The US Government has indicated this Sunday that the agreement in which they are working with Israel and Hamas is “close” to pause the bombings of Gaza to allow the release of some of the 240 hostages held by the Islamist group.
Deputy National Security Advisor Jonathan Finer told NBC today that they are “closer” than ever to closing an agreement, and although he did not want to specify the number of those released, he noted that there would be “much more than 12.”
“What I can say right now is that some of the outstanding areas of disagreement, very complicated and very sensitive negotiations, have been reduced,” Finer said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Finer, however, did not provide details about the agreement, brokered by Qatar and which seeks the release of some of the 240 hostages held captive by the Islamist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
“We are not going to summarize all the details of what is still being discussed. We believe that it (the agreement) needs to be done; there are people held in unconscionable conditions inside Gaza, including several Americans, and they need to be allowed to return home “he indicated.
Finer also did not want to specify the pause in hostilities, but stressed that it is necessary to be able to execute the agreement because carrying it out “would involve moving hostages through what is a very dangerous battlefield in Gaza.”
“Without getting into the duration, one of the things that the parties themselves have said, even publicly, is that this could, and probably would, include an extended period of a multi-day pause in fighting.”
He noted that the pause would also “have the secondary benefit, the important benefit of facilitating the distribution of humanitarian assistance throughout Gaza.”
“That is a priority under any circumstances, even if there is no hostage agreement,” he emphasized.
The Washington Post newspaper anticipated this Saturday that the agreement could be put into effect in the coming days, allowing the departure of children and women kidnapped by Hamas and the first sustained pause in the Israeli offensive in the enclave since the start of the war.
The war began on October 7, with a Hamas attack on Israeli soil that left more than 1,200 dead – some 350 in uniform – and more than 240 kidnapped, who are still captive in the strip. Israeli troops have already recovered the bodies of at least two hostages.
The continued fighting has raised the number of Palestinian deaths in Gaza to more than 12,300, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health, which estimates however that due to the thousands found under the rubble, the death toll now exceeds 16,000.
The pact, according to the newspaper, would also facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid through the Rafah crossing, on the border between the Strip and Gaza.
