2023-11-19 03:09:00
Israel and Hamas are close to reaching a US-brokered provisional agreement to release hostages in Gaza. (Europa Press/Nir Alon)
Israel, the United States and Hamas are close to reaching a deal to release dozens of women and children held hostage in Gaza in exchange for a five-day pause in fighting.
The release, which might begin in the coming days – barring last-minute unforeseen events – might lead to the first sustained pause in the conflict in Gaza, according to people familiar with the negotiations.
Under the terms of a detailed six-page agreement, all sides in the conflict would freeze combat operations for at least five days while initially releasing 50 or more of what are believed to be a total of 239 hostages, in batches every 24 hours. Aerial surveillance would monitor movement on the ground to monitor the pause in bombing.
The ceasefire is also intended to allow a significant increase in the amount of humanitarian assistance, including fuel, to enter the besieged enclave from Egypt.
The outline of the agreement was drawn up during weeks of talks in Doha, Qatar, between Israel, the United States and Hamas, represented indirectly by Qatari mediators, according to Arab and other diplomats. But until now it was not clear that Israel would agree to temporarily pause its offensive in Gaza, as long as the conditions were right.
The outline of the agreement was drawn up during weeks of talks in Doha, Qatar, between Israel, the United States and Hamas, represented indirectly by Qatari mediators, according to Arab and other diplomats. (EFE/Miriam Alster)
A spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in Washington indicated Saturday that “we are not going to comment” on any aspect of the hostage situation.
Concern for the captives – two of whom Israel said were found dead – along with the rising number of Palestinian civilian casualties have increased pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. More than 100 countries have called for a complete and immediate ceasefire.
The decision to accept the deal is difficult for Israel, said a person familiar with the situation who, like others, spoke on condition of anonymity.
Although there is strong internal pressure on Netanyahu to bring the hostages home, there are also strong voices in Israel demanding that the government not negotiate for their release.
In public statements, Israel has remained adamant, while acknowledging the pressure it is under. On Friday, the head of Israel’s National Security Council, Tzachi Haegbi, told reporters that the war cabinet had unanimously agreed that a limited ceasefire might only occur following “a mass release of our hostages… and “It will be limited and short, because following that we will continue working to achieve our war goals.”
Netanyahu said Saturday that the offensive would continue, even as he defended the decision to allow the first fuel transfers to Gaza since the start of the war.
During Israel’s offensive in Gaza, all but minimal deliveries of food, water, fuel and medicine that the enclave’s 2.3 million people depend on to survive have been cut off. “For international support to continue, humanitarian aid is essential,” he said. “Therefore, we accept the recommendation to bring fuel to Gaza.”
Although there is strong internal pressure on Netanyahu to bring the hostages home, there are also strong voices in Israel demanding that the government not negotiate for their release. (Europa Press/Dana Kopel)
Netanyahu spoke as thousands of hostage families finished a five-day march from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem to demand government action, with many saying the lives of innocent Israelis are worth any short-term deal the government has to make to secure their release.
After initial hesitation, the Biden administration, under its own domestic pressure between advocates for unconditional support for Israel’s war goals and concern regarding the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, has fully endorsed a temporary pause in the fighting.
Beginning with President Biden’s trip to Tel Aviv a week following the war began, and followed by multiple visits by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other top officials, the administration has put heavy pressure on Netanyahu to understand that he is losing the upper hand. narrative as more Palestinians die.
However, the administration’s top priority has been to free the nine Americans and one US permanent resident. among the hostages. “I think we need a pause,” Biden said two weeks ago at a campaign event. “A pause means time to get the prisoners out.”
A week later, asked regarding reports that he had pushed for a three-day pause in the fighting, Biden said he had asked Netanyahu for “an even longer pause.” At his news conference Thursday following meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, he said the hostages were “on our minds every day,” and that he was working on a way to “have a period of time where there is a pause as long as possible.” long enough” to release them.
U.S. officials have said they believe a pause would allow Hamas to round up the hostages and arrangements might be made to escort them safely across the battlefield. It is unclear whether Americans or other foreigners are included in the first wave of releases. The hope is that if the release of women and children is successful, other groups of captives will be next.
Netanyahu spoke as thousands of hostage families finished a five-day march from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem to demand government action. (REUTERS/Ammar Awad)
Brett McGurk, the top Middle East official on the White House National Security Council, is on an extended trip to the region to try to solidify the hostage release plan, including meetings in Israel and Qatar. Speaking at an international security conference on Saturday in Bahrain, McGurk said negotiations have been “intense and continuous.”
The release several weeks ago of an American mother and daughter – among four captives who have been freed since the war began – during a briefly agreed upon pause to allow international aid workers to escort them, provided a “pathway” for “the which we hope will be a much greater liberation.”
McGurk said the release by Hamas of a “large number” of the hostages, believed to number 239, “would result in a significant pause in the fighting and a massive increase in humanitarian aid. “Hundreds and hundreds of trucks steadily entering Gaza from Egypt.” When the hostages are freed, he said, “you will see a significant, significant change.”
It is “reasonable,” McGurk said, “to pause the fighting, release the hostages, the women, the children, the babies, all of them.” The initial agreement does not include male civilians or Israeli military personnel, several of whom are women.
These comments prompted a response from Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, who interpreted them as a sign that a pause allowing humanitarian aid would only come following the hostages were unconditionally released by Hamas. “There are a lot of negotiations,” Safadi said, “but Israel is taking 2.3 million Palestinians hostage… and denying them food and water and for this war.”
A Biden administration official said any assumption that the United States was conditioning aid on the release of hostages had “misinterpreted” McGurk’s comments. “Any type of hostage deal would likely result in an increase in humanitarian aid,” the official said.
The United States, the official noted, has continually pushed for increased humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza.
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