Israel and Hamas ‘tentatively agree to five-day truce as part of US-brokered deal so women and children held hostage in Gaza can be released’

Israel, the United States and Hamas have reached a preliminary agreement to release dozens of women and children held hostage in Gaza in exchange for a five-day break in fighting. Washington Post Office announced Saturday, citing people familiar with the deal.

As part of the detailed six-page agreement, all sides will freeze combat operations for at least five days, and “initially, at least 50 hostages will be released in smaller groups every 24 hours,” the Post reports.

Hamas took approximately 240 hostages during an October 7 rampage in Israel that left 1,200 people dead.

It was not immediately clear how many of the 239 people believed to be held captive in Gaza would be released under the agreement.

The newspaper reported that aircraft watchdogs will monitor ground movements to help oversee the pause, which is also expected to allow for the delivery of a significant amount of humanitarian aid.

would monitor movement on the ground to control the break.

The White House or the Israeli prime minister’s office did not immediately comment on the Post’s report.

The release of the hostages could begin within the next few days, according to people familiar with the deal.

More to follow…

Civil defense teams together with local residents conduct a search and rescue operation in the rubble of residential buildings following Israeli attacks on residential buildings in the Jabalia camp in Jabalia, Gaza on November 18, 2023.

An IDF soldier directs a tanker while gesturing near Gaza’s northern border, November 17, 2023.

Mourning people collect the bodies of Palestinians killed in airstrikes on November 18, 2023 in Khan Yunis, Gaza

Military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari (pictured) said Israel had opened a safe corridor for civilians in the hospital to go south, at the request of the hospital director