Last-Minute Hamas Hitch Postpones Gaza Ceasefire-Hostage Deal

JERUSALEM, Israel – Hostages were supposed to be coming out of captivity in Gaza starting this Sunday as a result of a deal that could free all of the hostages and end the war. However, last-minute revisions by Hamas caused Israel's Security Cabinet on Thursday to postpone approval of the deal, which had been in the works for more than a week.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accuses Hamas of making new demands about which Palestinian prisoners will be released in exchange for the hostages in Gaza. He says the Security Cabinet, slated to vote on the agreement today, won't meet until Hamas backs down.

Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani announced the deal on Wednesday as crowds cheered it in the streets of Gaza.

The agreement is supposed to take effect in three stages with the guns going silent and the first three hostages coming out this Sunday, two of them Americans.   

More of the 33 hostages who are over 50, female, children, or sick will then be freed every few days in the six-week-long first stage.

After 16 days, negotiations begin for stage two, which according to the agreement should secure the freedom for the rest of the living hostages and bring about an end to the war.   

In exchange, Israel would release around 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, including many terrorists serving life sentences for murdering Israelis.

Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar points out that it's tough to accept a deal that leaves Hamas terrorists in power who have killed so many Jews and still hold so many hostages. Sa'ar noted, "But if we will postpone the decision, we don’t know how many of them will survive. So, we have to take a very tough decision, and painful."

WATCH ANALYSIS HERE: CBN News Middle East Bureau Chief Chris Mitchell on Hamas Hitch

A sizable number of Israelis are not happy with the agreement or with the cheering crowds in Gaza, considering that hundreds of IDF soldiers have died and thousands have made substantial progress trying to defeat Hamas and rescue the hostages.

Large banners on a major Jerusalem street near the Prime Minister's Office read in Hebrew, "This is not victory."

Speaking on CBN News Faith Nation, former Israel Defense Forces officer Jonathan Conricus, now with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, explained, "Hamas in power means more war, more terror, more instability, more suffering in Gaza – and it means that we're kicking the can down the road and we're not really solving the problem."

Conricus added, "The positive side is that some hostages will come home, hopefully.  We still don't know who's alive and who isn't."

Hostage families are reacting with a combination of joy and dread, rejoicing that their relatives may be freed soon, and fearful that many may never come back.

Ifat Kalderon, cousin of hostage Ofer Kalderon, said, "I really, really hope that it won't end with only 33 hostages returning home, but all of them because everyone must return, both the living and the dead."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu first called President-elect Donald Trump to thank him for getting the deal done. He then called President Joe Biden.

Both Trump and Biden took credit for the deal. The president-elect declared on Truth Social, "This epic ceasefire agreement could have only happened as a result of our historic victory in November.

President Biden insisted, “This plan was developed and negotiated by my team."

Yet, he admitted the incoming and outgoing White House teams worked side-by-side. "These past few days we've been speaking as one team," Biden said.

And Trump pledged his team will work "to make sure Gaza never again becomes a terrorist safe haven."

U.S. senators reacted Wednesday at the confirmation hearing for Secretary of State nominee Marco Rubio, a fierce advocate for Israel

Senator Rubio asked, "How can any nation-state on the planet coexist side-by-side with a group of savages like Hamas?"

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) concurred, noting, "We all agree that Hamas can have no role in the governance of Gaza or any other place."

Rubio added, "So the key is not simply governance, it's who will govern?  You can't turn it over to people who seek your destruction." 

As for the deal, lawmakers took sides according to party. Sen. Roger Marshall, (R- Kansas) claimed, "Well, this only occurs because of Donald Trump. There's no one else that could have made this happen so, so quickly."

Sen. Chris Coons (D-Delaware) commented, "President Biden, his special envoy, his national security and foreign policy team have worked tirelessly to get to this point."

Israeli President Isaac Herzog called for the Netanyahu government to approve the deal on Thursday for the sake of the hostages. "There is no greater moral, human, Jewish, or Israeli obligation than to bring our sons and daughters back to us," he said.

"This is not a simple situation," Herzog continued. "This is one of the most difficult challenges we have known."

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