Click to see full-size image. (The Israeli Defense Forces)
Israel and the Hamas Movement have reached an agreement on a temporary ceasefire in addition to the release of some of the Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip and Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
In a pivotal vote early on November 22 morning, Israel’s cabinet approved the agreement to secure the release of roughly 50 hostages who were abducted into Gaza during Hamas’s October 7 surprise attack.
The hostages, mostly women and children, will be released in groups of 12-13 people per day. In exchange Israel will release 150-300 Palestinian women and minors from prison and return them to where they used to live, mostly the West Bank and East Jerusalem, pause fighting for four days and allow the entry of more fuel to the Strip.
In addition, there will be six hours a day when the Israeli military will not be allowed to use drones to gather intelligence on activities in Gaza.
Qatar, who helped broker the agreement along with the United States and Egypt, said that the start time will be announced in the next 24 hours.
“The starting time of the pause will be announced within the next 24 hours and last for four days, subject to extension,” a statement by the Qatari Foreign Ministry said. “The agreement includes the release of 50 civilian women and children hostages currently held in the Gaza Strip in exchange for the release of a number of Palestinian women and children detained in Israeli prisons, the number of those released will be increased in later stages of implementing the agreement.”
Before the announcement of the agreement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the war against Hamas in Gaza will continue until all of Israel’s goals are achieved, namely to eliminate the movement that rules the Palestinian enclave, secure the release of all the hostages, and ensure that there’s no more threat from the Strip to Israel’s security.
“We are at war, and the war will continue until all our goals are achieved,” he said.
The return of hostages is a top, “sacred priority and I am committed to it,” Netanyahu stressed before attending the cabinet meeting during which the agreement was approved.
“Before us is a difficult decision but the right one,” he added. “We will not rest until everyone is returned. The war has stages and the return of the hostages will have stages.”
From its side, Hamas welcomed the “humanitarian truce,” saying in a statement that it will ultimately benefit people in Gaza.
“The provisions of this agreement were formulated according to the vision of the resistance and its determinants that aim to serve our people and enhance their steadfastness in the face of aggression,” the statement said.
Hamas also noted that the agreement with Israel will also lead to an increase of fuel and humanitarian aid deliveries into Gaza.
The U.S. also welcomed the agreement. A senior official in Washington said that President Joe Biden’s administration hopes that the ceasefire in Gaza will lead to a “full pause” in fighting along the Israel-Lebanon border.
“We also hope that this [agreed four-day truce between Israel and Hamas] will lead to a full pause in some of the hostilities in the north, on the Lebanese border,” the official told The Times of Israel.
The agreement came after the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said that the death toll from Israeli attacks on the Strip has soared to 14,128. At least 5,840 children and 3,920 women were among the dead. Tens of thousands others have been wounded.
Both sides are expected to honor the agreement. However, Israel will not likely agree to expand the ceasefire. Netanyahu, who was held responsible by many in Israel for military and intelligence failure during Hamas surprise attack, needs the war in order to survive.
the ziomafia psychopaths who control the stooges in the western governments are worse than the nazis.
hamas is nazis, worse than isis. and you, have a brain the size of a donkey.
rodent is gnawing frantically as its bunker fills up with dead shlomos
nothing in human history is as nasty as the rotten jew.
they are a vermin who worship the devil and will soon be eradicated from humanity.
and when the jew is gone the world will be free and christ will return.
but christ will only return when all jews are gone for good.
the fight on earth is good vs evil, and the jew is the evil, that fills nearly every govt in the world
hahaha every one knows isis and israel and the us are one and the same. try again.
far far worse… devils disguised as saints
no fire in my hillbilly trailer or electricity
netanyahu is finished and so are his illegal settler parasites. when the war is over, the world will force israel to vacate the illegal settlements and implement the two state solution. so even if hamas is completely destroyed they will have won. although i doubt israel will be allowed to destroy south gaza in their pursuit of hamas , so it will be a win win for the barefoot hamas goatherder insurgents and utter defear for israel and its slaves in the eu and in the us
there can be no twoo states !!! there was, and is only palestine. turn the clock back to 1917, burn the balfour declaration. engeland was only a occupyer in palestine and could never giv the palastinian country to zionist parasites who noone wants on his soal.
don’t bet on that. the war in palestine could be won by a mile, but that doesn’t mean the zionists around the world have given up. the zionists infest the entire world governments. it’s best not to rely on anything from them. even the arab ‘normalizers’ cannot be trusted. the only honorable ones are the resistance, the rest can change like chameleons. the houthi’s have the right idea, this can only be won by war as it’s the only thing the zionists understand.
many inferior racists at sf—likely amerikan
1) not sure about the machismo-exchange. why aren‘t any men released, aren’t they human too? 2) gazans certainly need a respite but 7th of october was not meant to end like this, i think. war will possibly continue. a permanent ceasefire would – on the contrary – be a massive defeat for the palestinians having gained nothing (except respect and exposing wesknesses of the is army), returning to the ststus quo ante, after loosing 14000 ppl.
the zionist-fascist dictator, netanyahooey, has been a thorn in the side of the palestinians and he needs to be thrown in jail for what he has done by the zionists of israel. the fact is the us is the one who is brokering most of this as, the treaty against israel warring against the palestine’s people needs to be assembled by the arab league by turkey as well as canada and the us imbeciles of hegemon.