The Washington Post reports this morning that a deal between Israel and Hamas for the release of 50 hostages is close to being closed. According to the report, the deal will include a 5-day ceasefire where every 24 hours a small group out of the 50 will be released.
The report states that the deal is expected to be implemented in the coming days, and that the humanitarian pauses are intended to allow additional income of humanitarian equipment and fuel.
The newspaper emphasizes that it is not yet clear how many of the total number of abductees, whose estimated number now stands at 237, will eventually be released as part of the emerging deal.
The White House hastened to announce that no deal has yet been reached and that negotiations are continuing: "An agreement has not yet been reached," said Adrienne Watson, spokeswoman for the National Security Council at the White House, who added that the US continues to "work hard to reach an agreement."
