On Thursday, Netanyahu delayed the Cabinet vote on the Gaza cease-fire after accusing Hamas of reneging on parts of the agreement in a bid “to extort last-minute concessions.”
Israel and Hamas have been at war for 15 months, after the Iran-backed Palestinian terrorist group mounted a cross-border attack on Oct. 7, 2023, in which 1,200 Israelis were killed and 250 taken hostage.
Many of the hostages have been released, or their bodies repatriated, but 98 are outstanding. Under the first part of the three-phase agreement, 33 of them will be released during the initial six-week cease-fire, which is due to start on Jan. 19.
Israel will release 95 prisoners on Jan. 19 including Khalid Jarar of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, according to the country’s justice ministry, which released a list of the Palestinian prisoners who will be freed that day.
By publicizing a list, Israelis can ask the country’s supreme court to block their release. However, it is unlikely the court will do so.
Instead of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Israel’s Prison Services will transport the released prisoners so that there are not “public expressions of joy.”
In the early hours of Friday, Netanyahu said he had instructed a special task force to prepare to receive the returning hostages, and had informed their families a deal had been reached.
The cease-fire agreement—which would involve Israeli troops eventually withdrawing from the Gaza Strip—was negotiated over several months in Doha, with the Qatari government acting as mediator.
One of the most controversial aspects of the deal is the release of around 1,000 Palestinian prisoners at the same time as the hostages.
Minister Says Deal ‘Disastrous’
On Friday, the national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, whose ultranationalist Otzma Yehudit party is part of the governing coalition, wrote on X, “If the ‘deal’ passes, we will leave the government with a heavy heart and I will leave an office in which I have invested all my strength for the past two years.”“I love Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and will make sure he continues to be prime minister, but I will leave because the deal that was signed is disastrous,” he said.
In 2011, Israel released over 1,000 Palestinians including Yahya Sinwar—who would later mastermind the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks—in exchange for a single captured Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit.
