Israel and Hamas have agreed to are close to a tentative deal to pause the ongoing conflict and free dozens of hostages. The plan, engineered by the Biden Administration, has been in the works over weeks of talks in Doha.
www.washingtonpost.com/...
Israel, the United States and Hamas are close to an agreement that would free dozens of women and children held hostage in Gaza, in exchange for a five-day pause in fighting.
The release, which could begin within the next several days — barring last-minute hitches — could lead to the first sustained pause in conflict in Gaza, according to people familiar with its provisions.
Under the terms of a detailed, six-page agreement, all parties to the conflict would freeze combat operations for at least five days while an initial 50 or more of what are believed to be a total 239 hostages are released in batches every 24 hours. Overhead surveillance would monitor movement on the ground to police the pause.
The stop in fighting is also intended to allow a significant increase in the amount of humanitarian assistance, including fuel, to enter the besieged enclave from Egypt.
There is a six-page document with all the details of the agreement, but no link to it yet.
However, www.timesofisrael.com/…reports that “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there was no deal yet to secure the release of some 240 hostages held by Hamas ‘as of now’.” So, there are probably some last-minute negotiations over the agreement.
This is a welcome development, at least for the short term. Yes, it should have been done earlier. No, we don’t know what will happen during or after the 5 days. But the Biden administration is doing its job in the face of enormous difficulties and political pressures, and a rabid republican party and its billionaire backers who will trash Democrats no matter what we do. Now let’s beat up on republicans for a change 😄
P.S. The Washington Post has changed the wording to now say that “Israel and Hamas are close to agreement on a U.S.-brokered deal ...”