Pressmediaofindia
Related Articles
23-11-2023
JERUSALEM: The Israeli cabinet is meeting to vote on a proposed deal that could see Hamas release dozens of hostages, and a four-day pause in fighting.
In a statement filmed before the meeting, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said the war effort would continue even if a hostage agreement was struck.
Details of the possible deal have emerged. A senior Israeli official earlier told media the arrangement brokered by Qatar would see 50 Israelis released in total.
A US official quoted by Reuters said those people released would mostly be women and children with 150 Palestinian prisoners freed by Israel in exchange.
Meanwhile, fighting continues to rage in Gaza, with the Israeli military saying it has surrounded Jabalia in the north.
Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry says more than 14,000 people including more than 5,000 children have been killed in Israel’s campaign.
Israel began attacking Hamas-run Gaza after Hamas fighters crossed the border on 7 October, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 200 others hostage.
A senior Israeli official earlier told media that the proposed agreement could see Hamas releasing 50 hostages in exchange for 150 Palestinian women and children being held in Israeli prisons, and a four-day pause in fighting.
Before the meeting, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said the war effort would continue even if a hostage agreement was struck and thanked US President Joe Biden for improving the proposed deal. Biden himself earlier commented that a deal was “very close”.
Meanwhile, fighting continues in Gaza, with the Hamas-run health ministry saying more than 14,000 people have now been killed during Israel’s campaign including more than 5,500 children.
Medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) says three doctors have been killed in a strike on the al-Awda hospital in Gaza’s north including two of its own doctors. And the World Health Organization (WHO) says one of its employees and her young family were killed in a separate strike.
A Lebanese TV station says two of its journalists were killed in an Israeli strike on the Israel-Lebanon border; Israel says it’s reviewing the incident.
The Israeli military said its forces had surrounded Jabalia, in Gaza’s north, and were “ready for the next phase” of the conflict.
However, a military wing of the group Palestinian Islamic Jihad has announced the death of a female Israeli hostage.
The group has not identified the hostage, or said how she died. Israel has yet to comment.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad operates separately from Hamas, which has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007. But its militants took part in the 7 October attack on Israel alongside Hamas, during which more than 200 people were taken hostage. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
