Israel, Hamas Agree to Four-Day Cease-Fire for Hostage Releases
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(Bloomberg) -- Hamas agreed to free 50 hostages from Gaza in return for a four-day cease-fire with Israel and the release of 150 Palestinian prisoners, a breakthrough in the conflict amid growing international pressure for the two sides to work toward a deal.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quick to say war will continue until Hamas is destroyed as an organization, but the accord will mark the first major lull in fighting since the conflict erupted just over six weeks ago when the Iran-backed group attacked Israel.
Hamas said there would be a “cessation of all military operations” in Gaza during the four days. Israel will halt airstrikes throughout the Gaza Strip, and stop flying intelligence drones over the northern part of the territory, where most of its ground forces are, for six hours a day.
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More aid will move into Gaza from Egypt, which Palestinian officials and the United Nations say is needed to ease a humanitarian disaster.
The pause, pushed for by the US and its allies, is expected to begin on Thursday morning, after the Israeli public has had an opportunity to appeal in the courts against the prisoners being released. Israel’s cabinet has already approved the deal and it’s not expected to be stalled by legal disputes.
The hostage talks were mediated by Qatar, which hosts some of Hamas’s political leaders, as well as the US and Egypt.
US President Joe Biden on Wednesday spoke with Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the emir of Qatar, and expressed his appreciation for the Gulf country’s efforts. Biden also spoke with Egypt’s president and Netanyahu, who thanked the US leader for helping secure the deal.
Qatar said the “humanitarian pause” could help stop the war and lead to a “comprehensive and just peace process.”
On Tuesday, Biden said the White House would work to ensure the deal is “carried through in its entirety,” hinting at the complexity of the arrangement and the possibility of a breakdown.
Financial markets showed little reaction to the agreement, which was flagged days ago. The Israeli shekel has recovered all of its heavy losses from the first three weeks of the war, while gold was steady.
The war-risk premium for assets such as gold and oil has evaporated this month, largely because traders are optimistic the conflict will be mostly contained to Gaza and that Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militia based in Lebanon, will refrain from a major assault on Israel.
“Markets are focused on how long the fighting continues once it is resumed, and what will happen in Gaza, eventually, when fighting is over,” said Ori Greenfeld, chief strategist at at Tel Aviv-based Psagot Investment House. They’re also looking to understand “whether more hostage deals happen.”
Hamas, designated a terrorist organization by the US and European Union, will initially free 50 women and children held in Gaza. In turn, Israel will release 150 women and Palestinians under the age of 19 from Israeli jails. US officials said three Americans would be among the hostages leaving Gaza.
A second stage could see the halt in fighting extended by one day for the release of every 10 additional hostages, Netanyahu’s office said. The government has published a list of 300 Palestinians that could be freed overall, most of them people arrested since the war began on Oct. 7.
On that day, Hamas raided southern Israeli communities from Gaza, killing around 1,200 people and abducting 240. Israel retaliated by bombarding Gaza and launched a ground offensive, which the territory’s Hamas-run government says have killed more than 13,000 people.
The developments come as international pressure grows on Israel to end its offensive in Gaza, much of which has been damaged by airstrikes. Hamas says thousands of people are missing or trapped under the rubble of destroyed buildings.
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On Wednesday, an Arab delegation headed by Saudi Arabia’s top diplomat, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, visited London after meetings in China and Russia earlier in the week. The group of foreign ministers is pushing for an end to the war and is next headed to Paris for talks with French President Emmanuel Macron.
Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi warned that the longer Israel continues with what he and many Arab and Muslim states have described as a “massacring of Palestinians,” the greater the risk of a region-wide conflict and terror attacks against Western targets.
There’s “concern that if we get to a certain point there’s no going back,” he told reporters in London.
Prince Faisal said he hoped the truce “can be the basis for extended pauses and then transition to a cease-fire.”
Netanyahu struck a different tone at the start of a cabinet meeting early on Wednesday, when the breakthrough was announced.
“There is nonsense out there as if after the pause in fighting, we will stop the war,” he said. “We are at war and we will continue it until we achieve all the objectives. We will eliminate Hamas, return all the hostages and guarantee that there will be no element in Gaza that threatens Israel.”
Heavy fighting between Israeli troops and Hamas continued on Wednesday in northern Gaza. The main thrust of Israel’s ground offensive is into Gaza City, the strip’s biggest urban area and which the military describes as Hamas’s “center of gravity.”
Troops have taken control of part of the city’s Al Shifa hospital and over the weekend showed videos they say prove Hamas exploited the facility, building a command center and tunnels underneath.
In recent days Israel has said it’s turning its attention to the south of Gaza, signaling the possibility of sending troops there. Israel has urged civilians to evacuate to southern Gaza since the beginning of the war.
Qatar said it will run an operations room that will be in constant contact with Israel, Hamas, the Red Cross and US officials to ensure all parts of the hostage deal are implemented.
“This could lead to de-escalation,” said Steffen Hertog, an associate professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science. “That said, four days of cease-fire are not a lot and given the composition of the current Israeli coalition with its extremist components, a more permanent arrangement might be harder to come by.”
--With assistance from Abeer Abu Omar, Jordan Fabian, Fadwa Hodali and Jennifer Jacobs.
(Updates with Biden calls to Netanyahu and Qatari emir starting in 6th paragraph)
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