Biden welcomes deal to free hostages from Hamas
Under a deal negotiated by Israel, the U.S., Qatar and Hamas, a deal to release 50 women and children kidnapped by Hamas, including 3 Americans, should go into effect starting on Thursday.
President Biden tonight welcomed approval of an initial deal to free 50 hostages kidnapped by Hamas, including three American citizens.
Under the deal negotiated by Israel, the United States, Qatar and Hamas, 50 women and children kidnapped by Hamas should be freed starting on Thursday. It will be accompanied by a four day ceasefire, that could be extended if Hamas releases more hostages.
Biden thanked Qatari Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi “for their critical leadership and partnership in reaching this deal,” as well as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli government “for supporting an extended pause to ensure this deal can be fully carried out and to ensure the provision of additional humanitarian assistance to alleviate the suffering of innocent Palestinian families in Gaza.”
“Today’s deal should bring home additional American hostages, and I will not stop until they are all released,” Biden said in a statement tonight.
The Israeli cabinet voted to approve the deal after a six hour meeting tonight.
“The Government of Israel is obligated to return home all of the hostages,” the Israeli government said in a statement (Nov. 21).
“Tonight, the Government has approved the outline of the first stage of achieving this goal, according to which at least 50 hostages – women and children – will be released over four days, during which a pause in the fighting will be held,” the statement continued. “The release of every additional ten hostages will result in one additional day in the pause.”
The 50 hostages expected to be released in the first phase include twenty women and 30 children. Among that group are three US citizens, including a three year old American toddler, Abigail, whose parents were killed in the Hamas massacre on Oct. 7, and two women, a senior U.S. administration official said in a call tonight.
They are expected to be released starting on Thursday over the course of four days, during which time there is supposed to be a temporary ceasefire. That could reportedly be extended by an additional 24 hours for every additional 10 hostages that are released.
“Assuming we will get a deal tonight, the first hostages that come out will be over the course of Thursday,” the U.S. official said.
The deal was negotiated over the course of an incredibly complicated series of meetings and senior leader phone calls and shuttle diplomacy that involved on the US side President Biden, CIA Director Bill Burns, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer and NSC Middle East coordinator Brett McGurk; Qatar’s Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani; Egypt’s Intelligence chief Abbas Kamel; and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his advisor Ron Dermer, Israeli Mossad chief David Barnea, and Israeli National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi; as well as Hamas officials communicating via Egypt and Qatar.
The deal was moving close to fruition in meetings over last weekend. But some final gaps emerged in what was by then a pretty detailed six page text with details on the implementation, the U.S. official said, which were closed over the last couple days in hour by hour, multi party consultations.
“The deal has ultimately been structured to incentivize releases beyond 50,” the U.S. official said. It “is now structured for women and children in the first phase, but with an expectation for further releases. The clear aim is to bring all hostages home to their families.”
The U.S. official suggested that the temporary pause in fighting accompanying the first phase of hostage releases could facilitate efforts to confirm the location of additional hostages and obtain information on their identities that could facilitate negotiations on additional releases.