for four days
• Israel to allow more relief aid

In a statement, Qatar called the agreement a “humanitarian pause”.

A statement by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said 50 women and children will be released over four days, during which there will be a pause in fighting.

For every additional 10 hostages released, the pause would be extended by another day, it said, without mentioning the release of Palestinian prisoners in exchange.

“Israel’s government is committed to returning all the hostages home. Tonight, it approved the proposed deal as a first stage to achieving this goal,” said the statement, released after hours of deliberation that were closed to the press.

Hamas said the 50 hostages would be released in exchange for 150 Palestinian women and children who are held in Israeli jails. “The truce deal will also allow hundreds of trucks of humanitarian, medical and fuel aid to enter Gaza,” the Palestinian group said in a statement.

Israel had committed not to attack or arrest anyone in all parts of Gaza during the truce period, it added.

US President Joe Biden said he welcomed the deal. “Today’s deal should bring home additional American hostages, and I will not stop until they are all released,” he said in a statement.

The accord is the first truce of a conflict in which Israeli bombardments have flattened swathes of Gaza, killed 13,300 civilians in the tiny densely populated enclave and left about two-thirds of its 2.3 million people homeless.

But Netanyahu said Israel’s broader mission was unchanged.

“We are at war and we will continue the war until we achieve all our goals. To destroy Hamas, return all our hostages and ensure that no entity in Gaza can threaten Israel,” he said in a recorded message at the start of the government meeting.

Hamas said in its statement: “As we announce the striking of a truce agreement, we affirm that our fingers remain on the trigger, and our victorious fighters will remain on the lookout to defend our people and defeat the occupation.”

Release expected to begin on Thursday

Three Americans, including a 3-year-old girl whose parents were among those killed during Hamas’s Oct 7 attack, are expected to be among the hostages to be released, a senior US official said.

In addition to Israeli citizens, more than half the hostages held foreign and dual citizenship from some 40 countries including the US, Thailand, Britain, France, Argentina, Germany, Chile, Spain and Portugal, Israel’s government has said.

Israeli media said the first release of hostages was expected on Thursday.

Implementing the deal must wait for 24 hours to give Israeli citizens the chance to ask the Supreme Court to block the release of Palestinian prisoners, reports said.

Qadura Fares, head of the Commission for Prisoners’ Affairs in the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority, told Reuters that among more than 7,800 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel were about 85 women and 350 minors.

Most were detained without charges or for incidents such as hurling rocks at Israeli soldiers, not for launching militant attacks, he said.

Qatar’s chief negotiator in ceasefire talks, Minister of State at the Foreign Ministry Mohammed Al-Khulaifi, told Reuters that the International Committee of the Red Cross would be working inside Gaza to facilitate the hostages’ release.

He said that the truce means there would be “no attack whatsoever. No military movements, no expansion, nothing.”

Al-Khulaifi added that Qatar hopes the deal “will be a seed to a bigger agreement and a permanent cease of fire. And that’s our intention.”

Hamas has to date released only four captives: US citizens Judith Raanan, 59, and her daughter, Natalie Raanan, 17, on Oct. 20, citing “humanitarian reasons,” and Israeli women Nurit Cooper, 79, and Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, on Oct 23.

Misgivings

Ahead of the vote, Netanyahu had faced a revolt from within his right-wing coalition, some of whom believed the agreement would give too much to Palestinian fighters responsible for the worst attack in Israel’s history.

Hardline Minister for National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir indicated he would vote against the agreement, saying it should include the release of Israeli soldiers.

Hamas raids on October 7 killed an estimated 1,200 people and seized 240 hostages, civilians and military, who are believed to be held in Gaza.

The bloody attacks sparked Operation “Swords of Iron” — Israel’s punishing air and ground on Gaza, which Palestinian authorities say has killed 14,100 people, mostly women and children.

But with dozens of families in Israel and beyond desperate to have their loved ones returned home, and the Israeli public gripped by the hostages’ fate, the government set aside any misgivings.

Israel’s powerful Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said before the crunch meeting that he had won assurances that the deal would not spell the end of the war to destroy Hamas.

‘Unbearable situation’

Earlier, Rafah resident Hamza Abdel Razeq welcomed any ceasefire would bring some respite for Gazans who have endured Israel’s bombing and expanding ground offensive.

“The people are really suffering,” he told AFP. “If they reach a five-day truce deal now, I believe it will pave the way for longer truces or even a total ceasefire.”

Another resident, Mahmud Abu Najm, added: “We… pray to God for its success because the people are enduring an unbearable situation.”

Israel has come under intense international pressure to implement a humanitarian ceasefire. But in recent days it has pressed its offensive into northern Gaza.

The Israeli military said air strikes had hit “around 250” Hamas targets in the past day, destroying three underground shafts in the Jabalia area, which it said it had fully surrounded.

At Jabalia’s Indonesian Hospital, the Hamas-run health ministry said strikes had killed dozens, but there was no independent confirmation of the toll.

The Israeli army said later its troops had “directly targeted” the source of fire from within the Indonesian Hospital.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said three doctors, including two it employed, were killed in an Israeli strike on the Al-Awda hospital in Jabalia refugee camp.

Israel claims Hamas uses medical facilities to hide fighters and as bases for operations, making them legitimate military objectives while insisting it does everything possible to limit harm to civilians.

Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — the so-called BRICS group — on Tuesday called for an immediate and sustained humanitarian truce in Gaza, during a virtual summit where the chair.

The chair of the meeting, South Africa, accused Israel of war crimes and “genocide”.

Chinese President Xi Jinping demanded during the summit the release of civilian detainees and a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, state media said.