Israel agrees to ceasefire – Hamas wants to release 50 hostages

According to Qatar, the Islamist Hamas and Israel have agreed on a four-day ceasefire and the exchange of 50 hostages for Palestinian prisoners. The start of the pause in fighting will be announced within 24 hours, the Gulf emirate’s foreign ministry said on Wednesday morning. According to the agreement, the “humanitarian pause” will also bring a “larger number” of aid convoys and more fuel to the Gaza Strip.

Hamas wants to release 50 hostages

According to the deal, Hamas will release 50 women and minors among the approximately 240 hostages kidnapped from Israel in the terrorist attack on October 7th. In return, according to Qatar, an undetermined number of female and underage prisoners will be released from Israeli prisons. According to Hamas, there are 150 prisoners who should be released.

According to a report in the Times of Israel, Palestinian prisoners to be released will be returned to the city or town “where they lived before their imprisonment, including in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.” According to Israeli media, the hostages to be released are 30 children, eight mothers and twelve elderly women.

Ceasefire could be extended later – against more hostages

According to Qatar, the ceasefire could be extended. According to the Israeli government, for every additional day, Hamas would have to release ten more hostages. Israel assumes that a total of 80 hostages could be released. However, Prime Minister Netanyahu emphasized that the war would continue even after the agreement was implemented “until we have achieved all of our goals.”

Israel’s government agreed to a ceasefire lasting several days on Wednesday night in return for the release of Israeli hostages. The Israeli cabinet approved the corresponding agreement with Hamas, a government spokesman confirmed. Hamas said it had conveyed its consent to mediators in Egypt and Qatar. According to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Red Cross should also have access to the remaining hostages.

In Israel it is expected that the gradual release of the 50 hostages could begin as early as Thursday. According to media reports, between 10 and 13 hostages will be released on each day of the break in fighting. The military’s air surveillance over the Gaza Strip is to be stopped for six hours a day.

Mediation by Qatar and Egypt

The agreement is a possible bright spot in the Gaza war that has been going on for six weeks. It offers some hope for some of the hostages kidnapped by Hamas terrorists in their devastating surprise attack on October 7th. And it could give the suffering civilian population in the Gaza Strip at least a few days without fighting. According to Hamas, more than 13,000 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the war began, and according to the UN, 1.7 million people have been displaced by fighting.

Qatar and Egypt, in consultation with the USA, had mediated between Israel and Hamas in recent weeks. Qatar in particular has very good contacts with Hamas; the Hamas leadership also lives in the Gulf emirate. Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said on Sunday that the hurdles to a deal were now very low and that the remaining “sticking points were more practical and logistical.”

International criticism of Israel

Terrorists from the Islamist organization Hamas carried out massacres in the south of Israel on October 7th, killing around 1,200 people. Israel’s military then carried out numerous air strikes on the Gaza Strip and deployed ground troops into the sealed-off coastal area. Because of the civilian casualties, international criticism of the Israeli army’s actions is growing. The Israeli military, in turn, accuses Hamas of carrying out attacks from residential areas and hospitals and using civilians as human shields.

Of the 240 people abducted, four female hostages have been released by Hamas since the start of the war. A young female soldier was freed from the military. The army also found the bodies of two women. Among those kidnapped are numerous foreigners and dual citizens, including several Germans. How many are still alive is unclear.