Israel and Hamas Deal
On Wednesday, Oct. 8, Israel and Hamas came to an agreement for the release of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. According to the New York Times (NYT), this agreement could point toward the end of the two-year-long war in Gaza. In an address to the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, President Trump announced that this would mark “the end of the age of terror and death,” to which he received a standing ovation and applause.
The deal was brokered by Trump and confirmed by both Israel and Hamas on Thursday morning, Oct. 9. Shortly after, on Friday, a ceasefire went into effect in Gaza as Israeli troops began pulling back to a new defensive line per the first phase of Trump’s plan. Also under the plan presented by Trump, the Israeli hostages were to be exchanged for 250 Palestinian prisoners and over 1,700 Gazans detained during the war.
On Monday, Oct. 13, Israeli authorities had freed all 1,968 Palestinian prisoners. As a part of the deal, Hamas released its remaining 20 hostages in Gaza, according to the NYT. The first seven hostages were released very early on Monday morning, and the other 13 were released just a few hours later. The captives in Gaza were handed over to representatives of the Red Cross and taken back to Israel, where they received checkups and were reunited with loved ones.
This agreement followed a series of indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas that were mediated by Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and the U.S., based primarily on the plan presented by Trump in late September. While both countries have agreed to and carried out the first stage of Trump’s detailed plan, the future remains unclear because many of the plans for postwar Gaza have yet to be negotiated.