Israel believes Wednesday’s raid on Al-Shifa Hospital will put pressure on Hamas to reach a deal to exchange dozens of Israeli captives for Palestinian prisoners, according to two senior Israeli officials.
Negotiations for a deal are underway, with the various actors working on a framework of agreement, according to the two Israeli officials, who are involved in Israeli efforts to free the hostages through a deal, as well as a third having knowledge of the matter. matter. Under the proposal, Hamas would release 50 women and children kidnapped in the October 7 terrorist attacks, roughly the same number of Palestinian women and children held in Israeli prisons.
The three officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive negotiations, as did two other Israeli officials who discussed hostage negotiations.
The deal, being negotiated by Qatari, Egyptian and U.S. officials, would also include a cessation of hostilities for several days, a so-called humanitarian pause, four of the officials said.
Hamas confirmed the broad outlines of this agreement on Tuesday but criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for delaying it.
“We want your children returned to you,” Osama Hamdan, a Hamas spokesperson, told reporters in Beirut on Tuesday, “but the one standing in your way is Netanyahu and his war government.”
In addition to around 1,200 people killed in the October 7 attack, 240 shelters were also transferred to Gaza, according to Israeli officials. After the attack, Israel declared war on Hamas, which health officials in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip say resulted in more than 10,000 deaths. Freeing the hostages – and ensuring their survival during the war – is one of Israel’s stated goals, but also one of its most difficult tactical and political challenges.
Despite moves by both sides toward a deal, Mr. Netanyahu must first present the proposal to his government for a vote.
Until the prisoners are actually exchanged, the situation remains fluid. The exchange could be canceled by hardliners in the Israeli government who do not want to make any deal with Hamas or who want Israel to secure the release of more hostages.
The deal was being worked out by officials in the small Gulf emirate of Qatar, which has hosted Hamas political leaders in exile for years. The United States and Israel have long used Qatar as an intermediary to deliver messages to Hamas and coordinate aid efforts in Gaza.
Hamas is prepared to release at least 50 women and children, two officials said. Israel, they said, estimates the total number of women and children held by Hamas to be closer to 100 and has been pushing for more hostages to be released as part of the deal, but without success until ‘now.
Two Israeli officials said Hamas had not provided the names of the hostages it was willing to exchange, but that the parties had agreed that members of the same family would not be separated.
Under the proposal, some of the exchanges, they added, would take place at the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza – the only functional entrance to the enclave and the site through which Israel has allowed foreign aid to enter. in the Gaza Strip.
A previously proposed deal, which would have allowed the release of 50 hostages in exchange for a temporary ceasefire, was derailed last month, at least in part, by Israel’s decision to send ground troops to Gaza after weeks of airstrikes. But Israel believes that by taking Shifa, which Hamas uses as a military command center and its patients as human shields, the militant group is deprived of a key asset and is more likely to exchange hostages, officials say. Hamas and hospital officials deny its use as a military installation.
Hamas had already released a small number of hostages in two rounds last month – an American mother and her daughter who also have Israeli citizenship, and later two elderly Israeli women.
Hwaida Saad declaration form contributed Beirut, Lebanon.
November 15, 2023
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An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated the first name of the Hamas spokesperson in Beirut. This is Osama Hamdan, not Omar.
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