Relief. Tears. Anger.
For days, there were rumours that a ceasefire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas was almost complete. But we’d heard this all before. Then came the announcement Wednesday that an agreement had indeed been signed.
Could so much suffering finally be coming to an end? Will Kfir Bibas, that angelic red-haired baby, be released at last, along with his little brother Ariel and so many others who were cruelly taken more than 467 days ago?
Set to come into effect Sunday, the initial phase of the deal is to see a pause in fighting for 42 days, the withdrawal of Israeli forces to outside densely populated areas and the gradual release of 33 hostages, including two Americans. According to Ynet, the Israeli news agency, Israel will release 30 terrorists in exchange for each kidnapped civilian, and 50 terrorists for each female soldier released.
According to the Times of Israel, the remaining hostages, or their bodies, will only be freed if both sides can agree on a second phase for the truce, negotiations for which will begin on the 16th day of the pause in fighting.
In total, Ynet said Israel has agreed to release about 1,000 convicted terrorists, including about 290 with Jewish blood on their hands, as well as over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners detained after Oct. 7.
What an uneven exchange, especially when about a third of the estimated 98 hostages who remain in Gaza are believed to be dead. So after more than a year of daily prayers and tears, many families will get their loved ones back in body bags.
It’s been 15 months since Hamas started this devastating war with the launch of its Oct. 7, 2023 massacre, storming into southern Israel across the flimsy border with bulldozers, motorized hang gliders and motorbikes, slaughtering 1,200 people — a third of them young people who’d been dancing all night at the Nova music festival — raping and mutilating countless women, and dragging 251 captives back to the dank dungeons of Gaza where so many would be executed.
In response, Israel pounded Gaza as Hamas hid their command structure in hospitals, their weapons under children’s beds and their hostages deep underground. Their health ministry claims 46,000 have been killed in the war, a number that can’t be verified and which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and fighters. Whatever the accurate toll, too many innocent civilians in Gaza have paid a terrible price for their leaders’ selfish actions.
Hamas will claim victory of course — or as international human rights lawyer Hillel Neuer posted on X: “Never before in history has a side claimed that they suffered a genocide and at the same time that they won the war they had started.”
The truth is that Hamas’s ranks are decimated, their terror chief Yahya Sinwar eliminated, their Iranian proxies of support have collapsed with the fall of the Assad regime in Syria and the defeat of Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Still, they vow to do it all again.
In a speech from Qatar after the announcement of the ceasefire, Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya said the Oct. 7 attack “will forever be a source of pride for our people” and vowed another: “Our people will expel the occupation from our lands and from Jerusalem in the earliest time possible.”
Those are worries for tomorrow. For the briefest time, there is a sliver of hope in this temporary pause. In the next few weeks, we will watch hostages emerging from the dark, shadows of who they used to be, but hopefully alive, and able to embrace the families who have fought so hard and so long for their return.
Palestinians in Gaza will be able to catch their breath, return to their homes and hope that this nightmare is behind them as the world pledges to help them rebuild.
And Jews here at home, perhaps we can catch a break from the rising anti-Semitism that has plagued our community ever since Oct. 7.
So let us embrace this uneven deal and hope that it lasts.
On this historic day, incoming President Donald Trump took to his Truth Social platform to claim responsibility. Outgoing President Joe Biden took to the airwaves to claim responsibility. Maybe both are right. Let the history books decide.
Just Bring Them Home. All of them.
