Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced that “in light of the developments regarding the release of our abductees, the Prime Minister will convene the War Cabinet at 6:00 PM, the Political-Security Cabinet at 7:00 PM, and the Government at 8:00 PM.”
According to protocol, the approval of the hostage deal must be passed by all three forums.
According to the deal’s latest outline, the terrorist organization Hamas is expected to release 50 hostages in the first phase in exchange for four days of respite. In exchange, Israel will release some 150 prisoners––women and children––and will allow fuel into the Gaza Strip as part of an increase in humanitarian aid.
The list of hostages to be released does not include foreigners who do not have Israeli citizenship.
Hamas initially demanded a five-day ceasefire.
Israel will refrain from aerial activity in the Gaza Strip for six hours each day of the first four days of the ceasefire when Hamas will try to locate the rest of the hostages. Hamas claims that it has only 50 hostages and that the rest are divided among the Islamic Jihad and Gazan crime families.
Should Hamas manage to locate and release 20 more hostages, it would be awarded an additional two-day ceasefire, and more days as a reward for more hostages.
