By Pishtaz and AFP | 2023-11-22

JERUSALEM -- The world community welcomed the deal between Israel and Hamas allowing at least 50 hostages and scores of Palestinian prisoners to be freed during a four-day pause in fighting.

After weeks of Qatar-brokered negotiations, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet approved the truce accord November 22 after a near-all-night meeting, in which he told ministers this was a "difficult decision, but it's a right decision."

The cabinet's sign-off was one of the last stumbling blocks after what one US official described as five "extremely excruciating" weeks of talks.

Hamas released a statement welcoming the "humanitarian truce" and said it would also see 150 Palestinians released from Israeli jails.

In the first major diplomatic breakthrough in the war, Hamas will release 50 women and children kidnapped during its October 7 terrorist cross-border attack on Israel.

Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist groups, including Islamic Jihad, took an estimated 240 Israelis and foreigners hostage.

Israel said that to facilitate the hostage release it would initiate a four-day "pause" in its six-week-old assault on Hamas, while it stressed that the agreement did not spell the end of the war.

Qatar said the deal would include "the entry of a larger number of humanitarian convoys and relief aid, including fuel designated for humanitarian needs."

A US official said on November 21 there was also hope that the deal would lead to a "full pause" in fighting along the Israel-Lebanon border with Hizbullah, which like Hamas is backed by Iran.

'Breakthrough' agreement

The United Nations (UN) on November 22 said it would provide support for the implementation of the agreement.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres "welcomes the agreement reached by Israel and Hamas, with the mediation of Qatar supported by Egypt and the United States," a spokesman for the UN chief said in a statement.

"This is an important step in the right direction, but much more needs to be done."

The negotiations have involved the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA); Israel's overseas spy agency Mossad; Egyptian intelligence and leaders in Doha, Cairo, Washington, Gaza and Israel.

Qatar's Foreign Ministry confirmed the deal, saying that "a number of Palestinian women and children detained in Israeli prisons" would be released in exchange for the hostages.

"The starting time of the pause will be announced within the next 24 hours and last for four days, subject to extension," it said.

US President Joe Biden said he was "extraordinarily gratified that some of these brave souls... will be reunited with their families once this deal is fully implemented."

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron called the deal "a crucial step towards providing relief to the families of the hostages and addressing the humanitarian crisis in Gaza."

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the "breakthrough" agreement "must be used to bring vital aid to people in Gaza."

European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen said she had ordered a surge in aid deliveries to Gaza following the announcement of the four-day pause in fighting.

"The European Commission will do its utmost to use this pause for a humanitarian surge to Gaza," she said.

World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus welcomed the deal but said on X that "those still in captivity must receive any needed medical care".

A delicate balance

While Egypt has traditionally in recent years served as the main mediator between Israel and Palestinian groups, the focus was on Qatar helping to return hostages safely.

Qatar has honed a careful balancing act, allowing it to marry warm relations with Western powers while keeping ties with radical groups and states regarded as pariahs even by close allies.

Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari said the ceasefire deal underlines the country's singular diplomatic position.

"This is what we can do that nobody else can do, and this is us using all of our abilities," he told AFP.

Behind the scenes, Qatar was triangulating between Israel and Hamas and Qatari ambassadors had met with the families of hostages around the world, Ansari said.

"They know that there are children, there are women, there are families that are suffering every day, from the lack of information from the fact that they don't know what is happening with their family members right now," he said. "So it's a renewed sense of duty on us."

Qatar has hosted Hamas's political office for more than 10 years but is also home to the largest US military base in the region.

Qatar is the only entity that is authorized to negotiate on behalf of Hamas and the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's military wing, said Hasni Abidi, director of the Geneva-based Center for Studies and Research on the Arab World and the Mediterranean.

But the position is not without potential pitfalls for the Gulf state.

Two weeks into the conflict between Israel and Hamas, the United States cautioned its ally that there could be "no more business as usual with Hamas."

In 2017, Qatar's neighbors, led by Saudi Arabia, imposed a three-year diplomatic and economic blockade on the tiny emirate, demanding it cut ties with Hamas and the Palestinian terrorists' parent movement, the Muslim Brotherhood, as well as downgrade ties with Iran.