A DEAL AT LAST — After weeks of grueling negotiations, Israel and Hamas agreed last night to a deal that would halt bombing for at least four days and secure the release of 50 women and children being held in Gaza, including three Americans.

The agreement, brokered by the U.S., Qatar and Egypt, is a breakthrough for diplomacy in the six-week-old conflict, but as our Alex Ward, Adam Cancryn and Jonathan Lemire write, it’s a limited one: “Three U.S. administration officials said there’s no explicit victory lap to take as around 200 hostages will stay behind in Hamas’ grasp. And it would be uncouth to celebrate any win after Hamas killed 1,200 people on Oct. 7, leading Israel to forcefully respond with a military campaign that Hamas-led health ministries claim killed more than 13,000 people.”

What’s in the agreement … (1) A four-day pause in fighting, (2) the release of 50 women and children held hostage by Hamas, (3) the release of 150 Palestinian women and teenagers held in prison by Israel, and (4) safe passage for humanitarian aid from Egypt to Gaza. The agreement takes effect later tonight.

Said President JOE BIDEN: “I look forward to speaking with each of these leaders and staying in close contact as we work to ensure this deal is carried through in its entirety. It is important that all aspects of this deal be fully implemented. … Today’s deal should bring home additional American hostages, and I will not stop until they are all released.”

Hamas is calling the agreement a “truce,” while Israel is referring to it as a “pause” and is vowing to continue the war “in order to return home all of the hostages, complete the elimination of Hamas and ensure that there will be no new threat to the State of Israel from Gaza.”

Said Israel in a statement, “The release of every additional ten hostages will result in one additional day in the pause.”

Courtesy the Playbook