The settlement, introduced Wednesday, was the results of weeks of tense negotiations that concerned mediation by Qatar. President Biden stated in a press release welcoming the deal that he would proceed to push for the discharge of all American hostages.
Israeli Nationwide Safety Council Director Tzachi Hanegbi stated talks have been persevering with and that the discharge wouldn’t start earlier than Friday.
Right here’s what we all know concerning the launch of hostages from Gaza.
- A minimum of 50 hostages — ladies and youngsters — might be launched throughout a four-day pause in preventing, the Israeli authorities stated Wednesday.
- In flip, Israel will launch 150 Palestinian prisoners — ladies and youngsters, three for every hostage. The pause in preventing may very well be prolonged by a day for each extra 10 hostages launched by Hamas from Gaza after the primary group of fifty.
- Three Individuals — two ladies and a woman — are anticipated to be launched beneath the current settlement, a senior Biden administration official advised The Washington Publish.
- The hostages are more likely to be transferred to the Worldwide Committee of the Pink Cross in small numbers in Gaza who will escort them to Israeli border crossings.
- In Israel, six hospitals have been readied to obtain the hostages with a particular pediatrics unit and psychological well being counselors. The hostages and their households might be housed in devoted amenities, and the hospitals can be barred from releasing info or images to the general public, the Israeli Ministry of Well being stated.
Who’re the hostages being launched?
The names of the 50 hostages anticipated to be launched haven’t been shared.
The estimated 240 individuals held in Gaza are from a plurality of nations, many additionally with Israeli citizenship. About 20 Thai staff have been amongst these taken, the Thai International Ministry stated. They’re hoped to be among the many first launched, it stated Nov. 2, after talks with Iran, Egypt and Qatar earlier than the hostage launch deal. Not all hostages are believed to be held by Hamas; smaller militant teams corresponding to Palestinian Islamic Jihad are probably accountable for some.
After the preliminary captives change is accomplished, there’ll nonetheless be about 190 remaining hostages in Gaza, although the deal leaves open the potential for additional exchanges. Israeli and U.S. officers imagine there are a minimum of one other 25, and maybe one other 50 or extra, ladies and youngsters among the many hostages, with the remaining together with male civilians, feminine Israeli troopers, and as much as a number of dozen male members of the Israel Protection Forces, The Publish reported Wednesday. Hamas has claimed that some hostages have been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza, however verifying that info has not been doable.
Have been different hostages launched earlier?
4 hostages have been launched by Hamas for the reason that starting of the struggle, in two batches of two a couple of month in the past.
On Oct. 20, Individuals Judith Raanan, 59, and her daughter Natalie, 17, have been launched. Hamas stated that this was because of “humanitarian causes,” with out elaborating additional. They’d been staying with family on the Nahal Oz, a kibbutz close to the border with Gaza, once they have been taken captive throughout Hamas’s unprecedented assault Oct. 7 that killed a minimum of 1,200 in Israel. Greater than 11,100 have since been killed in Gaza, in line with the Gaza Well being Ministry, which stopped releasing a depend from Nov. 10 on, citing the depth of the preventing.
On Oct. 23, Yocheved Lifshitz and Nurit Cooper, Israeli ladies of their 70s and 80s, have been launched, for “crushing humanitarian causes,” Hamas stated. Their husbands stay in captivity.
What number of American hostages are there?
A minimum of 9 Individuals and one authorized everlasting resident are believed to be amongst these held in Gaza, The Publish reported beforehand. One is a 3-year-old little one whose mother and father have been killed within the Oct. 7 assault.
Biden stated that Individuals can be amongst these freed beneath the newly introduced deal. “At the moment’s deal ought to carry house extra American hostages, and I can’t cease till they’re all launched,” he stated in his assertion Wednesday.
Steve Hendrix contributed to this report.
