The Daily Observer London Desk: Reporter- Jack Brumby
The Israeli Cabinet agreed late Tuesday to a four-day ceasefire 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.
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.
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 ceasefire, 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 ceasefire by an additional day for every 10 hostages Hamas releases beyond the original group of 50.
Earlier Tuesday, President Biden indicated that a deal was on the horizon.
“We’re now very close, very close. We could bring some of these hostages home very soon,” Mr. Biden said at the White House. “But I don’t want to get into the details because nothing is done until it’s done. When we have more to say, we will, but things are looking good at the moment.”
It was not immediately clear when the truce would go into effect.
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.
Hostage talks
Israel, the United States and Qatar, which mediates with Hamas, have negotiated for weeks over a hostage release that would be paired with a temporary cease-fire and the entry of more aid.
In Washington, President Biden told reporters Tuesday that a deal on releasing some hostages was “very close.”
“We could bring some of these hostages home very soon,” he said at the White House.
Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari also expressed optimism. He told reporters that “we are at the closest point we ever had been in reaching an agreement.”
Hamas’ leader-in-exile, Ismail Haniyeh, also said they were close to a deal.
Israel’s Channel 12 TV, citing anonymous Israeli officials, said a truce could be extended and additional Palestinian prisoners released if additional hostages were freed.
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.
