[Today’s Prayer] Agreement for release of dozens of hostages

A high-ranking Israeli official said that negotiations between Israel and Hamas for the release of hostages in the Gaza Strip are close to reaching an agreement, according to a column in the Washington Post on the 13th (local time).

David Ignatius, a columnist for WP, said in an op-ed column, “A senior Israeli official, who requested anonymity, said in an interview on the 13th that Israel and Hamas are close to an agreement to release most of the Israeli women and children kidnapped on the 7th of last month.”

The Israeli official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said an agreement would be announced within a few days once details were finalized.

He explained that the tentative agreement includes a plan to release Israeli women and children as a mass, while also freeing Palestinian women and teenagers held in Israeli prisons.

“Israel wants the release of all 100 women and children kidnapped by Hamas, but the initial number is likely to be lower,” Ignatius said.

The Israeli official also added that a temporary ceasefire of perhaps five days would be reached along with the exchange of hostages and prisoners, and added that this would also alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Palestine in the Gaza Strip.

(Omitted)

Both Israel and Hamas are mentioning the 'release of hostages' and a '5-day ceasefire', but some within Israel believe that the prospects for reaching a negotiated settlement are bleak. There are also sayings that Israel may launch a military operation to rescue hostages instead of negotiations.

That day, Gershon Baskin, an Israeli negotiator who was involved in the 2011 exchange negotiations for an Israeli soldier and about 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, announced in an interview with the British daily The Times that the possibility of a hostage exchange is disappearing and that the military is finishing plans to raid the Gaza Strip tunnel network.

He said, “If an agreement is not reached in the next few days or hours to release the hostages, a military operation will begin to enter the location where the hostages are likely to be held.”

“First of all, we don’t know what the outcome of such a (military operation) will be,” Baskin said, expressing concern that Hamas could react in the process by killing hostages in the tunnel in response to Israeli forces.

(omitted)

soruce: Yeonhap News

12 But when Christ[a] had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. 14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. (Hebrews 10:12-14)

Lord, explanations have been provided that negotiations between Israel and Hamas for the release of hostages in the Gaza Strip are close to reaching an agreement, and that a temporary ceasefire could be reached along with an exchange of hostages.

May the mercy of God, who led the Egyptian captives into the wilderness and was with them, and who gives freedom to the captives, will come to the people of Israel and Palestine.

May the Lord, who guides all things for good, guide them so that the hostage negotiations can be concluded as soon as possible, the captives are released, and the killings of one another stop.

May the forgiveness of sins of Jesus, who offered an eternal sacrifice for sins and sits at the right hand of God, also be among these two nations.

Please guide them to forgive and love each other and may there not be pointless shedding of blood.

Let the amazing work of salvation of Jesus, who sanctified us forever and completely through a single sacrifice, come to pass in the midst of a deepening war that cannot be stopped or resolved by humans.

Since you have already made the people of Israel and Palestine whole and holy, please make all enemies your footstool and allow the kingdom of God to come fully.