Palestinian president calls hostage deal a “humanitarian truce” but pushes for ceasefire in Gaza

Israel and Hamas have reached a breakthrough deal in their ongoing conflict for a four-day humanitarian pause to allow the release of at least 50 hostages – women and children – held in Gaza, key negotiator Qatar announced Wednesday.

“President Mahmoud Abbas and the leadership welcome the humanitarian truce agreement and value the Qatari-Egyptian effort that has been made, and renew the call for a comprehensive cessation of the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people and the entry of humanitarian aid,” the Palestine Liberation Organization Executive Committee Secretary-General Hussein Al-Sheikh said, according to Wafa.

Abbas called for a wider “implementation of a political solution based on legitimacy and international law, which leads to an end to the occupation and the Palestinian people’s attainment of their freedom, independence, and sovereignty”, Al-Sheikh added, according to Wafa.

The Israeli government has published the names of 300 Palestinian prisoners set for possible release as part of a wider agreement to release hostages held in Gaza.

The list included further details, including their ages and reason for arrest.

Under the terms of the recently negotiated deal, the Israeli Cabinet Secretariat announced 150 Palestinian prisoners would be released in four stages over four days, subject to at least 10 Israeli abductees being handed over to Israeli security forces each day. Israel said there would be a lull in the fighting during those four days.

While the initial agreement noted the hostages in Gaza will be released in exchange for 150 Palestinian women and children held in Israeli jails, the list published Wednesday by the Israeli government includes 300 names because Tel Aviv is offering the possibility that there will be a second phase of exchanges of prisoners for hostages.

In a statement, the Israeli Cabinet Secretariat added that phase two would work the same way as the initial exchange, including the release of Palestinians in groups subject to the freeing of at least 10 Israelis per day and a lull in the fighting.

The publication of the Israeli list of names on Wednesday morning (shortly before 1 a.m. ET) starts a 24-hour clock during which legal petitions against the release of Palestinian inmates can be filed to Israel’s Supreme Court. It is not clear whether any legal objections will be filed or whether the Supreme Court would agree to hear them if so.