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Deal to release dozens of hostages appears to be close, US, Israel and Qatar all say
(JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called special meetings of his war cabinet, security council and full government for Tuesday evening, in the clearest sign yet of an imminent deal to free at least some of the hostages taken by Hamas on Oct. 7.
The terror group is holding an estimated 240 people hostage in Gaza, including roughly 40 children. According to the Israeli news website Ynet, the deal would see 53 women, children and elderly hostages released in exchange for roughly 150 Palestinian prisoners who are also women and youths. It would also grant Hamas a four-day pause in the fighting, including pauses in aerial reconnaissance as Hamas locates additional hostages to release.
The deal would also reportedly create a mechanism whereby Israel would release three Palestinians prisoners for every additional Israeli hostage freed by Hamas, and would pause the fighting for one day for every 10 hostages released.
For days, a deal to release the children and some other hostages in exchange for some Palestinian prisoners and a pause in fighting has reportedly been in the works. But according to the Washington Post, which initially reported on Saturday that a deal had been reached, Israeli officials had pushed back against a deal that would involve the release of children without their mothers.
Now, a deal appears to be close, with sources telling Israeli media that they expect the mothers and others to be freed over the course of several days under the terms of an agreement.
U.S. President Joe Biden, whose administration has been involved in brokering talks between Israel and Hamas with Qatar as an intermediary, said Monday that he believed a deal was near. And the foreign ministry of Qatar, where Hamas’ leadership is based, said it was “very optimistic” about the state of negotiations, which it said were at “the closest point” yet.
Now, Netanyahu has called the meetings, announced in a press release midday Tuesday, saying that the government would meet that evening “in light of the developments regarding the release of our hostages.”
The movement comes 46 days after Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking hundreds hostage. After freeing four hostages about two weeks later, the terror group has not released any others nor provided evidence of their wellbeing to the Red Cross or public. Israeli forces freed one hostage soldier and retrieved the bodies of three other hostages who died in Gaza. Several of the remaining hostages were known to have been injured, some seriously, on Oct. 7.
The plight of the hostages has riveted the world, with posters and large-scale installations on their behalf going up (and in some cases being taken down) in major cities. Groups of celebrities have promoted their stories.
But within Israel, many of the families of the hostages have said they feel abandoned by the government, and a protest march from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem drew 30,000 people last week. On Monday, as negotiations advanced, far-right lawmakers in Israel’s parliament yelled at relatives of hostages who were exhorting them not to discuss instituting a death penalty for terrorists until their loved ones were freed.
Israeli officials have cautioned that any truce would not amount to a ceasefire, which would end hostilities permanently and leave Hamas in power. Israel has said that its goal in the war — which according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza has killed more than 10,000 people — is to depose the terror group.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.