Israel and Hamas reach "humanitarian pause" agreement that includes the release of hostages

Qatar indicates that the start of the "humanitarian pause" will be announced in the next 24 hours

HRW stresses that "whether there is a ceasefire or not, illegal attacks must stop"

Israel and the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) reached an agreement this Wednesday for a "humanitarian pause" in the Gaza Strip, where Israeli bombings have killed more than 14,100 Palestinians, in an agreement that includes the release of hostages exchange of Palestinian prisoners.

Hamas has stated that, "after difficult and complex negotiations for many days", the parties have reached a humanitarian truce agreement, which requires the cessation of military actions by the Israeli Army, which will last four days and which has been achieved with the "tireless efforts by Qatar and Egypt."

The Palestinian militia will hand over 50 hostages and in exchange Israel will release 150 prisoners who are in its prisons, all of them women and children under 19 years of age. During the truce, Israeli authorities, who have pledged not to arrest or attack anyone in the Gaza Strip, will stop flying over the southern part of the enclave completely and the northern area for six hours a day.

The pact also includes the entry of a greater number of convoys with humanitarian aid, medical goods and fuel "to all areas of Gaza without exception," as the militia explained in a statement.

Subsequently, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Qatar, mediator with Egypt and the United States, has indicated that the "humanitarian pause" will be announced in the next 24 hours and has confirmed the conditions between the parties, and has reaffirmed its "commitment to the efforts ongoing diplomatic efforts to reduce tensions, stop bloodshed and protect civilians.

This agreement has been made public after Israel's emergency cabinet - formed after the Hamas offensive and made up of 38 ministers - approved a ceasefire in the early hours of this Wednesday, after meeting for more than eight hours. temporary, claiming that he is "committed" to bringing "all the kidnapped people home", without this meaning the end of the conflict.

"The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) will continue the war to bring back all the abductees, complete the elimination of Hamas and ensure that Gaza does not renew any threats against Israel," the prime minister's office stressed in a statement. release.

In this letter he has indicated that the agreement includes the release of at least 50 hostages during "a period of four days in which there will be a pause in the fighting," while they will add one day to the truce for every ten additional hostages released, but not has given more details about the other concessions mentioned above.

Benjamin Netanyahu's Administration has not yet made public the details of the vote, as some political parties had shown their opposition to the agreement before the vote. However, according to the Ynet news portal, the ministers of Otsmá Yehudit, of the head of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, would have voted against.

Finally, the head of Finance, the far-right Bezalel Smotrich, has announced that his ministers of Religious Zionism have changed their opinion and have voted in favor having been convinced that the pressure to eradicate Hamas would continue after the truce.

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.

For his part, the president of Israel, Isaac Herzog, has shown his support for the "painful and difficult" decision of Netanyahu and his cabinet to "promote the release of hostages" and has considered that it is a "moral and ethic that correctly expresses the Jewish and Israeli value of redeeming captives.

"I hope it is a significant first step to return all the abductees home," he declared before asserting that the State of Israel, together with the IDF and the security forces, "will continue to act by all means to achieve" both this "goal" as the "restoration of absolute security for the Israelis."

From the opposition, Yair Lapid has supported "the agreed scheme", since "the State of Israel has the supreme obligation to continue working to return all the kidnapped to their last home. Embracing and supporting the families of the kidnapped", has indicated through his profile on the social network X, formerly known as Twitter.

HRW: "HUMAN BEINGS ARE NOT CURRENCY"

The director for Israel and Palestine of the NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW), Omar Shakir, has stated after the announcement of a "humanitarian pause" in the Gaza Strip that "whether there is a ceasefire or not, the illegal attacks must stop." "and has emphasized that "human beings are not currency."

"Taking hostages is a war crime and Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups need to release them all, immediately. But blocking the delivery of life-saving aid and fuel until the hostages are freed is a war crime that has endangered the lives of 2.2 million people at risk," he declared.

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.