Hamas militants will free about 50 hostages in exchange for Israel’s release of about 150 Palestinian prisoners during a four-day pause in fighting, according to a deal approved early Wednesday by Israel’s government.
Israel’s government said the first hostages to be released would be women and children and that the temporary cease-fire would be extended by an additional day for every 10 additional hostages released by Hamas.
The deal is set to take effect in 24 hours, to allow for Israeli families of victims to make appeals to the Supreme Court. None of the prisoners to be included in the deal had directly killed an Israeli, NBC News reported.
The announcement heralds the first significant break in fighting since Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attack, which killed approximately 1,200 people, according to the Israel Defense Forces. More than 13,000 people have been killed in Israel’s weekslong offensive in Gaza, according to health officials there, and more than 1.6 million people have been displaced.
The agreement was set to cover only Israeli hostages held by Hamas, some of whom are dual nationals, NBC News reported. Other countries would have to negotiate separately for the release of their citizens, a senior Israeli official said.
After intense pressure from the U.S., Israel said late last week that it would allow about 37,000 gallons of fuel into Gaza every 48 hours, but a United Nations spokesperson said it was “obviously barely a drop in the bucket of the amount of fuel that we need.”
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