Israel and Hamas agree truce, release of 50 hostages

By AFP srael and Hamas announced a deal on Wednesday allowing at least 50 hostages and scores of Palestinian prisoners to be freed, while offering besieged Gaza residents a four-day truce after weeks of all-out war. In the first major diplomatic breakthrough in the war, Palestinian militants will release during a four-day truce 50 women and children kidnapped during their October 7 raids. After weeks of Qatar-brokered negotiations, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet approved the truce accord Wednesday after a near-all-night meeting, in which he told ministers this was a “difficult decision but it’s a right decision”. he cabinet’s sign-off was one of the last stumbling blocks after what one US official described as five “extremely excruciating” weeks of […]