By Tara Subramaniam, Jessie Yeung, Christian Edwards, Adrienne Vogt, Aditi Sangal, Maureen Chowdhury and Tori B. Powell, CNN
From CNN staff
The Red Cross will be allowed to visit and offer medical support to the hostages that remain in Gaza after some of them are returned, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in his first public address since the Israel-Hamas hostage deal.
He read lines from the agreement saying the Red Cross will visit them.
From CNN's Becky Anderson
Hamas had not yet provided Qatari officials with identifying information regarding the 50 hostages intended for release, a diplomatic source familiar with the deal told CNN.
However, the source said Qatar remained confident the list would be shared tonight local time.
The diplomatic source also told CNN that the agreement struck between Israel and Hamas would see 200 trucks per day entering the coastal enclave, carrying aid and other supplies, including fuel.
Remember: The hostage deal between Hamas and Israel, as laid out by key negotiator Qatar in a statement, would see hostages held captive by Hamas released in exchange for a number of Palestinian women and children in Israeli jails. The truce, meanwhile, would also allow the entry of “a larger number of humanitarian convoys and relief aid,” the statement said.
An Israeli official told CNN Wednesday that the truce is slated to begin at 10 a.m. local time (3 a.m. ET) on Thursday.
US officials have a working list of 10 hostages that they believe are likely to be released from Gaza on day one, a source familiar told CNN.
From CNN's Arlette Saenz and Betsy Klein
President Joe Biden spoke with Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani of Qatar, the White House said Wednesday. Officials have pointed to the emir as a key interlocutor with Hamas during negotiations on a hostage deal.
Biden and the emir discussed the deal as well as developments in the region, the White House said.
Biden is also Biden also spoke with Israel President Benjamin Netanyahu Wednesday afternoon US time, an administration official tells CNN.
Readouts for both calls are forthcoming.
Biden is spending the Thanksgiving holiday in Nantucket, Massachusetts, with family, but he has made a series of calls to world leaders Wednesday.
From CNN's Tamar Michaelis and Sugam Pokharel
Coordinating the return of hostages from Gaza is not an easy task, Israel’s military spokesperson said at a briefing Wednesday evening.
“This is a complicated process, which is yet to be finalized, and could take time and last over a few stages,” Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Daniel Hagari said.
In the early hours of Wednesday morning, Israel’s cabinet approved a deal for the release of hostages seized by Hamas in exchange for a four-day pause in fighting in Gaza, which is slated to begin Thursday morning. Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails will also be released as part of the deal.
Hagari said Israel’s military is cooperating with all the relevant bodies to administer “an orderly process” to receive hostages from Hamas.
The coming days will be “filled with moment of relief and moments of pain,” he said, warning that they could also include “attempts to carry out psychological terror, aimed against us by the terror organizations.”
He also said that the chief of the general staff of the IDF, Herzi Halevi, has approved “the war’s plans and stages for the future, and particularly the readiness for the next few days.”
Hagari stressed that “a long fight is ahead” for the Israeli military.
From CNN's Tim Lister
Israel’s Supreme Court has rejected a legal challenge to the Gaza hostage deal which includes the release of at least 150 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.
The Almagor association, which was set up in 1986 to represent victims of terror, had claimed that the government's decision, among a series of objections, intensified the risk of “the recurrence of serious acts of terrorism to which all the citizens and residents of the country are exposed.”
Almagor had asked the Supreme Court to “annul the government's decision … [and] order [the government] to discuss again the terms of the deal with Hamas,” according to information released by the Court.
The Court said it rejected the petition outright on the grounds that the hostage deal “is a clear political issue to which this court does not consider its involvement as necessary.”
The ruling clears any legal objection in Israel to the execution of the deal that involves the exchange of Israeli hostages in Gaza for the release of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
From CNN’s MJ Lee, Jennifer Hansler and Sam Fossum
US officials have a working list of 10 hostages they believe are likely to be released from Gaza on day one, a source familiar told CNN. It was not clear whether any of the three American hostages —including three-year-old Abigail Edan — would be released on the first day.
The deal is structured in such a way that each day, a group of hostages to be released would be handed off to the Red Cross; the Red Cross would then take the group to a designated border point, which will largely depend on the location of those hostages, the source familiar said.
Fifty Israel hostages — including some with dual nationalities — are expected to be released over the four-day pause. Ten is the minimum number of hostages to be released each day, but that could be higher. Many of the first 50 hostages are expected to come out through Egypt, they said.
The first swap had been expected to take place on Thursday, a source familiar with how hostages are expected to leave Gaza told CNN. However, the Israeli National Security Council said later that the pause would be delayed and no hostages are expected to be released before Friday.
The first two days of the hostage release will be treated as a “testing period” to make sure the process is working, the source said. By day three, there is expected to be intense discussions about the potential second phase of the hostage release beyond the initial group of 50.
Brett McGurk, a White House official, told CNN Wednesday he could not speak about the schedule of when the Americans would be released. He confirmed that three US hostages – Abigail and two women — are expected to come home as part of the 50 hostages released by Hamas. A total of 10 Americans are believed to be hostages.
“I was asked earlier do we know if the 50 are alive and well. We understand they’re alive, but they're certainly not well,” McGurk said. “These 50 women, children and toddlers, it's just unimaginable what they've gone through, but we're gonna make sure that they get the care they need when they come home.”
McGurk said he is “hopeful” that the Red Cross will get access to the other hostages, but noted, “I cannot confirm that nor guarantee that.”
Meanwhile, the Israeli Supreme Court “has now greenlit the (hostage) deal to go forward,” thus clearing the way for the process to move forward this week, McGurk said.
From CNN's Tim Lister
The Israel Defense Forces said it found further evidence of a tunnel complex under Al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza.
The IDF said special forces had exposed “dozens of meters of a tunnel system” that passed under another building in the hospital complex, “as well as rooms where Hamas terrorists can operate and stay for extended periods.”
In a statement Wednesday, the IDF said “the soldiers of the 7th Brigade also located two additional tunnel shafts near the hospital: one on a nearby street and the other in a nearby house.”
The IDF has frequently alleged that Hamas uses the hospital buildings at Al-Shifa to store weapons and as headquarters.
The IDF also released video from inside the tunnel.
CNN is unable to verify independently the extent and nature of the tunnels discovered by the IDF.
From CNN’s Becky Anderson and Zeena Saifi in Doha and Jorge Engels in London
The lead Qatari negotiator of the truce agreement between Israel and Hamas outlined some operational details about the deal in an interview with CNN.
The deal has two major components, he said:
“We hope that within the four days, we will be able to complete the release of women and children in both sides, moving to the safe side, away from this war,” Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Al-Khulaifi, who is also Qatar’s minister of state for foreign affairs, told CNN Wednesday.
Israel and Hamas will have to meet certain “obligations” over a four-day pause to release a certain number of people daily, Al-Khulaifi said.
“So in each day, we aim to have a number of releases, because the number is big. We've managed to get the parties to agree on the releases systematically. In other words, there will be an organized schedule, allowing the releases in each day. And each party is quite familiar now with their obligations,” Al-Khulaifi said, adding that the deal envisages “a minimum” of 10 Israeli hostages releases a day.
Al-Khulaifi said his team would monitor the fulfillment of both parties’ obligations and would report back to them daily.
“By the first hours of the agreements, we will be notified of the official list of people each day. And by having that list, we will make sure that we notify either the sides, the parties themselves, or even the countries that have their hostages in the Gaza Strip currently,” he said.
Hamas had previously said it needs pauses in fighting to gather the hostages who are being held in different places and by different Hamas-allied groups in Gaza.
Meanwhile, fulfilling the provision of “quality” humanitarian assistance to Gazans will involve regional and international stakeholders — not just Israel, Al-Khulaifi said.
Al-Khulaifi said his team had managed to secure fuel for “vital” infrastructure, like hospitals.
“That is progress. That's what we hope that that the humanitarian aid will continue, and will remain, as citizens and people in Gaza have nothing to do with this war,” he said.
From CNN's Amir Tal, Zeena Saifi, Nima Elbagir, Kareem El Damanhoury and Nadeen Ebrahim
The hostage deal between Israel and Hamas would see the return of 150 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails in exchange for the release of at least 50 women and children held in Gaza, during a four-day pause in fighting.
The Palestinian prisoners concerned are women and children, Hamas said Wednesday, adding that the agreement also involves the entry of hundreds of trucks carrying aid relief, medical supplies and fuel to all parts of the besieged territory.
Here's what to know about these prisoners who could be potentially released:
The charges: The Israeli government on Wednesday published a list of Palestinian prisoners for possible release with their ages and charges on which they are being held – throwing stones and “harming regional security” are among the most common. Others are listed as detained for supporting illegal terror organizations, illegal weapons charges, incitement, and at least two accusations of attempted murder. Some of the people are listed as being members of Hamas and other Islamic militant groups, but many of the prisoners are not listed as belonging to any organization.
The ages: Most of the Palestinian prisoners listed as eligible for release are male teenagers aged 16 to 18 – children under the United Nations definition – although a handful are as young as 14. Some 33 are women, according to a CNN count.
What to know about Palestinian prisoners held by Israel:
Israel has stepped up its arrests since Hamas’ attacks on October 7. Up to 2,070 arrests were documented in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem in that month alone, according to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society, a non-governmental organization dedicated to addressing the concerns of Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons. That figure includes 145 children and 55 women.
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh claimed to Reuters last week that Israel had been ramping up arrests ahead of a hostage deal. “Israel is preparing for an exchange of prisoners, and they are arresting as many people as they can simply because they are preparing for such a deal,” Shtayyeh said.
Wednesday’s diplomatic breakthrough offers a glimmer of hope for the families of Palestinian prisoners, as well as those of Israeli hostages.
Hamas is holding 236 hostages in Gaza, including foreign nationals from 26 countries, according to the latest figures from the Israeli military. The abductions took place on October 7, when Hamas militants launched their brutal attack on Israel, killing at least 1,200 people.
