2023-11-22 03:20:42
The militia agrees to release 50 women and children in exchange for 150 Palestinian prisoners
MADRID, 22 (EUROPA PRESS)
The Government of Israel approved in the early hours of this Wednesday an agreement for a temporary ceasefire with the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in the Gaza Strip that would involve the exchange of hostages held by Palestinian militias in exchange for Palestinian detainees. in Israeli prisons.
The prime minister’s office has indicated in a statement that the agreement includes the release of at least 50 hostages – women and children – during “a period of four days in which there will be a pause in the fighting”, while they will add a day to the truce for every ten additional releases.
The emergency cabinet – formed after the Hamas offensive and made up of 38 ministers – has been meeting for more than eight hours, but has not given further details on other concessions that Israel is believed to have accepted, such as the release of prisoners Palestinians in Israeli prisons or the entry of humanitarian aid and additional fuel into the Palestinian enclave.
In addition, the details of the vote are also unknown, since some political parties had previously expressed their opposition to the agreement. However, according to the Ynet news portal, the ministers of Religious Zionism – such as the head of Finance, the far-right Bezalel Smotrich – would have finally voted in favor, while Otsmá Yehudit, of the Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, They would have voted against.
Likewise, Benjamin Netanyahu’s Administration has stressed that it is “committed” to bringing “all those kidnapped home,” and has emphasized that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) will continue the war to “return all those kidnapped.” , complete the elimination of Hamas and ensure that Gaza does not renew any threats against Israel.”
“DIFFICULT AND COMPLEX NEGOTIATIONS”
Hamas, for its part, has reported that, “after difficult and complex negotiations for many days,” they have reached a humanitarian truce agreement that will last four days and that has been achieved with the “tireless efforts of Qatar and Egypt,” it states. the Al Quds news daily.
At the beginning of the cabinet meeting, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that the agreement includes visits by the Red Cross to the hostages who will not be released, as well as medicine. Furthermore, he added that this truce does not mean the end of the Israeli offensive in the enclave.
“We will not stop the war after the ceasefire (…) It is nonsense to suggest that we will stop the war after the ceasefire to return the hostages. I would like to make it clear: we are at war and we will continue the war until we achieve all our objectives: eliminate Hamas, return all hostages and missing persons and guarantee that there will be no threat to Israel in Gaza,” he said.
In recent days there has been speculation about the agreement for the release of the hostages taken by Hamas on October 7 during an offensive that also killed nearly 1,200 people and motivated the IDF response, which has been resulting in nearly 14,100 Palestinian deaths in Gaza.
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