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Hamas militants are set to free 50 women and children being held as hostages during a four-day pause in fighting, under a deal approved overnight by the Israeli government.
Israel said the halt in fighting would be extended a day for every additional 10 hostages released. A senior official in the Biden administration said three Americans — a 3-year-old and two women — could be among the initial 50 hostages to be freed, NBC News reported.
The announcement heralds the first significant break in fighting since Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attack, which killed approximately 1,200 people, according to the Israel Defense Forces. More than 13,000 people have been killed in Israel’s weekslong offensive in Gaza, according to health officials there, and more than 1.6 million people have been displaced.
A senior official in the Biden administration said three Americans — a 3-year-old and two women — could be among the 50 hostages to be freed, NBC News reported.
The Israeli government announced the outline of the deal early Wednesday local time, but warned that it “will continue the war in order to return home all of the hostages, complete the elimination of Hamas and ensure that there will be no new threat to the State of Israel from Gaza.”
The statement did not mention any release of Palestinian detainees by Israel; a senior Israeli official had told NBC News earlier that 150 Palestinian women and children could be freed as part of the deal. However, Hamas said in a statement that it would release 50 women and children younger than 19 in exchange for 150 Palestinian women and children under 19.
The deal is set to take effect in 24 hours, to allow for Israeli families of victims to make appeals to the Supreme Court. None of the prisoners to be included in the deal had directly killed an Israeli, NBC News reported.
In its statement, Hamas said “hundreds of trucks of humanitarian, relief, medical and fuel aid” would be brought “into all areas of the Gaza Strip, without exception,” after an Israeli blockade that has incapacitated critical hospital operations and public utilities. Israel’s statement did not mention aid to Gaza.
After intense pressure from the U.S., Israel said late last week that it would allow about 37,000 gallons of fuel into Gaza every 48 hours, but a United Nations spokesperson said it was “obviously barely a drop in the bucket of the amount of fuel that we need.”