Israel’s war cabinet convened on Tuesday night to discuss the details of a possible emerging hostage deal, amid cautious optimism that progress has been made in recent days.
Hamas is currently holding 239 hostages seized from Israel in its attack on October 7th, including 8-year-old Emily Hand, seized from kibbutz Be’eri, who holds Israeli and Irish nationality.
Negotiations mediated by Qatar are continuing for a deal to free about 80 women and children hostages being held in Gaza in return for Israel releasing a similar number of Palestinian prisoners and agreeing to a temporary ceasefire. According to unconfirmed reports, the deal will be in stages, with children being released in the first stage.
US president Joe Biden’s adviser, Brett McGurk, is due in the region on Wednesday and will engage in shuttle diplomacy in an effort to finalise a deal.
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Mr Biden expressed confidence on Tuesday night that a deal can be clinched. “Hang in there, we’re coming,” he said in a message to the hostages.
Dozens of relatives of the hostages began a march on Tuesday from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, demanding the war cabinet meets representatives of all the families and prioritises a hostage release. The march will reach Jerusalem on Saturday night, by which time the organisers expect that tens of thousands will have joined the protest.
Tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered in Washington, DC on Tuesday for a march to support Israel, condemn anti-Semitism and demand the release of the hostages. The rally was expected to see 100,000 people converge on the National Mall, according to a permit issued by the National Park Service.
As the Israeli army continued its conquest of Gaza city in the northern Gaza Strip, the Israeli army said it had completed the takeover of another Hamas stronghold, the Shati refugee camp, also known as Beach camp.
Other symbols of Hamas rule, the police headquarters and the governor’s building, were captured, it claimed.
Staff at Gaza’s biggest hospital, al-Shafi, dug a mass grave on Tuesday to dispose of bodies, in advance of a possible Israeli takeover of the compound in the coming days. The UN’s humanitarian arm said 32 patients – including three premature babies – had died at al-Shifa since Saturday as a result of the loss of power and “dire conditions” at the hospital. Israel claims that Hamas operates a command and control centre under the hospital. But Hamas and the hospital authorities deny this.
[ Twenty-three Irish departing Gaza after opening of Rafah crossing into EgyptOpens in new window ]
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The charity Médecins Sans Frontières warned that fuel will run out in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, with disastrous consequences.
Despite the Israeli advances on the ground a senior member of the Hamas, Osama Hamdan, speaking from Lebanon, said that the organisation intends to continue attacking Israel. “We are telling the occupation that the battle is still at the beginning,” Mr Hamdan said, “What is coming is bigger.”
The next stage of Israel’s military plan is the destruction of Hamas’s vast tunnel network, which is expected to take many weeks.
The government will also have to decide in the coming days if it wants to extend the campaign to the second major Hamas stronghold, Khan Yunis, in the south of the Gaza Strip, where it is believed many of the Hamas senior military and political leaders fled.
IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari claimed on Monday night that Israeli forces had uncovered an underground Hamas command centre under the Rantisi children’s hospital where it is believed hostages were held. He said it contained suicide vests, rocket-propelled grenades and a variety of weapons.
He said there was evidence and independent separate intelligence that Hamas gunmen had driven directly to the hospital on October 7th after carrying out attacks that killed a reported 1,200 people in Israel.
Israel believes that either the hostages were smuggled out when the hospital was evacuated or were transferred to another location via the Hamas tunnel network.
Meanwhile, seven Palestinians were killed in clashes on Tuesday with Israeli troops in Jenin, a hotbed of radical activity in the northern West Bank.
