التصنيف: estaql

This essay was published in partnership with the Prison Journalism Project, which publishes independent journalism by jailed writers and others affected by imprisonment. 

On February 8, 2022, about an hour before the 6.30am morning count, an announcement rang out over the loudspeakers at New Jersey State Prison (NJSP). It was an emergency code, a “Code 53,” indicating a medical situation.

Located in Trenton, NJSP is the state’s only maximum security prison for men. Most are serving long sentences, many for life. Before New Jersey abolished capital punishment in 2007, NJSP was home to the state’s death row, hence its nickname, “The Last Stop”. The prison today consists of three large compounds — West, North and South — and houses about 1,300 prisoners. Approximately 400 are Muslim. Except for a few dozen, the majority are converts.

It was cold that morning when the announcement rang through the PA system in 2-Right, one of nine housing units in the West Compound, a Civil War-era military complex later converted to serve its current purpose.

I had just gotten up to clean the floor of my South Compound cell — a single-person, 8 by 7-foot (2.4 by 2.1-metre) cage — before performing morning prayers. A long metal table runs across the length of one wall of my cell; adjoined to it are a stainless steel sink and toilet. The light grey walls are bare except for an Islamic prayer calendar, a timetable that I follow every day.

I work for the prison’s chaplaincy department and know that of the nearly 120 men who reside on 2-Right, more than two dozen of them are from our Islamic congregation, which is among the largest in the US prison system.

I immediately began to pray. Over the years, I developed a habit of praying whenever emergency codes were called out. They had become common in those days. The COVID-19 pandemic was still raging, particularly in prisons where the virus has killed thousands of people. Because of the heightened atmosphere of fear of death during the pandemic, many Muslims at NJSP had begun to feel intense anxiety about our final rites, and what would happen to our bodies if we died. Fuelling this unease was the knowledge that some imprisoned men who died at NJSP had been cremated against their religious beliefs.

Losing a brother

I had already lost one friend to the virus, so every time I heard a medical code, I braced for bad news.

This time was no different.

“Yo, Tariq, it was Mujahid on the code this morning,” shouted one of the longtime prisoners from my housing unit who worked on the inside sanitation detail as he returned from a rubbish run.

Confirmation of the news came from another prisoner, a fellow Muslim who worked on the ice detail hauling and filling bags of ice for styrofoam coolers, which prisoners can buy and use to refrigerate food and drinks. Our brother, Gregory Williams, who went by the name Mujahid after converting to Islam, had died.

I first met Mujahid at about the time of my arrival at NJSP in August 2005, three years after I was arrested. I was 28 years old when I arrived, and had known him for the better part of two decades. Mujahid had been in prison for more than 40 years. He was an active, beloved senior member of our Muslim prison congregation. He was one of the institution’s oldest paralegals, or what some call a “jailhouse lawyer”, an imprisoned person, usually self-taught, who supports fellow prisoners in various legal matters. He was a healthy, active, slender Black man known for both his legal work and handball game. He was 67 when he died.

I learned the details of what happened later that morning in the North Compound Chapel from Martin “Poncho” Robles and Samuel who lived in Mujahid’s housing unit. The chapel serves prisoners of all religions and I work there as a clerk, assisting with religious services, which includes putting together a monthly roster of different activities and providing prisoners with reading material, among other tasks.

The chapel is located at the junction of the North and the West compounds, and along a corridor leading to the prison gymnasium and the recreation yard. As a result, it is a high-traffic area, and people often stop by the chapel to exchange or discuss news. A death inside NJSP is big news, and because of the continued spread of COVID-19, the prison was seemingly always abuzz with conversation about someone getting sick, being hospitalised or dying.

When Poncho and Samuel, who asked that only his first name be used in this article, came by, I was sitting with Sheikh Jamal El-Chebli, supervisor of NJSP’s chaplaincy department and an employee of the New Jersey Department of Corrections (NJDOC), the government agency responsible for the state prison system. Also present was Robert “Rafique” Rose, my fellow chaplaincy clerk and close friend. Rose, a founding member of our congregation, is a well-respected septuagenarian elder and known inside as “Sheikh Rafique”. (The term “sheikh” is an Arabic honorific that can be used to refer to elders.) Tall and lively, he has served more than 40 years of a 75-year prison sentence.

Things turned quickly

The day before Mujahid passed away, Poncho and Samuel told us he had been having difficulty breathing. One of his legs, the two reported, had swollen up the previous day, prompting a visit to the prison medical department. Later, Mujahid relayed to Poncho and Samuel that he had felt dismissed by the medical personnel and not taken seriously.

The next morning, at approximately 5:10am, a guard conducted a regular prisoner count. Poncho, whose cell was located close to Mujahid’s, heard him acknowledge the guard.

But then things quickly turned. At 5:32am, Poncho said, the nurse delivering morning medications to prisoners in the housing unit found Mujahid unresponsive. The officer escorting the nurse immediately called for the medical code. Soon, medical staff arrived and pulled Mujahid’s body out of his cell, attempting to resuscitate him for what Poncho called “a good half hour”.

“You could see his lifeless body on the cold floor,” Poncho said. Some men in the unit grew agitated – some were murmuring while others yelled angrily. Unable to revive Mujahid, prison officers waited for the coroners to arrive. Poncho said he tried to hand the officers a sheet to cover his body but they did not take it. In my experience, prison staff are often reluctant to touch a body for fear of becoming entangled in the investigation that follows a death. Eventually, the guards brought a standing screen to shield him from view.

His body lay there for about seven hours before the coroner finally pronounced Mujahid dead, Poncho explained. At that point, Mujahid’s “body was placed in a black body bag and dragged away.” (I have not been able to confirm the official cause of death.)

The news of Mujahid’s death hit those of us who knew him hard. Poncho said he’s been “messed up” ever since he saw his friend’s lifeless body lying unattended for so long.

Upon learning what had happened, Sheikh El-Chebli, Sheikh Rafique and I looked at one other and recited a verse from the Quran often invoked in times of calamity or death: Inna l’illah wa inna ilayhi rajioun. (Truly, to God we belong and truly to Him we return.)

After they left, we talked about Mujahid, his service to the community and his generous nature. In prison, such moments are cherished. They briefly ease the stifling feeling of imprisonment and isolation which burdens us all. In shared grief, we feel held by our community and prison family.

But we soon started to worry about Mujahid’s burial and final rites. It was a surreal conversation; over the years, we had often spoken with Mujahid about the subject. Mujahid had always tried to use his legal expertise to improve the quality of life for our congregation, and in particular, had worked to secure final rites for imprisoned Muslims.

Now, it seemed, his worst fears – not receiving those rites – might come to pass.

Burial and final rites

Islamic beliefs dictate that a Muslim cannot be cremated; it is considered haram, a forbidden act. A Muslim must be buried after a ritual bath called ghusl and the covering of the body with two white sheets or towels, known as kafan. A janazah, or funeral, is performed before burial.

For Muslims, the last rites are a final farewell and religious act carried out according to sincerely held beliefs in life after death, the day of judgement and heaven and hell. The burial procedures are therefore of vital religious importance.

During my imprisonment, I have known of Muslim prisoners who have died without a family willing or able to claim their bodies. In some cases, these men were buried with the help of Islamic communities outside, including the Islamic Society of Central Jersey (ISCJ).

But at present, there does not appear to be a clear prison-facilitated process in place for prisoners to influence what happens to their bodies after they die.

The fact that so many Muslims inside are converts complicates matters. Arranging final rites and legally establishing one’s burial preferences typically require buy-in from family members, who often don’t accept their loved one’s decision to convert. In such a situation, the only way to override the wishes of the immediate next of kin is to obtain what the state of New Jersey calls a “funeral agent”. This person is designated by the prisoner before death to handle burial decisions. But the process for attaining a funeral agent is not straightforward, and one is only useful insofar that a decedent, or his funeral agent, can afford the costs associated with burials — a tall order for many imprisoned people.

When it comes to our burial rites, we are confronted with a black hole. We are not given the information we need about the process of securing those rites, nor do we know if there is a proper way for imprisoned Muslims in New Jersey – many serving extremely long sentences – to ensure our burial wishes are carried out. Without the agency as Muslim prisoners to elect our burial preferences, we fear being cremated against our religious beliefs.

Fighting for a mechanism

The New Jersey Administrative Code contains the rules governing how state laws are implemented. According to the section on the burial or cremation of unclaimed bodies of prisoners: “An unclaimed body shall be cremated where it is reasonably believed that it would not violate the religious tenets of the deceased inmate.”

Mujahid and other Muslim prisoners including myself have tried to petition for and establish a mechanism within NJDOC to ensure Islamic last rites for Muslim prisoners. These efforts include complaints submitted through a formal channel for prisoners. Mujahid showed me letters he mailed to organisations including the American Civil Liberties Union and the Council on American-Islamic Relations and pro-bono lawyers requesting support, but no one responded. Before he died, he had also pursued a religious discrimination lawsuit.

Prisoners have also petitioned to be able to submit a final legal will recording their wishes to be buried according to Islamic doctrine.

Being able to choose is crucial. Without such a mechanism, decisions about what happens to the body after death may fall to an unsympathetic family member or the state. NJSP authorities typically rely on a prisoner’s emergency contact form to determine who is contacted first about a death and what to do with the body. That person may refuse or be unable to claim a body due to the financial burden, religious disagreements or any number of other reasons. Sometimes, they are no longer alive.

Over the years, prison chaplains have explained to me what they understand happens to the body of a deceased prisoner. Typically, the body is kept in cold storage, usually by the county’s medical examiner officer. It is considered unclaimed if no funeral executor or family member is identified and contacted.

At this point, inevitably, we are forced to ask: What then will happen to the body? All we know is that the state will decide.

This is the question many Muslim prisoners asked after Mujahid passed away, as we worried whether a family member would claim his body. It’s also one I posed to Victor Lee, NJDOC’s religious coordinator, when he visited the facility in 2022. He declined to comment.

Without a specific procedure to elect and guarantee our burial preferences, many of us do not know what will happen to us when we die.

Last-ditch requests

In my time at NJSP, at least three Muslims have been cremated instead of being properly buried. Their names are Rahim, Alim, and Talib. A fourth Muslim, Abdullah, was buried by his family as a Christian. These are the names the men took on after converting to Islam.

I could not confirm the exact dates of each death. Even years were difficult to track down. My memory, fellow prisoners, and other people who knew the men got me only this far: Abdullah died between 2006 and 2007; Rahim between 2011 and 2014; Talib between 2019 and 2021. Alim died in 2020. It is hard to describe to people on the outside the way time warps in prison, how the days, months and years blend together in a haze. I regret the lack of precision. These men were my brothers, and I wish I could tell you when exactly they died.

In the cases of Talib and Abdullah, both had family members who refused to honour their burial preferences. For Alim, his family could not afford burial, according to a fellow prisoner who knew the family. (A typical Muslim burial can cost about $6,000.) I have not been able to find anything more about the circumstances around Rahim’s cremation.

I knew each of these men in some way or another and learned of their cremations through both close acquaintances and past and current prison chaplains. All were members of our congregation. I would see them regularly during Friday prayers and at religious classes and events. Abdullah was a light-skinned man with thinning hair who had the look of a dishevelled mathematics professor and spoke in a precise, calculated way. He was a brilliant paralegal and considered by all to be a wise and caring man. Rahim, friendly and outgoing, loved to play cards and board games. Talib had a silver beard and a soft, quiet demeanour. A longtime food services worker, he loved to cook. Alim was a paralegal and a prison mentor. I had known him since arriving at NJSP and he was a dear friend of mine.

Both Talib and Alim had submitted self-made wills to various prison departments declaring their burial preferences. Muslim prisoners here often resort to creating a generic document with paralegals which resembles a final will. Some people have even had copies of these documents notarised by notary personnel arranged by the prison and accepted by various prison departments. (I have seen this happen, and I helped Talib fill his out.) For many prisoners, these are a last-ditch attempt to secure some clarity on their rites. It is not clear what legal significance these documents carry, or whether or how they were consulted after the deaths of Talib and Alim.

NJDOC did not respond to questions provided by Al Jazeera and the Prison Journalism Project.

Death by imprisonment

The anxiety about last rites stems largely from the fact that dying in prison in the state of New Jersey will or could be a reality for many prisoners, including myself.

The state has one of the harshest sentencing schemes in the country and some of the worst racial disparities in the nation. According to a 2022 report by the New Jersey Criminal Sentencing and Disposition Commission, Black people account for 61 percent of the prison population, and only 13 percent of the state population.

The report confirms what I have seen with my own eyes. On the day I arrived at NJSP, I remember stepping into the mess hall where we eat and catching my first glimpse of the rows upon rows of metal tables, each table with four stainless steel stools melded to it. They were overwhelmingly occupied by Black and Latino people. The white people I saw could be counted on one hand. That remains the same today.

Prior to the abolishment of the death penalty in New Jersey, I was one of the last criminal defendants tried for capital punishment in the state. After the jury declined the death penalty, I received a punishment of 150 years for a double homicide, for which I maintain my innocence. That effectively sentenced me to death by incarceration. The average life expectancy of a New Jersey man is about 80 years. At 25 years of age with no prior run-ins with the law, I was given a sentence that would see me imprisoned for 70 years beyond the state’s average life expectancy. With one of the longest sentences in this state prison system, the prospect of death behind bars is a genuine concern for me.

Unlike others inside, I am fortunate to have a loving family. I am a single man with no children, but I am blessed with loving parents, a brother and sister-in-law and their two beautiful children. I also have a few other relatives and loyal friends who have supported me during my imprisonment. This support is invaluable both emotionally and financially.

Although I have kept a steady job for about 17 years, it would be extremely hard to survive without my loved ones. My meagre prison wages cannot even cover my telephone fees. And there is no guarantee that my loved ones will be there when I meet my end. Being away for a lifetime alienates prisoners like me from new members of the family who have no connection to those of us serving life sentences. Another possibility is that even if my family is around, there is no guarantee that they will be able to afford my burial costs.

If there was a clear process to state my burial wishes, I could start now to try and make my own arrangements.

‘I don’t want to be burned’

The issue of final rites remains a constant source of anxiety for many Muslims at NJSP.

During our many conversations at work in the chapel, Sheikh Rafique has often expressed concern about this issue.

“Many older Muslim brothers are worried about getting buried since most of their families have passed away and living relatives don’t even know them. The NJDOC needs to make this process a priority,” Sheikh Rafique told me shortly after Mujahid died.

Sheikh Rafique’s 90-year-old mother had passed away not too long before that, in late December of 2021. He was heartbroken. For years, she had visited her son almost every Saturday — travelling on two trains from Newark, where she lived, to the prison in Trenton  — until her health started to flag in her 80s. Sheikh Rafique told me he felt blessed to have a loving family; even his siblings’ children knew and loved him. He wasn’t too worried about them taking care of him when the time came, but he didn’t want to be a burden to anyone in his family when he left. Like other Muslims at NJSP, he wished he had a way to make his own burial arrangements with an outside Islamic organisation or funeral parlour.

Marko “Abdul Mu’izz” Bey, another fellow Muslim prisoner, came to see our prison chaplain Sheikh El-Chebli and Sheikh Rafique for a counselling session a few days after the death of Mujahid. Bey, who is in his mid-50s, had spent decades on death row before the death penalty was banned, and seems to have resigned himself to dying in prison. When he visited the chapel, his mother had recently passed away, and he was anxious to do something to secure his own final rites. “Man, they need to figure this janazah stuff out, I don’t want to be burned, brother,” he confided.

Another Muslim prisoner, who is serving a life sentence and asked to remain anonymous, is scared something similar could happen to him. “My family ostracised me for converting, and now I’m worried that when I pass away they will either refuse to let me be buried as a Muslim or will refuse to claim my body and I will be burned,” he confided. He had come to submit a self-made will to the chaplaincy department a few weeks after the death and cremation of Alim in 2020.

A Muslim burial

In the end, our prison chaplain Sheikh El-Chebli intervened to advocate for Mujahid’s burial rites. This is not typically part of the job description.

The person on the emergency contact form did not accept Mujahid’s body, but Sheikh El-Chebli successfully located his brother, his next of kin, who is a practising Muslim in Philadelphia. He accepted Mujahid’s body.

After Mujahid’s death, our community mourned. Many people came to the chapel to speak about him and the support he had provided us all over the years. It was easy, for a moment, to imagine us existing on the outside, as though we were visiting Mujahid’s home to pay him the respects he so dearly deserved.

Nearly one month after Mujahid died, Sheikh El-Chebli relayed to Sheikh Rafique and myself that Mujahid had been buried as a Muslim. We were overjoyed. “Alhamdulillah!” we cried, turning to each other.

Mujahid’s case turned out the best it could thanks to various individual efforts. But there remains no guarantee that we won’t have to endure a similar trauma next time a Muslim brother dies. When that happens, our brother and our community may not be so fortunate.

Sign up for The Prison Journalism Project’s newsletter, or follow them on Instagram or X.

Leaders of major emerging economies called for an end to Israel’s war on Gaza on Tuesday, and for a cessation of hostilities on both sides to ease the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.

In a virtual summit chaired by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, the BRICS grouping denounced attacks on civilians in Palestine and Israel, with many leaders calling the forced displacement of Palestinians, within Gaza or outside the territory, “war crimes.”

“We condemned any kind of individual or mass forcible transfer and deportation of Palestinians from their own land,” a chair’s summary read. The group, which did not issue a joint declaration, also “reiterated that the forced transfer and deportation of Palestinians, whether inside Gaza or to neighbouring countries, constitute grave breaches of the Geneva conventions and war crimes and violations under International Humanitarian Law.”

The BRICS is made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, all major emerging economies looking for a greater say in a global order long dominated by the United States and its Western allies. These countries are often viewed as leaders of what is referred to in international policy speak as the “Global South”.

But it wasn’t just these five countries that spoke on the war on Tuesday. Earlier this year, the BRICS had agreed to expand and add Egypt, Ethiopia, Argentina, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Iran as members from 2024. The leaders of these six countries also participated in the meeting called by South Africa. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres joined the summit too.

The chair’s summary — in essence a gist of the mood in the room — highlights growing calls from the Global South to end the war on the Gaza Strip. The conflict began after an October 7 attack on Israeli communities by the armed group Hamas that saw 1,200 people killed and 240 others taken hostage. In response, Israel has incessantly shelled Gaza, targeting hospitals, schools and refugee camps and killing more than 13,000 people, many of them children, in violation of international laws.

Since then, millions of people across Africa, Asia and the Middle East have marched for a “Free Palestine” and called for a ceasefire. Experts in Africa and elsewhere have accused the United States, United Kingdom and European Union of hypocrisy for claiming to be  bastions of democracy and human rights while supporting Israel’s war in Gaza.

A ‘growing assertiveness’

While the chair’s summary appeared “mild and somewhat balanced” according to Steven Gruzd, an analyst at the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA), some countries were more combative in their presentations.

In his opening statement at the meeting, the current BRICS chair, President Ramaphosa of South Africa, said that Israel’s actions “are in clear violation of international law” and that the “collective punishment of Palestinian civilians by Israel “is a war crime … tantamount to genocide”. Ramaphosa also said Hamas had “violated international law and must be held accountable”.

India’s stance was comparatively softer, with Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar saying there was “a need for restraint and immediate humanitarian support”, as well as “peaceful resolution through dialogue and diplomacy”.

Many of the member states, including Russia and Brazil, have previously criticised Israel’s non-stop bombardment and now, ground invasion of the Gaza Strip. China, for its part, this week hosted a delegation of Muslim countries, officials and organisations seeking a ceasefire, including the Palestinian Authority (PA).

India, though, has not been as vocal and has in fact cracked down on pro-Palestine marches at home, seemingly siding with Israel and its biggest benefactor, the US, in what is seen as a split within the BRICS itself.

But that split did not seem glaring at Tuesday’s summit, which experts say is a first-of-its-kind meeting for a group that has previously focused on economic issues.

“I am not sure I recall a similar extraordinary summit being called,” Gruzd told Al Jazeera. “It does reflect on the growing assertiveness and confidence of the BRICS grouping, not waiting for the West. BRICS has generally shied away from political and security issues; this meeting goes against that trend.”

Together, BRICS countries represent 40 percent of the world population and a quarter of the global economy.

President Ebrahim Raisi of Iran – Israel’s archenemy – said Palestinians should hold a referendum to determine their fate.

Still, many BRICS nations — not just India — have established ties with Israel that they will be wary of severing.

China has huge investments in Israel, Gruzd notes, while India has even deeper historic ties with the country and enjoys military and technological partnerships with it. But with a fiery Iran set to join the group, India might not be able to influence how a new BRICS+ will react to Israel, Gruzd said.

South Africa, currently the smallest BRICS country, and one that itself experienced oppressive apartheid rule for more than four decades, sees its own struggle reflected in that of the Palestinians and has consistently been one of the loudest calls for a ceasefire, said analysts.

At the same time, it has long been Israel’s largest trade partner in Africa. On Tuesday, that relationship appeared to have reached a turning point.

Parliament members voted to shut down the Israeli embassy in Pretoria, signifying a turning point in the crisis. Diplomats from the country had already been recalled from Israel on November 6. Israel recalled its ambassador to South Africa, Eliav Belotserkovsky, for “consultations” on Monday in response to Pretoria’s growing hostility.

Alongside Bangladesh, Bolivia, Comoros and Djibouti last week, South Africa also submitted a referral to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate whether war crimes have been committed in Gaza.

A turning point?

On Monday, South African Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni applied further pressure, calling for an ICC warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, adding that it would be a “total failure” if the court did not investigate the leader.

Earlier this year, South Africa had managed to convince Russia not to send  President Vladimir Putin to the annual BRICS Summit in August because of an ICC arrest warrant issued against him for war crimes committed in Ukraine. If Putin had attended the summit in South Africa, the country, an ICC signatory, would have been obligated to arrest him.

Tuesday’s BRICS stance, instigated by South Africa, might push more countries to be vocal in denouncing the war, said Muhammed Desai of Africa4Palestine, an advocacy group.

“South Africa is a significant economic and political powerhouse on the African continent as well as a country with one of the most embassies and high commissions in the world,” Desai said. “Thus, its stance and position does have clout within the diplomatic arena.”

But the coalition’s political weight is not significant enough to have any real impact on the direction of Israel’s war, others say. “Frankly, I do not think they have much leverage on Israel directly,” said Gruzd of SAIIA. “I also do not think it will have much effect on the West, besides adding to voices calling for a ceasefire.”

Their leverage is, however, growing. Dozens of nations have applied or shown interest in joining BRICS, a major reason for the expansion earlier this year, as countries seek to reduce their dependence on the US-led Western financial system.

Russia, which will hold the group’s presidency in 2024, is expected to push to use local currencies for international trade payments, as opposed to the dominant US dollar.

That platform, some say, is necessary for the voice of the Global South to be heard. “Within the global world order, BRICS offers another voice,” Desai of Africa4Palestine said, and “that is necessary to counter the current Western hegemonic view”.

Details have not been made public, but the deal is likely to see the release of 50 women and children held captive in Gaza.

The Israeli cabinet has agreed to a temporary ceasefire deal that will enable the release of about 50 people who have been held captive in Gaza since the Hamas armed group stormed southern Israel on October 7.

The agreement came after talks on a Qatar-mediated deal that continued into the early hours of Wednesday morning, with Israeli media reporting heated exchanges between ministers of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.

In the end, only three of the 38 members of the cabinet voted against the truce – National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and two other members of his far-right political party.

The prime minister’s office said the deal would require Hamas to release at least 50 women and children during a four day “pause in fighting”.  For every additional 10 hostages released, the pause would be extended by a day, it said, without mentioning the release of Palestinian prisoners in exchange.

“Israel’s government is committed to return all the hostages home. Tonight, it approved the proposed deal as a first stage to achieving this goal,” the statement said.

Hamas, which controls Gaza, also released a statement, confirming that 50 women and children currently held in the territory would be freed in exchange for Israel releasing 150 Palestinian women and children from Israeli jails.

It said that Israel would also stop all military actions in Gaza, and that hundreds of trucks carrying humanitarian, medical and fuel aid would be allowed into the territory.

The accord is the first truce of a war in which Israel has flattened vast swathes of Gaza, which is home to about 2.3 million people. Palestinian officials say at least 14,100 people have been killed, while the United Nations says about 1.7 million people have been forced from their homes. Hamas killed at least 1,200 people in its attack on Israel.

Officials from Qatar, as well as the United States, Israel and Hamas have for days been saying a deal was imminent.

Qatar is likely to make the formal announcement on the ceasefire with the first captives being released about 24 hours after that.

Ahead of the meeting to discuss the deal, Netanyahu stressed that Israel’s broader mission had not changed.

“We are at war and we will continue the war until we achieve all our goals,” he said in a recorded message. “To destroy Hamas, return all our hostages and ensure that no entity in Gaza can threaten Israel.”

Analysts said the international community should use the pause to try and secure an end to the fighting.

“In the coming days, more aid will come in, more fuel, hopefully more medical supplies and the most seriously injured can be evacuated, but beyond that, in these coming days of pause there needs to be massive pressure on Israel to not recommence the fighting at the end of this period,” Antony Loewenstein, an independent journalist and author based in Australia, told Al Jazeera. ”

About 237 captives from Israel and several other countries are thought to be in Gaza, but foreign nationals are not thought to be part of the agreement.

Hamas has released only four captives since the abductions took place more than a month ago – an American mother and her daughter, and two elderly Israeli women.

It has said some of the captives were killed in the Israeli bombardment.

The Al Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad group, which was also involved in Hamas’s October 7 raid said late on Tuesday that one of the Israelis it is holding captive had died.

“We previously expressed our willingness to release her for humanitarian reasons, but the enemy was stalling and this led to her death,” they said on their Telegram channel.

Israel’s government has agreed to back a deal with Hamas for the release of some hostages in Gaza and a temporary pause in the fighting.

The agreement involves swapping the hostages for Palestinian prisoners being detained in Israel.

The prime minister’s office said the deal involves the release of 50 women and children being held in Gaza by Hamas over a period of four days during which there will be a pause in the fighting.

The government said it would extend the lull by an additional day for every 10 hostages released.

Israel-Gaza latest: Israel approves ceasefire and hostage release with Hamas

Hamas said it and Israel had agreed to a four-day pause in hostilities in Gaza.

The group said it agreed to release around 50 women and children hostages from Gaza in exchange for Israel releasing 150 Palestinian women and children from Israeli jails.

Key points of the deal according to statements by Israel and Hamas:
• 50 Israeli women and children held by Hamas in Gaza to be released over four days during which there will be a pause in the fighting
• For every additional 10 hostages released thereafter there will be another day’s pause in the fighting
• 150 Palestinian women and people under the age of 19 held in Israeli prisons to be freed
• Humanitarian relief, medical and fuel aid to be allowed into all areas of the Gaza Strip
• Aerial surveillance by Israel to halt for four days in the south of the Gaza Strip
• Aerial surveillance by Israel to halt for six hours a day from 10am to 4pm for four days in the north of the Gaza Strip
• During the truce period, Israel is committed not to attack or arrest anyone in all areas of the Gaza Strip

Analysis: Vote is a major step in the right direction, but it remains a very fragile situation

It is the most significant diplomatic breakthrough since the conflict began on 7 October.

Under the deal air traffic would stop daily for six hours in the north of Gaza during the four-day ceasefire and Israel committed not to attack nor arrest anyone in all parts of Gaza during the truce period.

In a statement the Israeli government said: “The government of Israel is obligated to return home all of the hostages.

“Tonight, the government has approved the outline of the first stage of achieving this goal, according to which at least 50 hostages – women and children – will be released over four days, during which a pause in the fighting will be held.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened his special war cabinet earlier – followed by planned meetings of the broader security cabinet and then the full cabinet to discuss “the issue of the release of hostages”.

The various bodies are required to approve important government decisions.

Ahead of the vote Mr Netanyahu said Israel would resume its offensive against Hamas after the ceasefire expires.

He said the intervention of US President Joe Biden had helped improve the tentative agreement so it included more hostages and fewer concessions.

But he said Israel’s broader mission had not changed: “We are at war and we will continue the war until we achieve
all our goals. To destroy Hamas, return all our hostages and ensure that no entity in Gaza can threaten Israel.”

Read more:
Analysis: Vote is a major step in the right direction, but it remains a very fragile situation

Gaza war has devastated territory and left hundreds of thousands displaced

For weeks, Qatar had been mediating talks between Israel and the Palestinian militant group that governs the Gaza Strip.

Israel says Hamas took 242 hostages during its attack on 7 October and killed 1,200 people.

Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry says more than 13,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel retaliated in an offensive that has devastated swathes of the territory and left hundreds of thousands displaced.

Among the hostages in Gaza are about 37 children, according to The Hostage and Missing Families Forum – a group set up to demand the return of those kidnapped by Hamas.

Up until now, Hamas has released four hostages, Israel has rescued one, and the bodies of two others were found near al Shifa hospital.

Israel expands operations across northern Gaza

On the ground, Israeli troops have been battling Hamas militants as they expanded their operations across northern Gaza, where residents have been without electricity, water or access to humanitarian aid for weeks.

Tens of thousands of others have fled south through corridors announced by the military.

The frontline of the war, now in its seventh week, has shifted to the Jabaliya camp, a dense warren of concrete buildings near Gaza City.

Israel has been bombarding the area for weeks, and the military said Hamas fighters have regrouped there and in other eastern districts after being pushed out of much of Gaza City.

The hostage release deal has been delicately structured after weeks of negotiation and many false starts.

After ratification by Israel’s war cabinet, security cabinet and full cabinet, Benjamin Netanyahu now has the support of Israel’s security establishment.

Some 50 hostages will be released, in phases, all with Israeli citizenship. Roughly 12 every day.

We understand Hamas has agreed to release women and children, but not female IDF soldiers they’ve captured.

Israel backs hostage release deal – get live updates

Around 40 children are being held – it’s unclear whether only they and their mothers will be released or all civilian women, including grandmothers.

In exchange, it’s been reported that 150 Palestinian women and children will be freed from Israeli prisons – that’s a ratio of 3:1.

Israel might agree to suspend surveillance flights over Gaza for six hours a day but will not withdraw its troops from northern Gaza – that appears to be a significant concession given that Hamas will want to exploit the situation when Israel is ‘blind’ to regroup and rearm.

Israel is holding Hamas responsible for maintaining the pause in fighting – if Islamic Jihad or another militant group break the truce, then Israel will blame Hamas, strike back and the truce will be in jeopardy.

Israel is also likely to offer Hamas the chance to extend the ceasefire, day-by-day, if more hostages can be released – foreign nationals for example.

There is a strong belief in Israeli political circles that at least 80 hostages could be released and Hamas will no doubt want to drip-feed hope to prolong the pause and so it wouldn’t be a surprise if the truce is extended to allow more hostages out.

“Nothing is agreed until it’s all agreed,” the White House has previously said, and although tonight’s developments are a major step in the right direction, it remains a very fragile situation.

We await the specifics.