Israel agrees to hostage deal with Hamas: Live updates

The hostage deal does not include the “release of murderers,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday while disclosing more details from the agreement.

Most Israelis have welcomed the agreement, and Netanyahu said the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and security establishments fully support the deal with Hamas.  

“They made it clear yesterday at the government meeting that the security of our forces will be maintained during the pause days,” Netanyahu said during a news conference.  

But there has been concern from some that perpetrators of fatal attacks on Israelis could be among the list of Palestinians set to be released from Israeli jails. 

The vast majority of the Palestinians listed as eligible for release are male teenagers aged 16 to 18 – children under the United Nations definition – although a handful are as young as 14. Some 33 are women, according to a CNN count. 

Netanyahu credited the success of the agreement to the combination of Israel’s “non-stop massive military pressure” on Hamas and “heavy” diplomatic pressure Israel had been applying to release hostages taken by the militant group.  

“We have conducted tough negotiation, fought to improve the agreement,” Netanyahu said.  

He said he spoke to US President Joe Biden on Wednesday and thanked him for “acting, at my request, vis-à-vis the mediators, to achieve a significant improvement in the agreement, and such an improvement was indeed achieved.” 

“I believe that this combination [of diplomatic and military efforts] will allow the release of additional hostages in the next stages,” the prime minister said. 

During the truce, the IDF will “prepare for the continuation” of the war against Hamas, Netanyahu said.  

“The war…