US, Israel and others race to carry out hostage deal

US, Israel and others race to carry out hostage deal

An Israeli official said hostages won’t be released before Friday.

ByShannon K. Crawford

November 22, 2023, 6:49 PM

After a major diplomatic breakthrough in talks aimed at freeing a number of hostages that have been captive in Gaza for more than a month and a half, all parties involved are frantically working to hammer out the details of the arrangement so the detainees can be safely recovered, according to U.S. officials working to carry out the deal.

While the original intent was to recover the group of hostages as early as Thursday morning, Israel's national security minister said late Wednesday that the release wouldn't happen before Friday.

The mood inside the Biden administration was lightened Tuesday following the news that both Israel's war cabinet and Hamas had approved a deal for the return of at least 50 hostages in exchange for a four-day pause in the conflict, plus the release of Palestinian prisoners and other concessions, but U.S. officials were still cautious and anxious to implement the agreement while momentum was on their side.

“Until we see the hostages coming home, until Hamas fulfils its end of the agreement, nobody here is resting comfortably,” said Brett McGurk, the White House coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, who recently returned to Washington after an extended trip to the region focused on hostage negotiations.

Relatives, friends and supporters of Alon Ohel held hostage in Gaza since the October 7 attack by Hamas militants in southern Israel, take part in a protest to ask for the release of Israeli hostages in Tel Aviv, Nov. 22, 2023.Ahmad Gharabli/AFP via Getty Images

Israel's war cabinet is signaling a similar wariness. Although Hamas, designated a terrorist organization by the U.S., has turned over a list of hostages it says will be released following the group's surprise Oct. 7 terror attack on Israel, Israeli authorities plan to share the news with the families only after their loved ones are secured, a source familiar with the plans advised.

The country’s national security minister said in a statement on Wednesday that the release of hostages would happen “not before Friday,” and that the agreed upon pause would start Thursday morning local time—marking what would be the start of the first extended break in Israel's assault on Gaza since the war began more than six weeks ago.

National security adviser Jake Sullivan said the key to getting the deal done was getting both sides to “get specific.”

“The big move happened late last week when President Biden spoke first with Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu and then with the emir of Qatar, to say how many hostages, for how many days, in return for how many Palestinian prisoners. And it was really the work to refine those details that finally produced the breakthrough that we now see resulting in the announcement of a pause in hostilities, and the first return of prisoners of hostages,” he said.

But a pause in the fighting could increase pressure on Netanyahu not to resume any full-scale military operations so long as hostages continue to be released.

“If Hamas wants that pause to continue, it has to produce additional hostages. That was not the terms of the deal even two to three weeks ago. And that's because Hamas is under pressure. We structured this deal in a way that incentivizes the release of all hostages. So the 50 up front. We are hopeful we can have this continue as more hostages come home,” McGurk said Wednesday.

On Wednesday, President Joe Biden called the emir of Qatar and Netanyahu during his Thanksgiving holiday in Nantucket to “discuss the deal to secure the release of hostages taken by Hamas during its brutal assault against Israel,” according to the White House.

“I look forward to speaking with each of these leaders and staying in close contact as we work to ensure this deal is carried through in its entirety,” Biden said in a statement following the announcement of the deal.

Although the basic contours of the accord have been on the table for weeks, both sides seemed reticent to finalize any agreement, with talks repeatedly reaching the final stages before collapsing.

Many high-level U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, CIA Director William Burns, and the president himself played a major role in moving the agreement across the finish line, sources say, adding that the administration was eventually able to convince Israel that securing multiple smaller deals for the release of hostages could ultimately be an effective strategy.

A photo of a woman abducted by Hamas militants sits on an installation calling for the release of hostages, outside the Tel Aviv Museum in Tel Aviv, Israel, Nov. 22, 2023.Abir Sultan/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

While Israel has kept up its bombardment of the northern area of Gaza, preparations to halt activities are underway. Officials said that both Israel and the U.S. would suspend surveillance drone flights in the enclave — operations that were one of the final sticking points in the talks.

During the pause, officials say they anticipate that small groups of hostages will be able to be transported with the help of the Red Cross through the Rafah Gate — Gaza's only border with Egypt — where they will then be handed over to the Israel Defense Forces and receive any necessary medical care.

The Biden administration confirmed on Wednesday that three Americans — two women and a toddler girl identified by her family as Abigail Edan — are expected to be among the hostages freed in the coming days.

Relatives, friends and supporters of Israeli hostages held in Gaza since the October 7 attack by Hamas militants in southern Israel, hold placards and images of those taken during a protest for their release in Tel Aviv, Nov. 22, 2023.Ahmad Gharabli/AFP via Getty Images

Little is known about the conditions of the hostages who are expected to be returned, or about the wellbeing of the nearly 200 others, including as many as seven Americans, that Israeli authorities say are detained in Gaza but will not be part of the initial agreement.

Israeli authorities say the release of any 10 hostages beyond the initial 50 will result in “an additional day of respite” for Hamas. Sources familiar with the negotiations say anything outside the terms of the initial exchange is likely to be a moving target that may be relitigated in the days ahead, but they expect more of the detained women and children can be secured.

A U.S. official says Hamas is also expected to release information about those individuals as part of the deal, which could shed important light on the dynamics of the situation — including by shaping officials' understanding of how many of the detainees are still alive as well as how many may be held by other terror groups and outside of Hamas' direct control.

The release of so many of the hostages will likely also result in additional intelligence that could inform Israeli and U.S. strategy going forward.

“Throughout it, Israel is looking to collect information and backtrack where they came through exploitation of cell phone data, following vehicles to known areas of interest,” said Christopher O'Leary, the former director of the U.S. task force on hostage recovery. “It's an opportunity to build your intelligence picture to find out where the rest of the hostages may be held.”

If both sides fulfill the terms of the deal, U.S officials have expressed some level of hope that it may lower the temperature of the conflict which has proven to be deeply divisive among Americans. But they acknowledge that diplomacy is unlikely to free all the hostages taken on Oct. 7 — particularly the detainees who are members of the IDF, and multiple high-level Israeli officials have already vowed to fight on once the short term truce expires.

Although aid groups have expressed doubt that the pause will be sufficient to address the dire humanitarian needs among Gaza's civilian population, the U.S. is looking to make the most of the time by ramping up aid that can enter the area, carrying out evacuations from some of the enclave's medical facilities and potentially establishing so-called “safe zones,” officials say.

Already, Israel has agreed to allow some 300 trucks of humanitarian supplies — including fuel that is critical to routine hospital operations — into Gaza each day that the fighting is paused.