00:00It's being received mostly with happiness, as we know the Israeli public has been waiting
00:07for this for months, but far from being a unanimous thing, there's a lot of criticism
00:15on this deal on two separate issues.
00:19One is the fact that many people were saying that they want all of the hostages to be brought
00:24back at once, together.
00:26This is not the case.
00:27There's a first stage in which 33 hostages will be brought back, according to what Israeli
00:32officials are saying, the majority of them are alive, but not all of them.
00:37But even after that first stage, if we're speaking currently of 98 hostages, you bring
00:41back 33, that means that 65 hostages, some of them alive, will remain behind for a second
00:48stage.
00:49There is a certain framework for a second stage, but it's far from being finalized,
00:54and some families and some parliament members and people who are opposing the deal are saying
01:00that this framework is leaving 65 people behind, and who knows when will they be back, when
01:07will they be brought back.
01:08Are we certain that the second stage will eventually happen?
01:11Absolutely not.
01:12Do we have a certain framework of time for that second stage?
01:15No.
01:16Therefore, criticism on that issue.
01:18On the other hand, there's so much expectation for a deal, and the hope of seeing 33 hostages
01:23most of them alive, and those in a difficult situation, the elderly, the women, the children,
01:30a lot of expectation to see those people.
01:33As mentioned, we're speaking at least for the moment of two different stages.
01:38The first one should bring back 33 hostages, and of course there's no other way for Israel
01:45to do this but to pay a very expensive price, first and foremost, withdrawing forces not
01:51from the entire Gaza Strip but from larger portions of the Gaza Strip.
01:55Israeli forces will remain in certain buffer zones within Gaza but will leave most of the
02:00populated areas, and of course releasing many, many Palestinian prisoners, among them those
02:08convicted for life sentences, for murder.
02:10Yes, it is true that they will be deported.
02:13They will not be allowed to go back to the West Bank.
02:15They will be deported either to Gaza or to a third country, being Qatar or Turkey.
02:20That is something that is not very easy for Israel to accept.
02:23On the other hand, there is a clear understanding that if you want to bring 98 hostages back,
02:27you have to pay a very expensive price.
02:30All in all, the reception is good.
02:31All in all, there's great expectation for this to happen.
02:35One final thing that is important to note, yes, it seems as if this is very close, but
02:40until this is finalized, then everybody here in Israel understands that things can go wrong.
02:46Things can be derailed.
02:47We have seen optimistic signs in the past, and then eventually things did not happen.
02:53Therefore, until this deal is done, finalized, signed, and even furthermore, until hostages
02:59actually come back to Israeli territory, there will always be some skepticism in the Israeli
03:05side whether this will eventually happen or not.
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