The Israeli government has voted to accept a deal for a temporary ceasefire in the Gaza Strip wherein an exchange of several Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners will presumably take place.
“Israel’s cabinet has voted to approve a hostage deal with Hamas with would allow the release of at least 50 hostages.
On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced that a deal has been approved by the Israeli cabinet in almost a unanimous vote after five hours of discussion. A majority of the 38 ministers passed the deal, however, three cabinet ministers from the Religious Zionism party voted against it.
In the agreement, Hamas will release 50 hostages back into Israeli hands in exchange for 150 Palestinian prisoners.
A senior Israeli official reported to the Israeli news organization, Haaretz, that ‘the plan will see Hamas release 30 kidnapped children, eight mothers and 12 more women during a five-day cease-fire’.
According to The Times of Israel, groups of people taken from Israel will be released 12-13 people per day.
‘Not all details of the agreement have been formally released to the public, but an Israeli government official briefing reporter earlier Tuesday said that the deal is expected to see the release of 50 living Israeli citizens, mostly women and children, in groups of 12-13 people per day’.
It is unclear when the deal will be implemented”. -Sophia Flores, One America News
While the welfare of the hostages remains an enormous concern for the Israeli public who fear that captives could be executed in response to Israel’s excessive actions in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military’s inability to minimize the number of Gazan civilian casualties amid its ground operation is what caused Israel to rapidly lose the sympathy it had gained in the aftermath of the surprise attack by Hamas on a worldwide scale.