Israel: Hostage Deal Is in the Works

Israel's Cabinet was to convene Tuesday to consider a deal for the release of some of the hostages held by Hamas, as troops battled militants in an urban refugee camp in north Gaza and around hospitals overcrowded with patients and sheltering families. Details of any deal, worked out through international mediators, weren't immediately known, reports the AP. Talks over the past weeks have centered on a swap of some of the estimated 240 people taken hostage by Hamas in its Oct. 7 attack for Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, accompanied by a temporary ceasefire in Gaza. Senior Hamas officials said an agreement was near. But talks have repeatedly stalled, and past predictions of a breakthrough proved premature. Israel said its war cabinet, and then full Cabinet—whose approval is needed on any deal—would convene Tuesday evening to discuss "the release of hostages."

Commenting on the return of hostages, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday, "We are currently advancing. I do not think that it is necessary to belabor the point ... but I hope there will be good news soon." Inside Gaza, the front line of the war, now in its seventh week, shifted to the Jabaliya refugee camp, a dense warren of concrete buildings near Gaza City that houses families displaced in the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation. Israel has bombarded the area for weeks, and the military said Hamas fighters have regrouped there and in other eastern districts after being pushed out of much of Gaza City. The fighting in Jabaliya raged around two nearby hospitals, trapping hundreds of patients and displacing people inside with dwindling supplies.

A strike Tuesday hit one of the facilities, Al Awda, killing four people, including three doctors, the hospital director told Al Jazeera. Izzat Rishq, a senior Hamas official, said Tuesday that an agreement could be reached "in the coming hours," in which Hamas would release captives and Israel would release Palestinian prisoners. Hamas' leader-in-exile, Ismail Haniyeh, also said they were close to a deal. Israel's war cabinet met with representatives of the hostages' families Monday evening. Netanyahu told families the government considers the release of hostages and the defeat of Hamas to be equally important. Udi Goren, whose cousin Tal Chaimi is in captivity in Gaza, said that was "incredibly disappointing," as Israel has said it could take months to dismantle the militant group. (More Israel-Hamas war stories.)