English
Israel and Hamas reached agreement to release most of the Israeli hostages taken in the major Hamas raid over a year ago, as well as to release several hundreds Palestinian prisoners. The deal also includes a ceasefire in the brutal war that followed the raid.
Hamas will release 33 hostages – all the surviving women, children and men over 50. Afterwards, the Palestinian organization will continue to release the remaining prisoners.
Incoming US President Donald Trump welcomed the deal. He warned Hamas that the hostages need to be released by inauguration day – January 20th – or otherwise the group will be destroyed.
It’s estimated that tens of thousands of Palestinians – at least over 46,000 – were killed in the Israeli offensives that followed the raid. Israel also largely neutralized the Hezbollah group in neighboring Lebanon.
