TEL AVIV — Israeli negotiators have reached agreement with the Hamas terror group for a hostages-for-cease-fire deal that will also reportedly see the release of thousands of Palestinian security prisoners, many with blood on their hands, and an Israeli military withdrawal from key areas of the Gaza Strip.
“I am trying to breathe,” Efrat Machikawa, the niece of Israeli captive Gadi Moses, told Fox News Digital in response to the development.
“We will not know for sure that it is really happening until we will get the phone call to come see Gadi at the hospital. Although I am optimistic by nature, I am trying to control myself because we were very close to so many deals since the last one when my aunt Margalit was released,” Machikawa said.
ISRAEL-HAMAS CEASE-FIRE, HOSTAGE RELEASE DEAL REACHED
Pictures of loved ones who have been captured by Hamas are shown during a Defend Israeli Democracy UK press conference at Plaza Westminster Bridge Hotel in London by Sharon Lifschitz and Noam Sagi, two London-based British Israelis whose parents are among the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. (Lucy North/PA Images via Getty Images/File)
In November 2023, a weeklong Israel-Hamas cease-fire agreement saw 105 hostages freed from Gaza.
Palestinian terrorists are still holding 98 hostages in Gaza, 94 of whom were abducted during the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre. Thirty-six of the hostages have been confirmed dead.
“I am disappointed that this agreement does not talk about all the hostages. It is unacceptable that the second phase is not defined in a way that shows when my son will be released from captivity,” Ruby Chen, the father of American-Israeli IDF Sgt. Itay Chen, told Fox News Digital.
Chen visited Qatar last week to meet with U.S. negotiators.
“We will continue the fight until all the hostages come out,” he said. “With the inauguration of President-elect Trump next week, my hope is that in his speech he will say, ‘Mr. Chen, I am able to get your son back.’”
From left, American hostages being held in Gaza: Edan Alexander, Sagui Dekel-Chen, Keith Siegel, Omer Neutra, Judi Weinstein Haggai, Gadi Haggai…
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