Israeli Weekly News Roundup, Nov. 24 2023

Entering Week 8 of the Israel-Hamas Gaza War

The Main Topic on the Public Agenda Was the Release of the Israeli Hostages

Hostage Release

The Israeli Government Approved The Deal With Hamas

Early Wednesday morning, a majority of Israeli ministers approved the deal with Hamas enabling the release of fifty Israeli hostages, held captive in Gaza since October 7th. The negotiation was mediated mainly by Qatar, where some leaders of Hamas live who have an open communication channel with Hamas leadership in Gaza.

According to the deal, Israel will release three Palestinian prisoners for each Israeli hostage. At the top of the lists, Palestinian and Israeli, are children under the age of eighteen, mothers, and elderly women. According to Israeli data, there are forty Israeli children who were kidnapped from their homes on Saturday, October 7th. Hamas says that it holds only thirty children, and the others are being held by other organizations in the Gaza Strip. According to the deal, Hamas will make an effort to locate the other children and deliver their names.

Hamas will release thirty children, eight mothers and twelve elderly women.

Israel committed to a four day cease fire to enable the deal. Israel also committed not to operate any air surveillance devices over southern Gaza for six hours a day for the duration of the cease fire, and allow the entry of humanitarian aid to Gaza, including fuel . Hamas will release the hostages slowly, not all at once. If Hamas wants to extend the deal, it will be conditioned on the release of more hostages. The cease fire will be extended for one day for each additional ten hostages released, and Israel will release an additional thirty Palestinian prisoners in exchange.

PM Netanyahu promised the cabinet ministers that the cease fire will not be the end of the war and the Israeli army will continue the war until they achieve all the stated goals, mainly eliminating Hamas in Gaza.

Families of the Hostages Met with the Government

Prior to the conclusion of the deal with Hamas, the Israeli government opened its doors to representatives of the families of the hostages held by Hamas. According to Israeli sources there are 238 hostages who were abducted to Gaza on October 7th. Some of them were taken from the Nova nature festival, some were taken from their homes in the Kibbutzim, on the border with Gaza and some of them are soldiers that were taken from military bases on the border. The exact breakdown of how many are from each group has not been released, it is also not clear how many of them are alive, how many bodies were taken, how many are well, and how many are injured and to what extent. Hamas did not deliver any list, it has neither allowed the Red Cross to visit nor deliver any medication to any hostages.

The meeting with the government was not without friction. It was the first time since October 7th that the families of the hostages were able to meet the ministers, but not all families were present at the meeting. Some were left out, and were not allowed to attend the meeting for an unknown reason. That exclusion created a crisis outside the meeting site.

A Vocal and Emotional Confrontation in the Knesset

Representatives of the Israeli hostages families attended a meeting of the Knesset committee for national security. Minister of National Security, Itama Ben-Gvir, head of Jewish Power (Otsma Yehudit), presented a bill that will enable the death penalty for terrorists. While in principle the death penalty does exist in Israel for certain special circumstances, Israeli courts and prosecutors do not impose capital punishment. The only person sentenced to death in Israel was Adolph Eichman who was convicted for crimes against humanity in his role during the Holocaust, and his responsibility for the gas chamber design and use.

Over the years, many populist politicians have expressed the wish to pass a bill allowing for the death penalty for terrorists, but it was never presented as an actual bill. The coalition agreement with Ben Gvir’s Jewish Power party had a clause to allow for the passing of such legislation. Ben Gvir decided to take that step now.

The families of the hostages tearfully begged the government not to discuss this bill while their loved ones are being held by Hamas. They said that if the discussions and the legislation go forward it will directly endanger the hostages and Hamas might use it as justification to execute some of the hostages as an act of revenge. Unfortunately, Ben Gvir was not attentive to their cry and continue with the legislative process. Later PM Netanyahu promised that this bill is not on the table right now.

Israeli Defense Force Continues the Ground Operation in Gaza:

The IDF continues its operation in Gaza, and continues to look for hard evidence for the claim that Hamas used hospitals as military bases for its’ operators. An IDF spokesperson unit is filming the tunnels built and used by Hamas. They published a short video depicting two hostages, most likely foreign workers, dragged live and on their feet, in the corridors of Shifa hospitals, by Hamas operators. This is meant to demonstrate the abuse of the hospital for inhumane actions.

Unfortunately there are no independent reports coming out of Shifa Hospital that is controlled by IDF. All Israeli or foreign journalists who enter the northern Gaza Strip are under IDF spokesperson control and they have to get clearance from the IDF and military censorship to use any video footage, photos or reports.

Meanwhile there are hardly any reports in the Israeli media on the situation in the southern Gaza Strip where more than one million people are staying in temporary tents in huge camps built by UNRWA.

Ceasefire Takes Effect 7am Friday Morning

According to the agreement between Hamas and Israel, mediated by Qatar, the ceasefire took effect at 7am Israel time today (Friday) and will last four days. In accordance with the agreement, oil tankers and humanitarian aid entered Gaza this morning (Friday). As Israelis hold their breath waiting for the release of hostages, Gazan civilians are also looking forward to several days of quiet, albeit temporary. “There is hope that this is a sign of optimism, a life signal, after six weeks of daily deaths”, said a human rights activist to an Ha’aretz correspondent. Israeli defense minister Gallant said, that the respite will be short, and fighting is expected to continue for at least two months.

Release of Hostages in Exchange for Palestinian Prisoners

In the first round of the hostages/prisoners exchange, 25 Palestinian female prisoners and 14 Palestinian youth held in Israeli prisons were released in exchange for 13 Israeli and 12 Thai hostages who arrived in Israel during the early hours of the evening today (Friday, November 24th). Thousands of Israelis gathered at the “hostages square” in Tel Aviv, and millions were glued to TV braodcasts to follow the live streaming reports of the release process, the first after 50 days since men, women and children were abducted by Hamas. A total of 50 Israeli hostages are expected to be released, in exchange for 150 Palestinian prisoners, over the next four days as a result of the Qatar mediated discussions.

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For further reading:

Hostage Release: Here, here, here, here

Hostage deal: Here, here, here, here, here

Al Shifa Hospital: Here, here, here

Knesset Death Penalty: Here, here, here

Families meet Government: Here, here, here      

Ceasefire: Here, here, here, here