A ceasefire deal has been reached between Israel and Hamas and is due to go into effect later tonight AEST, following weeks of mediation between Egypt, Qatar and the US.
If the deal holds, it will see dozens of Israeli hostages captured on October 7 released in exchange for the release of 150 Palestinian women and youths under 19 currently held in Israeli jails.
According to Israeli officials, Hamas abducted up to 240 Israelis on October 7 and killed 1,200 people. Since then, Israeli’s counterattack of Gaza has killed up to 13,000 Palestinians, as per figures recorded by Palestinian health officials.
On Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office released a statement declaring that the Israeli government had “approved the outline for the first stage of achieving this goal, according to which at least 50 abductees — women and children — will be released for four days, during which there will be a lull in the fighting.”
“The release of every 10 additional abductees will result in an additional day of respite,” the government said. “The Israeli government is committed to the return of all abductees home.”
Ten hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 are expected to be released early Thursday. During the planned four-day pause in fighting, fuel and aid is expected to enter Gaza.
Hamas’ reaction to deal
According to the New York Times, Hamas confirmed the hostage swap deal, saying in a statement: “After many days of difficult and complex negotiations, we announce, with the help and blessing of God, that we have reached a humanitarian truce.”
The statement also affirmed Israel’s agreement to allow further aid supplies to enter Gaza and continue to permit civilians to evacuate northern Gaza. Since the fighting began six weeks ago, most of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents have been displaced.
“While we now announce the arrival of the truce agreement, we affirm that our hands will remain on the trigger, and our triumphant brigades will remain on the lookout to defend our people and to defeat the occupation and aggression,” the statement from Hamas read.
Palestinians held in Israeli prisons
On Thursday afternoon, 50 Palestinian women and children are scheduled to be dropped off at a checkpoint near Ramallah, Palestine’s de facto administrative capital, according to a source from the Palestinian Authority — as reported by The Guardian.
Overnight, Palestinian and Israeli officials released the names of 300 Palestinian women and children held in Israeli prisons, some of whom they hope will be freed.
Figures by the Palestinian Prisoners Society claim that up to Palestinian 7,200 prisoners are currently being held in Israeli prisons. They include 88 women and 250 children aged 17 and under.
According to The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, an organisation that reports on human rights violations committed by Israel in the Occupied Territories: “Israel routinely uses administrative detention and has, over the years, placed thousands of Palestinians behind by bars for periods ranging from several months to several years, without charging them, without telling them what they are accused of, and without disclosing the alleged evidence to them or to their lawyers.”
According to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, Israeli forces have imprisoned more than 2,200 Palestinian men and women since October 7.
Another Palestinian prisoners’ rights group, Addameer, reports that up to 200 boys, 75 women and five teenage girls are currently in Israeli detention.
HaMoked, an Israeli human rights organisation, reported that in the month between 1 October and 1 November this year, Palestinians held in administrative detention (held without charge or trial) increased from 1,319 to 2,070.
Jessica Montell, the executive director of HaMoked, told The Guardian: “Some [on the list] have been convicted; the bulk of those to be released are detainees still awaiting trial, on charges that range from incitement to stone-throwing to attempted murder.”
“Among those to be released are Palestinian women and children in administrative detention,” she said. “These people should also have been released unconditionally, so a deal to release Israeli hostages and Palestinian administrative detainees is doubly welcome.”
In the latest hostage exchange deal, Israel has refused to free anyone sentenced for murder.
Israeli hostages release
Families of those who remain hostage under Hamas are anxiously awaiting their release. According to one Israeli offical who spoke to the Times, Israeli judges are still in the process of reviewing the legal details of the agreement.
Around the world, Jewish communities have come out to rally for the release of the hostages.
Earlier this month, more than 300,000 people rallied in Washington at the March for Israel, calling for the release of the hostages held by Hamas terrorists in Gaza. In the same week, more than a hundred people related to the hostages marched to Prime Minister Netanyahu’s office in Jerusalem, calling on him to do more to bring home their loved ones.
In a tweet earlier this week, Netanyahu said that freeing the hostages is a “sacred and supreme task.”
“I am committed to it,” he wrote. We have not relented from the task of returning them, and this is my responsibility and that of the War Cabinet.”
In Melbourne, Sydney and Perth, rallies have pressured the Australian government to do more to return the hostages to their families safely.
On Wednesday in Melbourne, Prime Minster Anthony Albanese made an address at the Melbourne Holocaust Museum, denouncing the rise in anti-Semitism since the conflict began.
“Since the atrocities of the terrorist action by Hamas on October 7, Jewish Australians have been bearing a pain you should never have had to bear again,” he said.
“And you are feeling fear. Anxious at the long shadows of the past have crept into the present. That should not be happening in a land that offered refuge then, and embraces you now.”
“As the conflict continues, anti-Semitism is on the rise but we will not let it find as much as a foothold here. Australia will always denounce it and reject it utterly, just as we do all forms of racism and prejudice.”