Israeli Cabinet Approves Partial Gaza Hostage Deal in Vote

The Israeli government approved early Wednesday morning a partial hostage deal that includes a pause in the Gaza war in exchange for a release of up to 80 out of over 239 people seized by terrorists during Hamas’s infiltration of southern Israel on October 7.

“I am extraordinarily gratified that some of these brave souls, who have endured weeks of captivity and an unspeakable ordeal, will be reunited with their families once this deal is fully implemented,” US President Joe Biden said after the vote, which took place after hours of debate.

American citizens are among those held hostage and the US has been heavily involved in negotiations for the deal, which is expected to go into effect on Thursday.

“Today’s deal should bring home American hostages and I will not stop until they are all released,” the president said.

Prior to the vote, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that its approval was “difficult” but “correct.”

Families of the hostages have long argued that any deal must include all the captives.

Other opponents of the deal warned that it would harm Israel’s ability to secure the release of all the hostages and complicate Israel’s military campaign to oust Hamas from Gaza. They also warned that it would be difficult to resume the war once it has been temporarily halted.

Netanyahu dismissed those charges, explaining that the IDF planned to resume the war once the deal was executed.

“I want to clarify. We are at war—and will continue the war until we achieve all of our war aims: To eliminate Hamas, return all of our hostages and our missing,” he said.

“We will also ensure that there won’t be any entity in Gaza that will threaten Israel,” the prime minister stated.

Netanyahu recalled how he and the war cabinet had met with the families of the hostages the previous night.

“I told them that the return of the hostages is a sacred and primary mission that I swore to complete,” he said.

“In war there are stages, and in returning the hostages there are stages, but we will not relent until we achieve absolute victory and until we bring them all back,” Netanyahu said.

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