Today’s news / Gaza deal reached on hostage exchange/pause

Gaza deal reached on hostage exchange/pause

Qatar’s foreign ministry confirmed early Wednesday morning that Israel and Hamas had reached an agreement on a four-day humanitarian pause in fighting that could be extended. Within 24 hours from early Wednesday morning, it will be announced when the break will start. The deal on the pause, brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the United States, includes the release of 50 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza in exchange for a number of Palestinian children and women held in Israeli jails. “The number of those released will be increased in later stages of the implementation of the agreement,” Qatar’s foreign ministry said. Hamas has said that the deal will release 150 Palestinian prisoners, while the Palestinian prisoners are not mentioned at all in a statement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen is pleased that the agreement between Israel and Hamas ensures both the release of hostages and a prolonged pause in fighting in Gaza. “I deeply welcome the agreement that the government of Israel has just approved for the release of 50 hostages from Gaza, ” Rasmussen wrote on Facebook adding: “At the same time, it is important that the agreement entails a prolonged cessation of fighting in Gaza, where a humanitarian catastrophe is currently unfolding.”
     Løkke Rasmussen believes that the agreement is a step in the right direction. But he also stressed that more hostages must be released and that there is still a need for emergency humanitarian aid for civilians in Gaza. “But tonight’s agreement kindles hope. Both about the release of all hostages, even longer cessation of fighting and, in the longer term, also about breathing new energy into negotiations on the lasting peace that is the prerequisite for security for everyone in the region,” writes Lars Løkke Rasmussen. According to the Danish Foreign Minister, the international community should actively engage in establishing a two-state solution. /ritzau/