There was a debate about whether a pause would help Hamas
The second group of the U.S. government agreed to release hostages and set a four-day truce in the aftermath of the Qatar terrorist attack
But the second group eventually won out, leading Mr. Netanyahu to hold the vote early Wednesday, setting the stage for a four-day truce and prisoner exchange that could begin this week. A senior defense official from the first group said that its members had changed their minds because the terms that Israel was able to obtain in the signed deal were significantly better than those that existed a week ago.
The group with David Barnea who led the negotiations for Israel argued that the deal was better than none, and that the invasion could go on after the brief cease-fire, according to four senior security officials.
The effort to free the hostages goes back more than a week after the terrorist attack.
The hostage deal was marked by fitful progress, deep distrust, terrible choices, and moments when the whole thing was on the verge of unraveling. Both sides got what they wanted. If the deal is successful over the next few days, it could serve as a template for further negotiations to release more of the hostages and extend the cease-fire.
The deal outlines an initial four-day pause in the fighting, with at least 10 Israelis released each day of the cease-fire. The Palestinians prisoners would be freed over the same period.
“Last night’s deal is a testament to the tireless diplomacy and determination of many dedicated individuals across the United States government to bring Americans home,” Mr. Biden said on Wednesday on X, the platform formerly called Twitter. “Now, it’s important that all aspects are fully implemented.”
After the attack, the government of Qatar, a small Gulf country that has close relations with the United States, contacted the White House with information about the hostages and offered to make a deal to free them. A small group of U.S. officials were asked to keep their work secret by the Qataris.
Jake Sullivan, the president’s national security adviser, directed Brett McGurk, the White House Middle East coordinator, and Joshua Geltzer, then the deputy homeland security adviser who has since become the top lawyer for the National Security Council, to take the lead. To preserve secrecy, other agencies were kept in the dark about the initiative.
Mr. McGurk was briefed by Mr. Sullivan when he telephoned the emir of the republic of Qatar on a daily basis. Mr. Sullivan connected with Ron and Tzachi Hanegbi, Mr. Netanyahu’s closest advisers.
She’s a friend, not a stranger — but she’s there for her. The Israeli hostage crisis goes horribly through the eyes of President Biden
Everyone who comes out of this terror and horror is very welcome. It’s not easy because perhaps my sister won’t be among the 50 people. I don’t want to get my hopes up.
During the attack on the concert, Romi Gonen was able to call her mother. The family shared the recording with NPR, and believe that the Hamas voices can be heard in it.
“The last few minutes they are speaking of Romi, they are saying she is alive, they shouldn’t kill her, they should take her with them,” Gonen said. One of them agreed to take her. The call came to an end.
Yarden Gonen, her mother and other siblings have been coming to a square in Tel Aviv where the families of hostages gather each day to share support and information. Other Israelis are also keeping vigil.
The sense of community has been very important for Gonen’s family. She said these weeks of waiting without any solid information about her sister have been exhausting and terrifying.
We have ups and downs. She says they have a lot of support. I have a new family right now. The families are all in the same boat, suffering from the same pain and uncertainty.
A coalition of families whose relatives were taken hostage urged the Israeli government to quickly release additional hostages.
In a statement late Tuesday night President Biden said he and first ladyJill Biden were “keeping all those held hostage and their loved ones close to our hearts.”
If the initial agreement is carried out, there will be more exchanges of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners in the future.
Families in the Gaza Strip are scared: Israeli-Israel security prospects in the wake of a deal for the release of hostages in the Oct. 7 attack
While Yarden Gonen worries about her sister, she is also frightened for her partner, who’s been called up to serve in Israel’s army as part of a mobilization of 300,000 reservists to support the war.
Though she is happy about the newly announced deal to release some hostages, she fears the pause in fighting will give Hamas a chance to regroup, leaving Israel and its army more vulnerable.
“This is the fear all the time because you don’t know what they’re planning or what they know or what they are doing or what they plan to do,” Gonen says.
“I just keep on praying and sending really good energies,” Gonen told NPR Wednesday, after details of the deal were made public. “I’ll be excited for anyone that will be [released] because they are my family too.”
In Washington, Secretary of State Antony Blinken welcomed the agreement for the release of hostages, “including American citizens.” A senior Biden administration official has said that there are 10 dual US and Israel citizens who are still missing, three of which could be released as part of the deal.
It comes more than six weeks into an intense war in Gaza triggered by Hamas’ massive Oct. 7 attack on Israel, in which Israel says militants killed some 1,200 Israelis and seized around 240 hostages. The Gaza health ministry says that over 12,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s bombardments of the strip.
The news of a deal between Hamas and Israel sparked hope among the families on both sides of the conflict who have waited for the release of their loved ones.
On the list are 33 women and the remainder are teenage boys aged 14-18. In the past several people have been charged with stone- throwing and have been arrested by Israeli forces. Most are detainees awaiting trial on charges including incitement, stone-throwing and attempted murder. The people are being held without trial or charge.
Hen Avigdori, an Israeli comedy writer whose wife Sharon and 12-year-old daughter Noam are being held in Gaza, said the Israeli army promised to notify him ahead of time if they are slated to be released.
Yousef Afghani, a resident of Jerusalem, was not prepared to see his daughter on the list of prisoners that Israel was going to release. She’s served seven years of her 15-year sentence for attempted murder. Her father told NPR she was carrying a knife but denied she attempted a stabbing.
“My feelings are the feelings of any father. Celebration and happiness and joy,” Afghani told NPR. But he also condemned the kidnapping of Israelis to Gaza, which resulted in the deal to free his daughter. “We are against any kind of attack against civilians.”
Pope Francis met separately with Israeli and Palestinians’ family members who were held by Hamas in Gaza. In unscripted remarks afterward, Francis said he felt “both sides are suffering,” but that the conflict had “gone beyond war. This is not war; it’s terrorism.”
In addition to Israelis and U.S. citizens, foreigners from several other countries are among the people believed to be held by Hamas. Among them are more than 20 Thai farm laborers seized near the Gaza border in the Oct. 7 attack. Fox knows that the Thais aren’t in the exchange deal.
Israel’s Channel 12 news says the deal allows “significant” humanitarian aid into Gaza, including desperately needed fuel to run generators — the only source of electricity throughout much of the besieged territory. The Gaza people have been hit hard by food, water, and medical supplies shortages since the beginning of the Israeli ground invasion. Hamas said that hundreds of trucks carrying aid and fuel would be allowed to enter Gaza.
The Interim Committee on Cosmic Microwave Background (ICRC) Observed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Prime Minister Abdallah Bin Jassim Al Thani
Biden thanked Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani and Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi for help in brokering the deal.
Al Thani said he hopes the truce will stop the war machine and bloodshed. Egypt will continue to work on achieving justice, impose peace, and guarantee the rights of the Palestinian people, according to El-Sisi.
“Israel should immediately allow for the permanent resumption of sufficient fuel, water and electricity supplies, without which humanitarian needs will continue to deepen,” the Red Cross said.
The ICRC welcomed any respite from the fighting in Gaza and said that everything possible should be done to scale humanitarian aid during the pause.
But the ICRC’s spokesperson in Jerusalem, Sarah Davies, told NPR that the group was “not made aware of any agreement reached by both parties” related to such visits. “Should visits be agreed upon, the ICRC stands ready to conduct them, and does not take part in the negotiations between the parties to the conflict,” Davies said.
The reason for the delay was not immediately clear, but Israel’s Channel 12 quoted an unnamed Israeli political official as saying “The delay isn’t substantive, but technical.”
Around midnight Wednesday and just hours after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke in a televised, late-evening media briefing where he discussed the agreement, Israel’s National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said the temporary cease-fire was still on track “according to the original agreement,” but that it wouldn’t occur before Friday.
