Israel is on the brink of striking a deal with Hamas. After more than a year of on-and-off negotiations, hours ago came the news that Hamas’s military leader, Mohammed Sinwar, had approved the agreement.
The deal is complicated and is structured in three phases over a 42-day period. In the first phase, which can begin as early as Sunday, Hamas will release 33 hostages—women, the aged and infirm, and children, among them the Bibas babies. The subsequent two phases will see the release of all 98 hostages, living and dead, and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the entire Gaza Strip. The war will officially end. But the fulfillment of the second and third phase is contingent on the successful implementation of the first.
Should it succeed, the deal will be greeted cacophonously in Israel. Boundless joy will mix with anger and pain, relief with fear and searing disappointment.
