Hamas, Israel agree to a deal for release of 50 hostages in exchange for 4-day truce

JERUSALEM - Israel and Hamas agreed on Nov 22 to a ceasefire for at least four days to let in aid and

allow the release of at least 50 hostages held by Hamas

in exchange for some 150 Palestinians jailed in Israel.

The first truce in a brutal near seven-week-old war, reached after mediation by Qatar, was hailed around the world as a sign of progress that could ease the suffering of civilians in the Gaza Strip and bring more Israeli hostages home.

Israel said the ceasefire could be extended further, as long as more hostages were freed.

Hamas is believed to be holding more than 200 hostages, taken when

its fighters attacked southern Israel on Oct 7.

Some 1,200 people were killed, according to Israeli tallies.

The first hostages are expected to go free on Nov 23.

A statement by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said 50 women and children would be released over four days at a rate of at least 10 each day.

Beyond that, the truce could be extended, as long as an additional 10 hostages are freed per day.

Mr Netanyahu made no mention of the release of Palestinian detainees, but Israel’s Justice Ministry published a list of 300 names of Palestinian prisoners who could be freed.

“Israel’s government is committed to return all the hostages home. Tonight, it approved the proposed deal as a first stage to achieving this goal,” said Mr Netanyahu.

Hamas said the 50 hostages would be released in exchange for 150 Palestinian women and children who are held in Israeli jails.

The truce will also allow hundreds of humanitarian, medical and fuel aid trucks to enter all parts of Gaza, the group said in a statement.

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

Qatar’s chief negotiator, Minister of State at the Foreign Ministry Mohammed Al-Khulaifi, told Reuters that the truce meant there would be “no attack whatsoever. No military movements, no expansion, nothing”. Qatar hopes the deal “will be a seed to a bigger agreement and a permanent cease of fire, and that’s our intention”, he said.

There was no let-up in fighting, pending the start of the truce.

As morning broke on Nov 22, smoke from explosions could be seen rising above northern Gaza in live Reuters video footage from across the fence.

Israel’s military released footage of soldiers shooting in narrow alleyways and said it had carried out air strikes. It said its “forces continue to operate within the Strip’s territory to destroy terrorist infrastructure, eliminate terrorists and locate weaponry”.

At least 14,000 people have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory action, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza. About two-thirds of the coastal enclave’s 2.3 million people are homeless.

Both Israel and Hamas said the truce would not halt their broader missions.

“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,” Mr Netanyahu said in a recorded message.

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.”

Still, there was some hope of a step towards broader peace.

“We hope the truce will happen, and there will be good solutions, and we hope people will live peacefully, return to their homes and workplaces with stability,” said Mr Abu Jihad Shameya, who had taken refuge in the main southern city of Khan Younis after fleeing northern Gaza.

“May God not prolong this hardship,” he said.

Release to begin on Nov 23

United States 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.

Three Americans, including a three-year-old girl whose parents were among those killed during the 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 hold foreign and dual citizenship from some 40 countries. These include Thailand, Britain, France, Argentina and Chile, Israel’s government has said.

Ms Kamelia Hoter Ishay, the grandmother of 13-year-old Gali Tarshansky, who is believed to be held in Gaza, said she would not believe reports of a deal until she gets a call that the teenager was freed.

“And then I’ll know that it’s really over, and I can breathe a sigh of relief and say that’s it, it’s over,” she said.

Mr Qadura Fares, head of the Commission for Prisoners’ Affairs in the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority, told Reuters that among the 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.

The foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan welcomed the temporary truce.

They told reporters in London that the agreement should also ultimately lead to a resumption of talks for a two-state solution.

Saudi Foreign Minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, said the humanitarian aid should be sustained and expanded, and it should not later become contingent on further hostage releases.

“Whatever humanitarian access now increases as a result of this hostage deal must remain in place and must be built upon,” he said.

“There must, at no point, be a reduction in this access based on progress for further release of hostages... Punishing the civilian population of Gaza for the holding of those hostages is absolutely not acceptable.”

Hospital ordered to evacuate

As attention focused on the hostage release deal, fighting on the ground raged on.

In the occupied West Bank on Nov 22, an Israeli drone strike killed five Palestinians and wounded others in the Tolkurm camp, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

Mr Mounir Al-Barsh, director-general of Gaza’s Health Ministry, told Al Jazeera TV that the Israeli military ordered the evacuation of the Indonesian Hospital in Gaza City.

Israel said militants are operating from the facility and threatened to act against them within four hours, he said.

Hospitals – including Gaza’s biggest, Al-Shifa – have been rendered virtually inoperable by the war and shortages of critical supplies.

Israel claims that Hamas conceals military command posts and fighters within them, a claim that Hamas and hospital staff deny.

On Nov 21, Israel also said that its forces had encircled the Jabalia refugee camp, a major urban flashpoint and Hamas militant stronghold.

According to the United Nations, most Palestinians in Gaza are registered as refugees because they or their ancestors were displaced by the 1948 war of Israel’s creation.

Wafa said 33 people were killed and dozens wounded in an Israeli air strike on parts of Jabalia, a congested urban extension of Gaza City where Hamas has been battling advancing Israeli armoured forces.

In southern Gaza, Hamas-affiliated media said 10 people were killed and 22 injured by an Israeli air strike on an apartment in Khan Younis. REUTERS