Israel, Hamas agree on 4-day pause in fighting, release of hostages; first exchange likely tomorrow

What we know

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said 50 women and children will be released over four days, during which there will be a pause in fighting.

For every additional 10 hostages released, the pause would be extended by another day, Netanyahu’s office said in a statement. “Israel’s government is committed to return all the hostages home. Tonight, it approved the proposed deal as a first stage to achieving this goal,” said the statement.

Hamas, on the other hand, said the 50 hostages would be released in exchange for 150 Palestinian women and children currently held in Israeli jails.

The deal will allow hundreds of trucks of humanitarian, medical and fuel aid to enter Gaza, the Palestinian group said in a statement.

Israel has committed not to attack or arrest anyone in Gaza during the humanitarian pause. During the four-day pause, air traffic will completely stop in southern Gaza while it will halt for six hours a day, from 10 am to 4 pm (local time), in northern Gaza, the statement said.

Qatar’s chief negotiator in ceasefire talks, Minister of State at the Foreign Ministry Mohammed Al-Khulaifi, told Reuters that the International Committee of the Red Cross would be working inside Gaza to facilitate the hostages’ release. He added that Qatar hopes the deal “will be a seed to a bigger agreement and a permanent cease of fire. And that’s our intention.”

Who are the hostages?

The hostages are from many communities, including collective farms, military bases in southern Israel as well as people attending an outdoor music festival.More than half the hostages held foreign and dual citizenship from about 40 countries, including the US, Thailand, Britain, France, Argentina, Germany, Chile, Spain and Portugal, Israel’s government has said.

Palestinians inspect a damaged vehicle in the aftermath of an Israeli strike on an apartment in a residential building, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. (Reuters)

Among the hostages are children, including a 10-month-old baby and preschoolers, soldiers, elderly people and people with disabilities, like a 17-year-old girl who cannot walk or talk and uses a feeding tube.

Broader mission has not changed, says Israel; fingers remain on trigger, says Hamas

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.

Hamas said in its statement, “As we announce the striking of a truce agreement, we affirm that our fingers remain on the trigger, and our victorious fighters will remain on the look out to defend our people and defeat the occupation.”

Hamas holding 200+ hostages, released four women so far

Since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, it is believed to be holding over 200 hostages. The attack killed 13,300 civilians in Gaza and left about two-thirds of its 2.3 million people homeless, according to authorities in Gaza.

Hamas has to date released only four captives: US citizens Judith Raanan, 59, and her daughter, Natalie Raanan, 17, on October 20, citing “humanitarian reasons,” and Israeli women Nurit Cooper, 79, and Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, on October 23.

The armed wing of the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad said that one of the Israeli hostages it has held since the October 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.

Fighting continues on ground

Mounir Al-Barsh, director-general of Gaza’s health ministry, told Al Jazeera TV that the Israeli military ordered the evacuation of the Indonesian Hospital in Gaza City. Israel said militants were operating from the facility and threatened to act against them within four hours, he said.

Hospitals, including Gaza’s biggest Al Shifa, have been rendered virtually inoperable by the conflict and shortages of critical supplies. Israel claims that Hamas conceals military command posts and fighters within them, a claim that Hamas and hospital staff deny.

On Tuesday, Israel also said its forces had encircled the Jabalia refugee camp, a congested urban extension of Gaza City where Hamas has been battling advancing Israeli armoured forces. The Palestinian news agency WAFA said 33 people were killed and dozens wounded in an Israeli air strike on part of Jabalia.

On Tuesday, the Health Ministry said that as of November 11, it had lost the ability to count the dead because of the collapse of large parts of the health system. It believes the actual death toll has risen sharply above the official number of 11,000. Some 2,700 people are missing and believed to be buried under rubble, and hospitals have continued to report deaths from daily strikes, often dozens at a time.

A cold winter ahead for displaced Palestinians

Some three-quarters of Gaza’s population has been uprooted from their homes and are staying in filthy, overcrowded shelters. Many, if not most, will be unable to return home because of the vast damage in the north and the continued presence of Israeli troops there. That could lead to an even worse humanitarian disaster as people remain in shelters or are forced to live in tents through the cold, rainy winter.

With inputs from agencies

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