Breakthrough In Gaza: Israel Approves Deal To Free 50 Hostages, Ceasefire For 4 Days

New Delhi: In a breakthrough deal, Israel’s government voted on Wednesday to approve a proposal for Palestinian Hamas militants to release 50 women and children held as hostages in Gaza in return for a four-day ceasefire, the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. The deal was mediated by Qatar, with the involvement of the U.S., Israel and Hamas. The negotiations have been going on for days, amid hopes of ending the war that has devastated Gaza and killed thousands of people.

Hamas is believed to have more than 200 hostages, who were captured when its fighters launched a massive attack on Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people, according to Israeli estimates. A statement by the Prime Minister’s Office said that 50 women and children will be freed over four days, during which the fighting will stop.

The ceasefire will be extended by another day for every additional 10 hostages released, it said, without mentioning the release of Palestinian prisoners in exchange. However, a U.S. official briefed on the discussions had said earlier that the deal would also include the exchange of 150 Palestinian prisoners.

“Israel’s government is committed to bringing all the hostages home. Tonight, it approved the proposed deal as a first stage to achieving this goal,” said the statement, released after hours of closed-door deliberation.

Israel’s Ynet reported that only three ministers from the far-right Jewish Power party voted against the deal. The deal will bring the first pause in a war that has seen Israeli airstrikes destroy large parts of Hamas-ruled Gaza, kill 13,300 civilians in the tiny densely populated enclave and leave about two-thirds of its 2.3 million people homeless, according to Gaza authorities.

Before meeting with his full government, Netanyahu met on Tuesday with his war cabinet and wider national security cabinet over the deal.

Ahead of the announcement of the deal, Netanyahu said that the intervention of U.S. President Joe Biden had helped to improve the tentative agreement so that it included more hostages and fewer concessions. But Netanyahu said Israel’s broader mission had not changed.

“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,” he said in a recorded message at the start of the government meeting. The ceasefire will also allow for humanitarian aid into Gaza.

Israeli media including Channel 12 news said that the first release of hostages was expected on Thursday. The deal has to wait for 24 hours to give Israeli citizens the chance to ask the Supreme Court to block the release of Palestinian prisoners, reports said.

Hamas has so far released only four captives: U.S. citizens Judith Raanan, 59, and her daughter, Natalie Raanan, 17, on Oct. 20, citing “humanitarian reasons,” and Israeli women Nurit Cooper, 79, and Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, on Oct. 23.

The armed wing of the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad, which participated in the Oct. 7 raid with Hamas, said late on Tuesday that one of the Israeli hostages it has held since the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel had died.

“We previously expressed our willingness to release her for humanitarian reasons, but the enemy was stalling and this led to her death,” Al Quds Brigades said on its Telegram channel.