Worthy Christian News > Israel-Palestinian Conflict > Israel’s Government Agrees On Hostage Deal; First Group To Be Freed Thursday

Israel’s Government Agrees On Hostage Deal; First Group To Be Freed Thursday

By Worthy News’ George Whitten and Stefan J. Bos

JERUSALEM/GAZA (Worthy News) – Israel’s government has agreed on a controversial deal with Hamas that would ensure the release of more than 50 hostages, mostly women and children, within four days in exchange for a pause in the fighting and the release of Palestinian prisoners.

All those in that original grouping are Israeli citizens, sources close to the negotiations said. There is a possibility for the release of an additional 30 hostages should the pause in the fighting be extended, Worthy News monitored. Israeli ministers informed that first release of hostages is expected as early as Thursday, Israeli sources said.

The deal would reportedly see 53 women, children and elderly hostages released in exchange for roughly 150 Palestinian prisoners who are also women and youths. It would also grant Hamas a four-day pause in the fighting, including pauses in aerial reconnaissance as Hamas locates additional hostages to release.

They are among at least 239 hostages taken by Hamas fighters, according to Israeli authorities.

Separately, Hamas may unilaterally free those among the hostages who have Thai citizenship, Israeli sources said. It’s also possible that other governments may work out different deals for their citizens held in Gaza.

As part of the agreement, fuel can enter Gaza during the pause in the fighting. There will be a six-hour window each day during which Israel Defense Forces halt aerial surveillance of Gaza, according to sources familiar with the government’s thinking.

However, “There are other intelligence-gathering capabilities. We will not be blind in those six hours when there are no drones and balloons in the air,” an official told Israeli media, apparently on condition of anonymity.

‘DIFFICULT DECISION’

“We have a difficult decision before us tonight, but it is a correct decision,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the start of the meeting where the deal was decided.

Israel and Hamas both confirmed they agreed on a temporary truce that would suspend their 47-day war to allow the release of the hostages and Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. Ten hostages will be released on each day of the truce, Israeli officials said.

While some details remain undisclosed, the deal — brokered by Qatari, Egyptian and U.S. senior leaders as well as diplomats in tense, on-and-off-again talks — is expected to slow Israel’s invasion.

The war threatened to consume the Middle East and spread to Iran and Lebanon where Hezbollah fighters have been shelling northern Israel for weeks.

But the deal was condemned by bereaved families and survivors of Hamas’s October 7 attack in Israel, which killed some 1,200 Israelis and foreigners and saw the kidnapping of hundreds.

The loved ones of victims said they oppose a hostage deal that would include the “release of terrorists” in a prisoner exchange.

Hamas has been declared a Palestinian terrorist organization by Israel and most of its allies.

CAUSING HARM

“We know and warn that any terrorist who is released now will return and cause harm in the future. In the [release of Israeli soldier] Gilad Shalit deal, the perpetrators of the October 7 massacre were released. There is no reason why the release of the terrorists should be any different this time,” they warned in published remarks.

They recalled that Shalit was captured in June 2006 and released in October 2011 in exchange for 1,027 prisoners, including 258 detainees who were sentenced to life in prison for planning and committing terror attacks against Israeli targets.

Families and survivors of the October 7 attack, the worst atrocity against Jews since the Holocaust, said they are waiting to hear the details of the transaction “before any appeal is submitted.”

Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry says more than 14,000 people – including more than 5,000 children – have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory strikes.

But critics argue that those figures have been difficult to verify independently in a Hamas-ruled territory lacking press freedom and that many of those killed may have been fighters.

Israel says Hamas has been using civilians as human shields and that it seeks to destroy “the terrorist organization.”