US envoy McGurk arrives amid reports of deal to free 50 Gaza hostages

US top presidential adviser Brett McGurk visited Israel on Wednesday amid reports that Qatar mediated a deal for the release of 50 Hamas-held captives in exchange for a three-day or five-day ceasefire in Gaza.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with McGurk in Tel Aviv, after which his office said the two “discussed the range of issues regarding the war while emphasizing the release of the hostages.”

An official briefed on the negotiations told Reuters that the deal, under discussion and coordinated with the US, would see Israel release some Palestinian women and minors under 18 currently held in Israeli jails for security-related offenses. According to KAN, there are 194 prisoners in Israeli jails that fit this category.

The deal would also involve increasing the amount of humanitarian aid allowed into Gaza, the official said.

Pushing back ceasefire talks

Israel has pushed back at talk of a prolonged ceasefire and has stressed the importance of releasing all the hostages.Hamas has agreed to the general outlines of this deal, but Israel has not and is still negotiating the details, the official said.

It is not known how many Palestinian women and minors Israel would release from its jails as part of the agreement under discussion.

Such a deal would also require Hamas to hand over a complete list of remaining living civilian hostages held in Gaza.A more comprehensive release of all hostages is not currently under discussion, the official said.

There was no immediate response from Israeli officials, who have previously declined to provide detailed comments on the hostage negotiations, citing reluctance to undermine the diplomacy or fuel reports that they deemed “psychological warfare” by Palestinian terrorists.

Minister Benny Gantz, a former defense minister and IDF chief of staff and who is in the war cabinet, told a news conference on Wednesday: “Even if we are required to pause fighting in order to return our hostages, there will be no stopping the combat and the war until we achieve our goals.”

Asked to elaborate on what is hindering the hostage deal, Gantz declined to give any details.

US President Joe Biden has repeatedly stated that the release of the hostages, among which there are US citizens, is a top priority for him.

On Wednesday, Netanyahu’s wife, Sara, wrote a letter to first lady Jill Biden, asking her as the wife of the US president and as a mother to call for the immediate release of all the hostages, including 32 children.

Among those held, she said, are a 10-month-old and a pregnant woman who has since given birth.When asked by Reuters on Wednesday about the negotiations, Ezzat El Rashq, a member of the Hamas political bureau, did not directly confirm the deal under discussion.

Israel “is still refusing and delaying the release of 50 women and children captives and a true humanitarian truce, in exchange for the release of a number of women and children from our people in the occupation prisons and getting relief and humanitarian aid to all areas in the Gaza Strip,” he said.

The Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs declined to comment. McGurk is slated to visit Qatar while in the region.The wealthy Gulf state of Qatar, which has ambitious foreign policy goals, has a direct line of communication with Hamas and Israel. It has previously helped mediate truces between the two.

Qatar, where Hamas operates a political office, has been leading mediation between the Islamist terrorist group and Israeli officials for the release of more than 239 hostages seized by Hamas on October 7 when it infiltrated southern Israel, massacring over 1,200 people, including infants and the elderly, and triggering the current war.