Emily Hand had her 9th birthday in Hamas captivity Friday
It appears Israel has reached a deal with Hamas for a temporary cease-fire in return for the release of some of the hostages, Arutz Sheva reports. The deal is expected to go into effect Thursday, with 12 Israelis being freed every day. All the children and 13 moms are said to be involved in the deal. The right-wing parties oppose the deal, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will go ahead and pass it with the votes of the left-wing parties.
“A political official presented this evening (Tuesday) the outline for the deal to release dozens of hostages from Hamas captivity and emphasizes that “all the security forces, the Shin Bet and the Mossad are in favor of the outline and also the entire war cabinet is united in favor of the proposal, ” Arutz Sheva writes.
“As part of the deal, which is expected to go into effect on Thursday, 12 Israeli hostages will be released every day during the four days of the agreed-upon truce. In the event that Hamas agrees to additional truces – for each day of the truce, ten additional hostages will be released.”
The deal would include the release of 40 children and 13 women in exchange for a five-day ceasefire, JNS reports. The Cabinet will meet at 8 p.m. local time (1 p.m. Eastern) to approve the agreement with Hamas.
The halt in the fighting could be extended for additional days in exchange for 10 further releases per extra day, the source said. Israel believes Hamas may prove able to locate and release up to 30 further Israeli women and children.
The deal will reportedly also include the release of some 150 to 300 Palestinian terrorists jailed in Israel.
The source said the Israeli side was able to achieve significant concessions by not caving to pressure from the Biden Regime and “international community” immediately: “prisoners convicted of murder will not be included in the deal, fuel will be brought into the Gaza Strip only on the days of the ceasefire and there will be no movement of Gaza citizens from the south of the Gaza Strip to the north under the terms of the ceasefire.”
Sounds like a good deal. #BringThemHome pic.twitter.com/AtEHdyCwg2
— Hananya Naftali (@HananyaNaftali) November 21, 2023
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Tuesday that the government will need to make “difficult decisions” with regard to the hostages held by Hamas.
“We are moving step by step toward the total defeat of Hamas and getting closer to bringing the hostages home,” Gallant said following an assessment with military officials at the IDF Gaza Division base.
“I think we will all have to make difficult, important decisions in the coming days,” he added. “There is not a moment throughout this campaign — 45 days — that I don’t think about the hostages.”
The Religious Zionism party headed by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich says it cannot agree to the deal, the Times of Israel reports. In a statement to the press, the party called the deal as “bad for Israel’s security, bad for the hostages, and bad for the soldiers of the IDF.”
“The only way to return all the hostages is by continuing the unceasing military pressure on Hamas until total victory,” Religious Zionism said in its statement.
“Religious Zionism will stand strong for the continuing of the war until the total destruction of Hamas, the return of all the hostages, and the elimination of the threat posed by Gaza to Israeli citizens,” it concludes.
The ruling far-right Otzma Yehudit party also says it “will oppose” the hostage deal, pushing instead for the IDF to keep up military pressure on Hamas, Times of Israel reported. “Hamas’s agreement to the deal indicates that the IDF is carrying out an effective strike, it is necessary to continue striking the enemy and bring it to a deal under conditions dictated by Israel and not under the very problematic conditions that endanger IDF forces and [makes] distinguishment among the abductees,” a statement from the party reads.
The Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Avi Maoz of the conservative Noam party criticized the deal, Arutz Sheva reports:
“If this is a deal as published in the media, then we are going to be stopping the entire momentum of the war, putting our soldiers at excessive risk and seriously losing our deterrent power in the region. We went to war with the certainty that the way to return our hostages is to occupy the Gaza Strip and eliminate Hamas,” he said.
“I firmly oppose surrendering to terror and international pressure and call on the government to return the army to full combat operation until the mission is completed: full control of the Gaza Strip, the elimination of Hamas and the return of all our hostages.
If the government indeed approves this unfortunate agreement, I demand the minimum from the Prime Minister: an immediate and public commitment not to stop the photography flights to preserve the safety of our soldiers and to return immediately in five days to full and aggressive combat in order to complete the mission: the occupation of the Gaza Strip, the elimination of Hamas, the return of our hostages and the removal of the threat from the communities in the south and north. It is inconceivable that after the terrible shock we experienced on Simchat Torah we will continue to act according to the old concept, like Gantz and Eizenkot are trying to dictate to us.”
MK Ohad Tal (Religious Zionism) spoke to Arutz Sheva, warning that “negotiating with Hamas, negotiating with (Hamas commander) Yahya Sinwar is something that gives him leverage. He uses that to create tension in Israel. He’s a smart guy, he knows Israeli society. He knows what our weak spot is and he uses that to manipulate us. He brings a deal to the table, and then he disappears for 2 days. And then the day after that he comes back with new terms. And he wants us to release more and more terrorists. When he plays with us, we are giving him the leverage. That’s not the way to go.”
“The way to go is to pressure Hamas much more. The prisoners of Hamas in our jails need to be pressured. The leaders of Hamas need to feel the pressure and their families need to feel the pressure, their wives, their children should not feel safe. If our children and our families do not feel safe, their families cannot feel safe. We should pressure them more and that’s the only way I believe that will help us win this war and bring back the hostages. Because everything else will only increase the price we have to pay and will lower the chances that we will be able to bring them back,” Tal said.
The post Israel to Vote on Hostage Deal with Hamas: 40 Children and 13 Moms to be Freed over 4-Day Truce, Right-Wing Parties Opposed appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
