Israel’s cabinet voted last night to accept an agreement for a temporary ceasefire with Hamas, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said. There comes a temporary truce of four days, in which no (air) attacks or arrests will take place. That pause in the fighting is also necessary humanitarian aid to Gaza enable.
Spread over those four days Hamas releases 50 hostages. Among them 30 kidnapped children, 8 mothers and 12 women. An Israeli government official said this in the newspaper Haaretz. In return will Israel releases about 150 Palestinian prisoners, mainly women and children. According to the AP news agency, these mainly concern teenage boys who have been arrested in the West Bank in the past two years for disrupting public order, for example by throwing stones. Currently, approximately 7,000 Palestinians are in Israeli prisons for such security violations.
The lull in fighting will last four days. But for every additional ten hostages Hamas releases, the ceasefire is extended by one day. It is estimated that Hamas still has around 240 hostages in its hands. The deal only applies to hostages who are still alive.
It was further agreed that Red Cross is allowed to visit hostages who have not been released in the Gaza Strip. It will also be allowed to administer medicines.
It is not yet clear when the temporary ceasefire will begin. According to Qatar, which brokered the agreement together with the US and Egypt, the implementation of the temporary ceasefire announced within 24 hours. The agreement also includes a possibility of extending the ceasefire.
According to Israeli media, Israeli citizens must now first be given 24 hours to ask the Supreme Court to block the release of Palestinian prisoners.
However, the temporary ceasefire deal does not mean the end of the war, he stressed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “WWe are at war and we continue to wage war until we achieve our goals: the elimination of Hamas, the return of all hostages and missing persons and the guarantee that there is no longer a threat from Gaza to Israel,” he said yesterday.
Also Hamas says he is satisfied with the file that “in accordance with the vision of resistance and determination”, but also says that “our hands will remain on the trigger and our triumphant battalions will remain alert”.
American president Joe Biden says “extremely satisfied” to be. The hostages to be released would also include three Americans, including an 11-year-old child. Biden also thanked Qatar and Egypt for their “critical leadership and partnership” during the negotiations and appreciates “the commitment that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and his government have made in supporting an extended pause (…) and to alleviate the suffering of innocent Palestinian families in Gaza.”
Also Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas welcomes the humanitarian deal in Gaza. He does push calls for a longer truce to ultimately reach a political solution to the war between Israel and Hamas.
The chairman of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen “welcomes the humanitarian truce agreement”. She advocates making good use of the truce by significantly increasing humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip and starting as soon as possible.
