Middle East: Break in fighting for hostage release on Monday morning?

2023-11-20 06:08:00

As part of an agreement to release Israeli hostages, a ceasefire will reportedly come into effect at 11 a.m. local time, a Hamas official reportedly told the Jordanian newspaper Al Ghad, the Ynet news site reported.

However, an Israeli official denied the report and said there was no such agreement, it said. None of the information could initially be independently verified.

“Closer to an agreement than we have perhaps ever been”

U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer said on U.S. television on Sunday that there was no agreement yet to release the hostages, but that they were closer to an agreement at this point “than we have perhaps ever been since “these negotiations started weeks ago”. Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, whose emirate plays an important mediating role, said there are now very low hurdles for an agreement between Israel and Hamas. There was initially no official confirmation from Israel on Sunday of an impending hostage agreement with Hamas.

According to a media report, members of the Israeli war cabinet plan to meet family members of hostages held by terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip on Monday. As the newspaper “The Times of Israel” reported on Monday night, it was initially unclear how many relatives would take part in the meeting expected in the evening. There was initially no confirmation of the meeting. Terrorists from the Islamist Hamas and other groups kidnapped around 240 hostages into the Gaza Strip on October 7th in massacres and attacks in the border area with Israel.

Day-long protest march for a quick release deal

On Saturday, tens of thousands of people in Israel reached the city of Jerusalem with a day-long protest march demanding a quick deal to release the hostages. They also demonstrated in front of the official residence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

In addition to Netanyahu, Israel’s war cabinet includes Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Minister Benny Gantz. The cabinet observers include, among others, the two ministers Ron Dermer and Gadi Eisenkot, as the newspaper also reported. Gantz and Eisenkot met with family members of the hostages over the weekend after they demanded to also meet with Gallant and Netanyahu. But neither of them showed up.