Israel confirms hostage deal back on after Hamas delay

The second phase of the Gaza hostage deal appeared to move forward last Saturday night after a delay of at least five hours after Hamas announced that the deal was on hold.

Close to 9 p.m., Hamas stated that “the Islamic Resistance Movement Hams responded to the estimated Egyptian Qatari efforts that moved throughout the day to ensure the continuation of the temporary armistice agreement after transferring then in the commitment of the occupation to all the conditions stipulated in the agreement.”

It had earlier argued that not enough humanitarian aid had entered Gaza through the Egyptian crossing at Rafah and that Israel had not freed agreed-upon Palestinian prisoners based on seniority.

Qatari, Egyptian and Israeli officials had worked to save the deal.

The IDF completed its preparations for the reception of hostages who will return to Israel on Friday, according to the IDF Spokesperson's Unit. 

The IDF worked in coordination with government ministries and other branches of the defense establishment to formulate a procedure to quickly bring back the hostages and provide the necessary care.

The released hostages will be brought to hospitals where they will meet their families.

The Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi David Lau, asked in a statement, on Friday, that Jews observe the Shabbat, as a support for the hostages, some of which are expected to be released an hour before Shabbat begins.


Lau said "Amidst the joy and deep emotions surrounding the return of some of the hostages and our ongoing prayers for the safe return of those who remain and for the success of our security forces, it is essential to bear in mind that just as Israel has faithfully observed the Shabbat, the Shabbat, in turn, has safeguarded Israel. Through our commitment to observing the Shabbat, with the help of the Almighty, we will, God willing, swiftly see the return of all hostages and those missing, in robust health."

The drone infiltration alert activated in Eilat on Friday was triggered by suspicious movement in the airspace near the city, according to the Eilat Municipality. No interception was conducted.

Israel will on Friday release 39 Palestinian prisoners, among them 24 women and 15 teenage males, in the West Bank in exchange for 13 hostages due to be freed from the Gaza Strip by Hamas, a Palestinian official said.

The inmates, all of them from the West Bank or Jerusalem, will be handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross at Israel's Ofer military jail around 4 p.m., said Qadura Fares, Palestinian commissioner for prisoners.

That would coincide with the planned handover at the Gaza-Egypt border of 13 women and children who were among some 240 people taken hostage by Hamas terrorists during a deadly Oct. 7 rampage in southern Israel.

People walk next to pictures of civilians held hostage by Hamas terrorists in Gaza, in Jerusalem, November 22, 2023 (credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH 90)

"After the Red Cross receives the (Palestinian) prisoners, the ones from Jerusalem will go to Jerusalem and the ones from the West Bank will gather in Betunia municipal council where their families will be waiting,” Fares told Reuters.

The prisoner release was part of an Israeli-Hamas ceasefire that began at 7 a.m. and appeared to be holding shakily with no major reports of bombings, artillery strikes or rocket attacks, although both sides were accused of violations.

Jonathan Pollard, who spent 30 years in prison on espionage charges and was released in light of intensive public and diplomatic efforts, called for the families of hostages to be silenced, including by imprisonment, in a video with Machon Shilo on Wednesday.

Pollard called the ceasefire and hostage release deal a "monstrous blunder."

"When we declared war, the first thing that the government should have done was declare a state of national emergency and told all of the hostage families 'you will keep your mouths shut or we will shut them for you," said Pollard to Rabbi David Bar-Hayim. "You will not interfere in our management of this war. You will not be used by the international community or by our own leftists who managed the Shalit deal as a weapon against us. If that means imprisoning to silence certain members of the hostage families then so be it."

The released spy referred to the posters of hostages being held by Hamas as "poison darts in our ability to wage total war against our enemies."

Jonathan Pollard has emerged as an influential figure in Israel since his release from prison in 2015 (credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)

Pollard compared the situation with the hostages to a submarine which is damaged and the captain is forced to seal off a section with people in it in order to save the rest of the vessel.

Pollard added that, while he was in prison, he had opposed a proposal by the US to release him in exchange for Israel releasing Palestinian prisoners as a gesture to the Palestinian Authority.

Pollard warns Hamas, US will force end of war after hostage release

The released spy asserted that Hamas intends to drag out the hostage exchange and ceasefire as long as possible in order to rearm and warned that as soon as the hostages are released, the US will increase pressure on Israel and force an end to the war.

Pollard additionally accused the anti-judicial reform protest movements of trying to "take control" of the hostage issue and the care for those who were evacuated from the north and south in an effort to position themselves politically for "the day after."

Pollard stated that if he had a child fighting in Gaza now, he would tell them to drop their weapons and come home. "The casualties that we are incurring right now are pointless. The future is quite discernable. We will not be allowed to destroy Hamas."

In 1987, Pollard was sentenced to life in prison for providing US state secrets to Israel. Throughout his imprisonment, Israeli and American activists lobbied for his release and 30 years later, in 2015, he was released. Five years later, his parole expired and he moved to Israel.

Aid trucks were entering the Gaza Strip from Egypt on Friday, around 1-1/2 hours after a truce began between Israel and Hamas, Reuters TV footage showed.

Two of the trucks, representing Egyptian organizations, sported banners that said, "Together for Humanity." Another said: "For our brothers in Gaza."

As reports emerged on Friday morning of Gazans who fled south returning to their homes in the north of the Strip as Israel's ceasefire with Hamas came into effect, the IDF reiterated its warning that the situation is still dangerous, and residents should remain in the south of Gaza.

IDF Arabic language spokesman Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee spoke on X (formerly Twitter) stating, "The war is not over yet. The humanitarian pause is temporary. The northern Gaza Strip is a dangerous war zone and it is forbidden to move north. For your safety, you must remain in the humanitarian zone in the south." 

⭕️Watch this important message from the IDF Spokesperson for Arab media, @AvichayAdraee, to the civilians of Gaza:

”The war is not over yet. The humanitarian pause is temporary. The northern Gaza Strip is a dangerous war zone and it is forbidden to move north. For your safety,… https://t.co/OmtxDYHIK3 pic.twitter.com/4gaJDxgy5I

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) November 24, 2023

Ceasefire comes into effect

The IDF completed preparations for the ceasefire which took effect at 7 a.m. Friday morning and destroyed tunnels and tunnel entry points in Shifa Hospital, the IDF Spokesperson's Unit said.

In the day leading up to the ceasefire, the IDF continued its operations in Gaza.

Some 13 of the hostages currently held by Hamas are scheduled to be released at 4 p.m. on Friday, in a deal that was brokered with the help of Qatar and the US. Israel is expected to release 150 Palestinian prisoners, the majority of whom are female and child prisoners who are held or have been convicted on terror charges.

Bahrain has been walking a political tightrope since war erupted in Gaza as it seeks to ease public fury at a conflict that has killed thousands of Palestinians while preserving a deal with Israel that brought the Gulf state closer to the United States.

For tiny Bahrain, home to the US Navy Fifth Fleet, close US relations are a vital bulwark against Iran, a vast Muslim Shi'ite nation across the Gulf that Manama has long blamed for stirring up its own majority Shi'ite population against Bahrain's Sunni monarchy.

The deal to normalize ties with Israel, signed in 2020 by Bahrain when Donald Trump was president, brought few business benefits to Bahrain, unlike those it offered the United Arab Emirates, a regional commercial hub which signed at the same time. But the other strategic gains Bahrain secured are too valuable to jeopardize, sources and analysts said.

Six sources familiar with the matter told Reuters Bahrain would not abandon its ties with Israel, even though parliament - a body that remains subservient to the monarchy - has made a strident statement suggesting Israel relations were in the freezer.

President Isaac Herzog and his wife Michal are welcomed to the Al-Qudaibiya Palace in Manama by HM King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa of Bahrain. (credit: AMOS BEN-GERSHOM/GPO)

Bahrain is trying to preserve the relationship with Israel while also managing public opinion, one of the sources said.

Bahrain's government communications office did not respond to emailed questions on the status of relations with Israel.

"They can't abandon normalization with Israel without endangering this whole strategic framework," said Kristin Smith Diwan, a researcher at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington.

She said the framework was not just about keeping close to the US but also Bahrain's signing of the deal brought it closer to the wealthy UAE and offered a counterweight to the influence of Saudi Arabia, which has long bankrolled Bahrain whose oil resources long ago dwindled to almost nothing.

"Bahrain’s adoption of the Abraham Accords is as much about its relations with other countries as it is with Israel," she said, using the term for the normalization deals Israel signed with Bahrain and the UAE.

Yet it requires a balancing act by Bahrain, as it seeks to keep the deal intact while reflecting its deep disagreement with Israel's fierce military campaign in Gaza, whether through criticism of Israel by the Bahraini crown prince at a security summit in Manama this month, parliament's statements or the government allowing public protests on the issue. 

AMBIGUITY ABOUT ISRAEL

On Nov. 2, the elected parliament, which has no authority over foreign policy, issued an unusual statement saying the ambassadors of Israel and Bahrain had departed and economic ties had been cut.

"The Zionist entity’s (Israel) ambassador has left from Bahrain, hopefully not to return," parliamentarian Mamdooh Al Saleh said in parliament in the days after the announcement.

The fact that the statement on diplomatic and economic ties came from the parliament, not the foreign ministry, stirred ambiguity about whether or not Bahrain had formally cut ties.

Israel responded that relations were stable and a subsequent statement by Bahrain's government only mentioned the envoys had already left without clarifying any reason. The Bahraini government made no mention of economic ties, which are modest.

The six sources familiar with the matter said parliament's announcement did not reflect government policy.

The sources said the public confusion over relations with Israel appeared to have eased pressure on the government in its efforts to balance domestic outrage and ties with Israel.

In Jerusalem, a senior Israeli official told Reuters the envoys would return "when the situation allows."

On the street, emotions are running high over Israel's assault on Gaza which began after terrorists from the Palestinian group Hamas launched a devastating attack on Israel that killed about 1,200 people. More than 14,000 people have been killed in Gaza.

PROTEST RALLIES

Hundreds of Bahrainis have marched at rallies to show solidarity with Palestinians and protest at the kingdom's ties with Israel, demonstrating in a nation that has typically clamped down on any form of protest, particularly if it targets government policy.

"People are angry. The government needs to release the pressure," said Smith Diwan, referring to a decision by the authorities to allow citizens to stage weekly protests. She described apparent state tolerance of the protests as "jarring," reflecting a contrast with Bahrain's normally tight security.

The government came down hard on protests in 2011 when demonstrators, many from the Shi'ite majority, rose up to demand the downfall of Bahrain's monarchy in the Arab Spring. Bahrain partly blamed that unrest on Iran, an accusation Tehran denied.

Almost a decade later when Bahrain signed the Abraham Accords, worries about Iran again formed the security backdrop, with the Islamic Republic still seen by Gulf Arabs as an expansionist security threat to much of the Middle East.

Western officials said the accords reinforced Bahrain's US ties, pointing to a defense pact signed this year.

Israel, largely cut off economically and politically for decades from its Middle East neighbors, saw the accords as a shift in regional dynamics and an opening for new trade ties.

"I've seen here clear signals from the Arab Gulf countries that they don't want to let go of what has been achieved in the last three years," Tobias Lindner, a German foreign office minister of state told Reuters at a summit this month in Manama.

"The government of the Kingdom of Bahrain is a staunch supporter of the Abraham Accords," he said.

The UAE, a regional power, also intends to maintain its relationship with Israel, which has yielded billions of dollars in trade and close security cooperation, sources have said.

In contrast, Bahrain-Israel trade remains modest, worth about $30 million since 2021, according to Israeli government data.

The spokesman of Hamas' armed wing called on Thursday for the escalation of the confrontation with Israel on all resistance fronts.

"We call for escalation of the confrontation with the occupation throughout the West Bank and all resistance fronts" the spokesman for the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, Abu Obaida, said in a video speech aired by Al Jazeera TV.

The ceasefire and hostage deal

Israel and Palestinian terrorist group Hamas will start a four-day truce on Friday morning with the first group of 13 Israeli women and child hostages released later that day, mediators in Qatar said.

The agreement - the first in a brutal, near seven-week-old war - would begin at 7 a.m. local time (0500 GMT) and involve a comprehensive ceasefire in north and south Gaza, Qatar's foreign ministry said.

People walk next to pictures of civilians held hostage by Hamas terrorists in Gaza, in Jerusalem, November 22, 2023 (credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)

Some aid would start flowing into Gaza and the first hostages including elderly women would be freed at 4 p.m., with the total number rising to 50 over the four days, ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari said in the Qatari capital Doha.

It was expected Palestinians would be released from Israeli jail, he told reporters. "We all hope that this truce will lead to a chance to start a wider work to achieve a permanent truce."

Hamas - which had been expected to declare a truce with Israel a day earlier on Thursday only for negotiations to drag on - confirmed on its Telegram channel that all hostilities from its forces would cease.