freebeacon.com By Andrew Tobin
JERUSALEM—Israel and Hamas reached a ceasefire on Wednesday that would bring home at least 33 of the 98 hostages still held in the Gaza Strip in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
The agreement, mediated by the United States, Egypt, and Qatar, is broadly similar to a three-phase framework long pushed by President Joe Biden, according to news reports. But current and former Israeli officials said President-elect Donald Trump’s recent involvement was decisive.
“Trump’s election was a game changer,” an Israeli official told the Washington Free Beacon, speaking on condition of anonymity before the volatile negotiations had concluded. “Trump made it very clear that he wants all the hostages out of there. It was a clear message. He said it once, twice, three times. So he was not playing around.”
“Hamas and its people received the message. They understood what Trump is about,” the official added. “On the Israeli side, there are those who want a deal that would bring out all 98 hostages at once. But in the end, this is the deal we’re talking about, and we’ll go for it at this point.”
The ceasefire gives Trump a high-profile diplomatic achievement before he even takes office on Monday. But for Israel, the blessing is mixed. While the deal promises to rescue a handful of living hostages, dozens of others may be left behind, and Hamas will doubtless take advantage of the pause in hostilities to restore its grip on power and terrorist capabilities.
“We have a new sheriff in town, and he pushed very hard on all the parties—not only Hamas, Egypt, and Qatar, but also Israel,” Kobi Michael, a former senior Israeli military intelligence officer, told the Washington Free Beacon. “It would be better if we could finish the campaign to remove Hamas from Gaza and release more of our hostages. But the situation is different now, and I don’t think Israel had another choice.”
The first phase of the deal will last 42 days, during which Hamas will free 33 hostages in exchange for Israel’s release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, according to news reports. Hamas will reportedly release female civilians, then female soldiers, then men who are over the age of 50 or infirm, and then the bodies of dead hostages.
Hamas will provide a list of the hostages and their status by the seventh day of the deal, Israel’s Channel 12 reported on Wednesday. Israel believed that most of the 33 hostages were alive…
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