Israeli Doubts About Hostage Deal

There is great excitement in the international media, as officials involved in the negotiations have told reporters that Hamas has accepted a draft ceasefire agreement in principle, and that it includes the release of dozens of hostages.

Israeli sources have confirmed to All Israel News that the negotiations are almost complete, with some details to be finalised. But a final deal could be announced later on Tuesday that would release around 33 Israeli hostages alive.

President Joe Biden and his team are said to be satisfied that this is a good deal for Israel. Donald Trump and his team also seem to be satisfied with it and are pressing Benjamin Netanyahu to accept.

But many in Israel are worried about the proposed deal, including some of the hostages’ families. A number of them marched in Jerusalem to protest against any deal that doesn`t free all the hostages together and which allows Hamas to claim a victory through forcing Israel to withdraw from the Gaza Strip.

One protester called out:

“Please President Trump, do not pressure us to give into Hamas.
Pressure them to give into us.”

The main concern is for those hostages who will remain in captivity. Many worry that they may never be released. The Tikva Forum of hostages’ relatives wrote to ministers:

‘Any partial deal with Hamas will turn the hostages into [even more] valuable assets,
and will endanger the lives of soldiers and other hostages.’

Feelings are running so high that a meeting of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee was disrupted on Tuesday by family members of the hostages, accusing the Defence Minister of deserting some of them.

The meeting was interrupted for as much as 30 minutes by the protest, with the aunt of one of the hostages screaming at Israel Katz that he had left her daughter to die in Hamas`s hands.

This report by the LiveNOW team at Fox: