Hamas has around 200 hostages that they have expected to use, so far unsuccessfully, as leverage to keep Israel from mass murders of Palestinians. Qatar, according to various anonymous sources reported on by CNN, the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg, has been mediating terms for trading hostages for humanitarian aid. It would also involve a temporary ceasefire, at least long enough to get the hostages out. It is further reported that Washington has been trying to delay a ground invasion of Gaza by Israel, also at least until the hostages are secured.
According to Hamas, besides the hostages that they hold, they indicate that there are about 50 more in the hands of several other militant groups in the enclave. They report that Israeli air strikes have killed 20 of the hostages so far. So, about 230 hostages are presently at stake.
CNN reports that the release of two hostages on Oct. 20, Judith and Natalie Raanan, may be a signal of the possibility of a deal involving both hostages and aid. They cite “one person familiar with the discussions” as saying that Washington “pressed Israeli leadership to delay because of progress on the hostage front,” and the need to get trucks of aid into Gaza. Bloomberg reports from “multiple sources familiar with the negotiations” that Israel had “agreed under U.S. pressure to hold off” on the land invasion. They go on to report that the Qatari Foreign Ministry then called the release of the two women a “breakthrough,” adding that it followed “many days of continuous communication between all the parties involved.” The ministry vowed to maintain dialogue with Hamas in hopes of freeing “all civilian hostages from every nationality.”
However, an official in the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office told CNN, after news of the release of the two American women, maintained a negative posture, saying that it may have been an attempt by Hamas to lessen the Israeli military response, but their military “pressure isn’t going to go because they were released. It won’t change the mission, which is to dismantle Hamas.”
