Hamas-Israel hostage release deal making progress?

According to Reuters, the US government believes that Israel and Hamas are close to reaching an agreement to release some hostages being held in Gaza, even as Israel's attack on Gaza City continues and many rockets are still being launched towards Israel.

President Joe Biden said Monday he believes the two sides are close to reaching a deal. “We are closer than we have been in a while,” White House spokesman John Kirby said in a statement.

Hamas took 240 hostages in an attack on October 7 that left 1,200 people dead in Israel.

Mirjana Spoljaric, director of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), met with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Qatar on Monday to “discuss humanitarian issues” related to the conflict. She will also meet separately with Qatari authorities.

The group said the meeting was not part of negotiations regarding the release of hostages. However, it said that as a mediator, it was ready to “propose a future release agreement that the parties agree to implement.”

World - Hamas-Israel hostage release agreement makes progress? — The US government believes that Israel and Hamas are close to reaching an agreement that would free some hostages being held in Gaza. Photo: Reuters

Talks about a hostage deal have been rife in recent days. Reuters reported last week that Qatari negotiators were exploring a deal between Hamas and Israel that would exchange the 50 hostages for a three-day ceasefire and stepped up aid deliveries to Gaza, according to an official with knowledge of the discussions.

Israel's ambassador to the United States, Michael Herzog, told ABC on Sunday that he hoped to reach a deal "in the coming days," while Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani said the remaining hurdles were "quite small."

The Washington Post reported on Saturday that a deal had been agreed upon between the two sides, but the White House and Israel have denied the report.

On Sunday, White House deputy national security adviser Jon Finer still cautioned people about the possibility of a deal not happening. "We really need to remember the mantra of 'nothing is agreed until everything is agreed,'" he said.

Sensitive negotiations like this can fall apart at the last minute, Finer said.

Relatives of some of those being held by Hamas in Gaza urged far-right Israeli lawmakers on Monday not to pursue proposals to impose the death penalty on captured Palestinian soldiers, saying such decisions could endanger the hostages.

Hamas's offensive in Israel on October 7 became the deadliest day in Israel's 75-year history, prompting the government to send troops into Gaza to destroy Hamas.

Since then, the government in Gaza says at least 13,300 Palestinians have been killed by relentless Israeli air strikes, including 5,600 children and 3,550 women.

On Monday, Hamas said on Telegram that it had launched a barrage of rockets toward Tel Aviv. Witnesses also reported seeing rockets fired into central Israel.

Gaza health authorities said on Monday that at least 12 Palestinians were killed and dozens more wounded in gunfire at the Jakarta-funded Indonesian Hospital in the Gaza Strip, which is surrounded by Israeli tanks.

Health officials said Israel opened fire on more than 700 patients and medical staff.

Palestinian media agency WAFA said the hospital facility in the northeastern Gaza town of Beit Lahia was shelled. Hospital staff confirmed that no militants were present at the hospital.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was “horrified” by the attack, which he said killed 12 people, including many patients, citing unverified reports.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said soldiers returned fire toward soldiers in the hospital and “took numerous measures to minimize harm” to civilians.

Like other medical facilities in northern Gaza, the Indonesian Hospital has largely ceased operations but remains a shelter for many patients, medical staff and displaced people.

Twenty-eight premature babies were evacuated from Al Shifa hospital and flown to Egypt for treatment on Monday.

Israeli forces took control of Al Shifa Hospital last week in search of Hamas tunnels underneath the facility. Hundreds of patients, medical staff and displaced people were forced to leave Al Shifa Hospital over the weekend, with Israel insisting the departure was voluntary.

The United Nations says two-thirds of Gaza's 2.3 million people have been left homeless.

Nguyen Quang Minh (according to Reuters)

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