There was a debate among Israeli officials whether a pause would help Hamas

The Last Days of the War in Gaza: The Story of Yocheved Lifshitz, Yael Engel Lichi, and Ofir Engel

There are at least 36 children and teenagers in Gaza, ranging from infancy to high school, and little is known about their well-being. Some of them are likely to be among the hostages that are released in the coming days.

Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, who was among just four hostages released by Hamas early in the conflict, described being marched into a network of damp subterranean tunnels under Gaza that she likened to “a spider web.”

The captive children, especially, have had an immeasurable emotional impact on the traumatized country. Their fate has put the hostages at the center of the national agenda, complicating the military’s war strategy in Gaza and dividing the government about whether a deal to secure the release of at least 50 captives goes far enough and if the agreed pause in fighting would spell a premature end of the war and leave Hamas intact.

Majed al-Ansari said Thursday there would be a pause in the fighting at 7 a.m. Gaza time. A group of 13 hostages will be freed in exchange for Palestinian prisoners at 4 pm, according to Mr. al-Ansari.

“I am feeling like yesterday and the day before, only worse,” said Yael Engel Lichi, the aunt of Ofir Engel, a 12th-grader kidnapped on Oct. 7 from Kibbutz Be’eri while visiting his girlfriend.

The Last Days of the War Between Israel and the United States: The Case for a Free and Ordered Relatively More Hostiles

“Each one of them is a person, not a number or a statistic,” said Eylon Keshet, a cousin of Kfir Bibas, the now 10-month-old. Each one is a part of our lives and has ambitions.

A 12-year-old forced to make a propaganda video for his kidnappers. A 9-year-old snatched while visiting a friend’s house for a sleepover. A 3-year-old whose last memory of her parents was seeing them both murdered. And an infant, now all of 10 months, who has spent about a tenth of his life in captivity.

The people were kidnapped that day. There were individuals gravely injured in the attack or who had chronic illnesses, peace activists and soldiers, children, and foreign nationals.

The first group initially took the upper hand, persuading Mr. Netanyahu to delay a cabinet vote originally planned for Nov. 14, according to three of the officials. They wanted Israel to have more power at the negotiating table, so that more hostages would be freed.

Another group, which included David Barnea, the head of Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence agency, who led the negotiations for Israel, argued that the deal was better than none and that the invasion could continue after the brief cease-fire, according to four senior security officials who spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to speak to the news media.

The Israelis wanted to free more than 50 of the roughly 240 hostages. They said they had to have more. President Biden had to talk Netanyahu of Israel into accepting what was on the table, and then work to recover the rest.

The path to the hostage deal was marked by fitful progress, deep mistrust, terrible choices and moments when the whole thing was on the verge of unraveling. Neither side got exactly what it wanted. But if the agreement is carried out successfully over the next few days — and that is still an important if — it could serve as a template for further negotiations to free more of the hostages and extend the temporary cease-fire.

As for Hamas, according to senior administration officials, its leaders were demanding that the pause in fighting incorporated into the agreement last five days, even though the Israelis refused to agree to more than four. Mr. Biden had told the emir that four was all they would get for now.

Mr. Biden spoke on X, the platform formerly known as TWITTER, regarding the deal that brought Americans home from Iraq. “Now, it’s important that all aspects are fully implemented.”

Shortly after the attack, the government of Qatar, a small Gulf emirate that hosts some Hamas leaders but maintains close relations with the United States, approached the White House with information about the hostages and suggested the possibility of a deal to win their release. There was a request from the Qataris for a small group of U.S. officials to work with them and the Israelis.

The top lawyer at the National Security Council was put in charge of taking the lead by Jake Sullivan, the president’s national security adviser. To preserve secrecy, other agencies were kept in the dark about the initiative.

Mr. McGurk, who has wide contacts in the region, held early morning phone calls each day with the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, and then briefed Mr. Sullivan, who kept Mr. Biden informed. Mr. Sullivan stayed in touch with Ron Dermer and Tzachi Hanegbi, two of Mr. Netanyahu’s closest advisers.

The Security Prisons in the Hamas-Arabi Comprehensive Plan for a Three-Day Perturbation of the First Day of a Fate-Defying Interaction

A deal between Israel and Hamas for a temporary cease-fire is expected to go into effect on Friday. Here is a closer look at the agreement, mediated in part by Qatar, and how it is expected to play out.

Humanitarian aid for Gaza will be increased in the deal but the details are not made public by the foreign ministry. Hamas said Thursday that 200 trucks carrying relief supplies and four fuel trucks would enter the territory each day during the four-day pause. Israeli officials did not immediately comment.

Israel said its warplanes would not fly over southern Gaza for the duration of the cease-fire, and would not fly over the northern part of the territory for six hours each day.

The official said the Palestinians will be taken by bus to their districts after being released from Israeli prisons. It was unclear whether they, too, would be set free in stages, but the official said the first would be released before any Israeli hostages.

All the names on the list were described as “security prisoners,” or people who had been arrested in connection with offenses against national security. Some inmates are accused of throwing stones, and others are accused of supporting terrorism. There are also several charges of attempted murder. Many of the prisoners weren’t convicted of the charges.

The director of Al-Shifa Hospital was held by the Israeli forces for questioning, after it was established that the hospital was a Hamas command and control center.

A Palestinian Refugee’s Daughter, Walaa, and Russell, Expectedly at the Fourth Birthday of the Gazan Refugees

Families of the captives waited nervously on both sides of the border, counting down the hours until they could see if their loved ones were being released.

Avigail Idan will have her fourth birthday on Friday and her family hoped that they would be able to celebrate with her.

“I find myself barely breathing through the last 24 hours,” her aunt, Tal Idan, said after the announcement of the agreement. Every hour feels like it’s forever.

Three women were taken into custody by Israel a year ago, one of them being Ms. Tanji, who lived in a refugee camp near Nablus. Israel said it had found guns in a car they were using and was planning to attack an Israeli checkpoint. Nagham Tanji, Walaa’s older sister, said that her sister was innocent and that she had yet to be charged or sentenced.

“I will live in safety, even if it’s temporary and short, without hearing explosions near or far,” Shadi Hijazi, a 23-year-old construction worker, said in a phone interview.

Catherine Russell told the UN Security Council on Wednesday that the organization was able to quickly scale up delivery of desperately needed humanitarian aid in Gaza. But, she said, “this is far from enough” to meet the growing needs of Palestinians.