A pledge for peace: Israel and Hamas cease-fire leads to hostage exchange

By Ashleigh Fields,
AFRO Assistant Editor,
afields@afro.com

In the midst of a six-day cease-fire between Hamas and the Israeli government, the release of human captives has been a stabilizing factor of the two entities’ commitment to the temporary truce. Since the brutal Oct. 7 infiltration of the Gaza Strip by Hamas, only 82 of the 240 known hostages held by the group have been released. The release of hostages was agreed upon in exchange for the liberation of 180 Palestinian prisoners, 98 of which were detained without charge. 

“The deal to pause the fighting in Gaza and facilitate the release of hostages—a deal the United States worked intensively to secure, sustain and extend—is now in its sixth day. This deal has delivered meaningful results,” President Biden said in a statement. “Nearly 100 hostages have been returned to their loved ones. And the United States has led the international community to use this pause to accelerate the delivery of additional humanitarian assistance into Gaza.”

Liat Beinin, an American and mother of three was the most recent hostage  returned to family and loved ones late in the night on Nov. 29 after crossing the border and entering into Egypt. 

“All of these hostages have been through a terrible ordeal, and this is the beginning of a long journey of healing for them,” Biden proclaimed early in the exchange process, one day after Thanksgiving holiday. “The teddy bears waiting to greet those children at the hospital are a stark reminder of the trauma these children have been through and at such a very young age.”

The youngest American hostage, four- year-old Abigail Edan, was freed on Nov. 26 after being in the custody of Hamas for 50 days on Nov. 26. The child lost both of her parents during the Oct. 7 attacks. 

“There’s no indication at all that Hamas is trying to use leverage or something to keep Americans from getting out,” said National Security Council Coordinator John Kirby, during a press gaggle. “It’s important to remember a couple of things. One, the pool of Americans is pretty small, and the pool of Americans that qualify right now — women and children — is smaller still.”

He went on to explain that Hamas might not have ready access to every hostage being held captive. Under the terms of the cease-fire agreement orchestrated by the U.S., Egypt and Qatar, Hamas will release one hostage for every three prisoners held by Israel with a heavy focus on women and children. The Red Cross has been granted access to the area to offer medical care to those in need.

A joint statement from G7 foreign ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the U.S. and the High Representative of the European Union supported the continued advances towards peace in Gaza.

“Every effort must be made to ensure humanitarian support for civilians, including food, water, fuel and medical supplies. We support the further extension of this pause and future pauses as needed to enable assistance to be scaled up, and to facilitate the release of all hostages,” read the statement. “We underscore the importance of protecting civilians and compliance with international law, in particular international humanitarian law. We remain steadfast in our commitment to work with all partners in the region to prevent the conflict from escalating further.”

U.S. officials have been adamant about providing evidence of their assistance to victims.

“This humanization pause has already brought a halt to the fighting, together with a surge of humanitarian assistance,” Kirby shared during the press briefing on Nov. 27. “As of the morning of Nov. 26, 200 trucks were dispatched to the Rafah Crossing, and 137 trucks of supplies were offloaded by the United Nations reception point in Gaza, making it the biggest humanitarian convoy received since the seventh of October.”

The war has caused political and religious outrage over sovereign land. Hamas released video footage of hostages on Oct. 30. Netanyahu has made it clear that the cease-fire will not last and that Israel’s crusade against Hamas is far from over. 

On Oct. 20 the White House requested that the Senate lift all restrictions on Israel’s access to the U.S. stockpile of weapons known as the War Reserve Stockpile Allies-Israel (WRSA-I). This Israeli-based U.S. weapons supply includes harbors missiles, bombs, military vehicles and ammunition amongst other artillery for war. 

The Biden Administration is projected to send a $320 million transfer of precision bombs. Currently, the Israeli government has been accused of using chemical warfare, which the Israel Defense Force has denied. Repeated airstrikes have increased the death toll to a startlingly 10,000. 

“Every innocent civilian should be released and reunited with their family, no matter their faith or ethnicity. I will continue to call for the release of all hostages, as well as the innocent Palestinians who were arbitrarily detained and being held by the Israeli government indefinitely without charge or trial,” Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.-12) released in a statement.

She is the only Palestinian-American in Congress and one of three muslims in the U.S. House of Representatives. On Election Day, Nov. 7,  Tlaib was censured after a series of tweets addressing the president and calling for a ceasefire to protect people of all backgrounds and faiths.

One of the posts read, “We will remember, in 2024, Joe Biden supported the genocide of the Palestinian people.”

Another mentioned, “From the river to the sea is an aspirational call for freedom, human rights and peaceful coexistence, not death, destruction, or hate. My work and advocacy is always centered in justice and dignity for all people no matter faith or ethnicity.”

Her concerns were echoed by massive demonstrations across the nation. One of the most notable protests took place during the 2023 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, where protestors superglued their hands to the pavement in support of pro-Palestinian efforts.

As citizens continue to react in person and via social media, Kirby affirmed that the goal is to see every hostage released.

“We’re going to keep working with Israel, with Qatar, with Egypt to see if we can’t extend this more,” Kirby said. “We know there’s still going to be a pretty good-sized pool of hostages that Hamas has, and we want to see if we can get them all out.”

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