Weapons should temporarily be less heard in the Middle East. The Israeli government gave the green light early Wednesday to a deal aimed at securing the release of 50 hostages held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and a truce in the Gaza Strip.
“The government approved the outline of the first stage of an agreement under which at least 50 abductees – women and children – will be released for four days during which there will be a lull in the fighting,” according to a statement in Hebrew from the Israeli government. Around 240 people were kidnapped during the bloody attack launched on October 7 against Israel by Hamas, in power in the Gaza Strip.
“The right decision”, according to Netanyahu
The agreement to release hostages is “the right decision” to take, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared Tuesday evening before the start of his cabinet meeting which ended with this green light.
Hamas, whose leader Ismaïl Haniyeh had reported progress in the talks, welcomed a “humanitarian truce” agreement, specifying that the “provisions of this agreement were formulated in accordance with the vision of the resistance”.
Benjamin Netanyahu, who had made the release of hostages a prerequisite for any ceasefire, specified that American President Joe Biden had helped obtain a proposal to release more hostages “at a lower cost”. Qatar worked with Washington and Egypt to obtain this agreement.
Those released will be women and children
Two Israeli and Palestinian sources indicated that the agreement involved the release of 50 hostages in exchange for 150 Palestinian prisoners in Israel. On both sides, those released will be women and children, Hamas said.
However, a truce does not mean the end of the war in the Gaza Strip, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned Tuesday evening. He said he wanted a “full force” resumption of operations after the truce in order to “defeat” Hamas and “create the necessary conditions to bring home other hostages”.