US Official: Preliminary Agreement for Hostage Release

An American official announced today, Tuesday, that "Hamas and Israel are close to reaching an agreement that includes the release of 50 hostages, most of whom are women and children, in exchange for the release of 150 Palestinian prisoners and a ceasefire for four or five days." He noted that "there is a preliminary agreement, but it is not final until everything is agreed upon." The official told Reuters: "We believe we are very close to reaching an agreement... there is still a lot of work to be done, and approval is still needed. But we believe we are very close."