WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Wednesday night after a seven-hour meeting, the Israeli Cabinet approved a deal that would see the release of at least 50 women and children held captive in Gaza since October 7th. During the attack, Hamas killed over 1,200 Jews and took another 239 women, children, elderly, and men hostage in the tunnels under Gaza where they have been for the past 46 days.
“The first hostages to be released are women and children,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.
“The government of Israel is committed to bringing all of the hostages home. Tonight, the government approved the outline for the first stage of achieving this goal,” said the statement.
Here are the key deal points:
A minimum of 53 hostages will be released, mostly being children held captive with their mothers, and a potential of more being released based on how this first part of the deal goes. Additionally, 10 hostages will be released every day, a 4 or 5-day ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and 150 Palestinian prisoners will be released, being mostly women and minors.
It is hoped that the first batch of hostages will be released as early as Thursday, but there are still a few details to be worked on.
As part of the agreement, the list of hostages to be released will not include foreigners who do not have Israeli citizenship. The deal stated that the Israeli army will cease flying over the Gaza Strip for six hours each day, during the first days of the truce, to give Hamas a chance to locate all of the hostages.
The terrorist group is thought to be holding nearly 210 of the 240 hostages, while the Palestinian Islamic Jihad has control of the remaining 30.
According to sources the 150 Palestinian prisoners who will be released from Israeli jails will be women and children. No prisoners are to be set free if they committed a crime that caused the death of any citizen.
The humanitarian part of the agreement calls for the entry into the Gaza Strip, including in the north, of 100 to 300 trucks of food, medical aid and fuel each day.
There is a 24-hour period for the families of any Israeli citizen who wishes to contest the freeing of any prisoner to file a motion in court. It is expected that since these are women and children being released, there will be no issue with the courts.
The deal was worked out by Qatar, Egypt, and the United States and presented to the Israeli government late Monday or early Tuesday morning. Throughout the process, the United States President Joe Biden was briefed on the details.
The goal is to get freedom for all of 239 hostages and this is just stage one of the process. It also remains the goal of Israel to destroy Hamas in order to gain a lasting peace in the region
