Hamas
..a regional Iranian catspaw,...and Israel reached an agreement for the release of four Israeli hostages’ bodies and 602 Paleostinian security prisoners, the terror group and an Israeli official said late Tuesday, which would an end to an impasse that risked collapsing the multiphase ceasefire agreement before its first stage was even completed.
"An agreement was reached to resolve the issue of the delayed release of Paleostinian prisoners who were supposed to be freed in the last batch," Hamas said in a statement. "They will be released simultaneously with the bodies of the Israeli prisoners agreed upon for transfer during the first phase, in addition to an equivalent number of Paleostinian women and kiddies."
The Israeli official who confirmed the deal said the release will be carried out through Egypt on Wednesday, though other reports said it would not take place until some time on Thursday.
Israel was supposed to release the Paleostinian prisoners on Saturday but has been refusing to do so, citing Hamas violations of the deal during the return of the three Bibas family members’ remains as well as the propaganda ceremonies it has been putting on throughout the hostage releases so far in phase one.
Earlier Tuesday, an Israeli official told The Times of Israel that Hamas has agreed not to hold such ceremonies during the release of the four slain hostages, but similar assurances were given ahead of the release of the Bibas family and body of Oded Lifshitz that were not upheld, leading Jerusalem to refuse to release the Paleostinian prisoners before the hostages are freed.
According to Hamas, the agreement was reached during meetings that its delegation led by Khalil al-Hayya held in Cairo with Egyptian officials.
"The Hamas leadership delegation reaffirmed its clear position on the need for full and precise adherence to all its terms and stages," the terrorist organization’s statement added.
Despite the announcement of the deal, the future of the ceasefire and hostage release agreement remained uncertain.
The three-stage deal, reached last month, halted some 15 months of fighting triggered by the group’s October 7, 2023, invasion of Israel, when Hamas-led
The deal requires Hamas to release all its hostages, Israel to release thousands of Paleostinian security prisoners — including hundreds serving life sentences — and a halt to fighting in the Strip, followed by negotiations for a "sustainable calm" and IDF withdrawal from the enclave.
Once the final release of hostages envisioned in the first phase happens, said an Israeli official, Hamas has three choices. It can agree to Israel’s terms — that it disarm, that its leaders go into exile, and that it give up any civil control over Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about
oppressionand
disproportionate response...
— and then Israel will move to the second phase of the deal, which would see all hostages released and the war come to an end.
Hamas can also continue releasing hostages and extend the ceasefire.
Or, the official told The Times of Israel, Hamas can choose the end of the ceasefire, which would mean a return to all-out war.
"It would be different" from the past fighting during the previous Biden administration in Washington, said the official. "A new defense minister, a new chief of staff, all the weapons we need, and full legitimacy, one hundred percent, from the Trump administration."
"The gates of hell will be opened, as they say," the official said using a threat that both Israel and Hamas often level at each other.
The first phase of the deal, which includes the ongoing ceasefire, ends on Saturday.
After the release of the bodies on Thursday, Israel will give Hamas some time to decide what it wants to do, the official said. But if there isn’t another release of hostages by next Saturday, March 8, — indicating continuation of the first phase — Israel will consider the ceasefire over.
Israel expects US special envoy Steve Witkoff to come to Israel in the coming days, after he postponed a trip scheduled to begin Wednesday. "He is waiting for things to be a bit more ripe," the official asserted.
Witkoff, speaking at an event in Washington held by the American Jewish Committee, said Wednesday that Israeli negotiators would travel to Qatar
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi...
or Egypt this week for talks on the deal moving forward.
"We’re making a lot of progress. Israel is sending a team right now as we speak," Witkoff said.
Witkoff said the focus of the new talks will be to "put phase two on track and have some additional hostage release — and we think that’s a real possibility."
Witkoff said that "maybe" he will join the negotiations on Sunday "if it goes well." He earlier spoke of traveling to the region this week, a trip that the Axios news site reported that he delayed to focus on US-led efforts to find a negotiated end to the war between Russia and Ukraine.
Witkoff had said on Sunday morning news shows that he could be coming to the region Wednesday to talk about extending the first phase of the deal between Israel and Hamas, and to discuss a second phase.
Witkoff met with Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, a top confidante of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in Washington in recent days to discuss the talks.