With Agency reports
The Israeli government and Hamas has agreed to uphold a brief cease-fire in Gaza to allow for the release of 50 hostages captured during Hamas’s assault last month on Israel and the release of 150 Palestinian prisoners held in Israel, Mediator, Qatar said early Wednesday.
The cease-fire’s start will be announced within the next 24 hours and will last for at least four days, said Qatar, the lead mediator. It added that the humanitarian pause would also allow for more aid and fuel for civilians in Gaza.
For its part, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced its decision in a WhatsApp message early Wednesday, saying it would allow for a pause of at least four days in the fighting in Gaza.
If that holds, it would be the longest halt in hostilities since Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks prompted Israel to begin its bombardment and subsequent ground invasion of Gaza.
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Netanyahu’s office said women and children would be among the hostages released, and that “the release of every 10 additional hostages will result in an additional day in the pause.”
“The Israeli government is committed to bringing all the hostages home,” the government added.
Less than an hour later, Hamas announced in a statement on Telegram that it had agreed to a four-day cease-fire that would allow for 50 hostages to be exchanged for 150 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
“After many days of difficult and complex negotiations, we announce, with the help and blessing of God, that we have reached a humanitarian truce,” the Hamas statement read.
Hostages likely won’t be released until Thursday at the earliest, to allow time for Israeli judges to review potential legal challenges to the prisoner release, according to Israeli officials.
Until the cease-fire begins, the situation is likely to remain fluid.
“While we now announce the arrival of the truce agreement, we affirm that our hands will remain on the trigger, and our triumphant brigades will remain on the lookout to defend our people and to defeat the occupation and aggression,” Hamas added in its statement.
Hamas and its allies in Gaza captured about 240 hostages during their raid on southern Israel on Oct. 7, which also killed an estimated 1,200 people, according to Israeli officials.
Israel has responded with thousands of airstrikes and by invading Gaza with ground forces, killing roughly 13,000 people in the fighting, according to health officials in the Hamas-controlled territory.
Hamas said in its statement that Israel had also agreed to let in more aid supplies to Gaza; continue to allow civilians to evacuate northern Gaza; and halt its flights over Gaza except for a six-hour window every day.
Israel and Hamas have been negotiating indirectly for weeks over the roughly 240 hostages taken to Gaza in the Hamas attacks on southern Israel.
A deal had seemed within reach on a few occasions only for the negotiations to stall or fall apart.
