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JERUSALEM — War-shattered families in Israel and Gaza woke to a hopeful-but-agonizing limbo Wednesday, following the early-hours approval of a deal between Israel and Hamas. The agreement allows the exchange of at least 50 Israeli hostages for 150 Palestinian prisoners during a four-day pause in combat operations in Gaza. The timing of the cease-fire was expected to be announced Wednesday.
But with the deal potentially needing to be vetted by Israel’s Supreme Court, the fighting and waiting continued for a 47th day. Bombs continued to fall across the Gaza Strip on Wednesday. Hostage families endured the agonizing reality that the longed-for day of release might or might not include their loved ones.
Fate of more than 100 Israeli hostages consumes, unifies a terrorized nation
“I am excited and hope that it will be my family; on the other hand, there are other hostages,” said Romina Shvalb, whose husband, sister and two daughters are believed to be among the 240 held somewhere in the ruins of Gaza since they were abducted on Oct. 7. “The other day I had to pull the car off the road because I was having an anxiety attack.”
The hostages won’t be released in a single group, according to Israeli and U.S. officials, but are likely to be transferred to the International Committee of the Red Cross in small numbers.
António Guterres, the secretary general of the United Nations, welcomed the deal, calling it an important step in the right direction, though more needed to be done. “The United Nations will mobilize all its capacities to support the implementation of the agreement and maximize its positive impact on the humanitarian situation in Gaza.”
Each hostage will be traded for three Palestinians — women or children — held in Israeli prisons. Israel has agreed to possibly extend the pause in bombing by a day for every additional 10 hostages who are released above the initial group of 50.
Israel would allow more fuel and humanitarian aid into Gaza during the pause, U.S. officials said. An Israeli military official said the military situation would not allow for any of the hundreds of thousands of displaced Gazans to travel back north.
U.S. officials said they hoped the agreement — which comes after Israel refused to slow its military assault for weeks despite entreaties from allies, hostage families and humanitarian agencies in Gaza — would shift the dynamic of the war and perhaps lead to a broader cease-fire.
Israel, Hamas agree to hostage release deal
But even as Israelis celebrated the longed-for release of least some hostages, military and political leaders insisted the pause did not mean peace.
“We are at war and we will continue the war until we achieve all our goals: to destroy Hamas, return all our hostages and ensure that nobody in Gaza can threaten Israel,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared in a recorded statement released during the cabinet debate on the deal.
The final legal steps of enacting the agreement began Wednesday with the publication of a list of about 300 Palestinians being held in Israeli jails. The law allows Israeli citizens who have been victims of militant attacks to challenge the release of prisoners at the Supreme Court. Those petitions, if any, are expected to be filed within 24 hours of the list’s publication.
The high court has never previously blocked a prisoner release deal and is expected to allow the agreement with Hamas to proceed, according to Suzie Navot, a constitutional lawyer at the Israel Democracy Institute.
The number of Palestinian detainees held by Israel has swelled in the weeks since the start of the conflict, most of them swept up in Israeli raids on the West Bank. Those potentially eligible for release in the swap include about 200 teenage boys and 75 women, according to a Palestinian human rights group.
Qadura Fares, head of the Palestinian Authority’s Commission for Prisoners Affairs, told Reuters Wednesday he expected the Palestinian prisoners to be released Thursday. Thirty-three women were on the list published by Israeli authorities. “We should take into consideration that when the war started the number of female prisoners was 38 meaning nearly all of the Palestinian women imprisoned in Israel when the war started will be released,” he said.
“The release of a number of our prisoners during the war is a very important thing,” he said. “This deal can signal a start to a change in the general atmosphere of this war.”
In Gaza, there was no sign of a letup in violence Wednesday as intense bombings rocked areas of northern Gaza and killed dozens, according to witnesses. A resident of Jabalya refugee camp, who asked not to be identified, told The Washington Post that the dead and injured were being rushed to Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia, one of the remaining accessible health care facilities in the north.
Munir al-Bursh, the director general of hospitals in the Gaza Strip, said in a voice message from inside the besieged Indonesian Hospital that staff were attempting to evacuate patients through smoke and tear gas.
Plumes of dust and smoke rose over Gaza near the Israeli border on Nov. 22, hours after Israel and Hamas agreed to a hostage release deal. (Video: Reuters)
Balousha reported from Amman. Claire Parker and Louisa Loveluck in Jerusalem and Naomi Schanen in London contributed to this report.