Watch: Netanyahu speaks after Hamas agree to release 50 hostages

Watch as Benjamin Netanyahu makes a statement on Wednesday, 22 November, after Hamas agreed to release at least 50 hostages dung a four-day ceasefire under a new deal with Israel

The agreement was brokered by Qatar and the United States after weeks of negotiations since Hamas's brutal attack on 7 October.

The breakthrough means dozens of people held by militants as well as Palestinians imprisoned in Israel, will be released and a large influx of aid will be brought into the besieged territory.

Dozens of children and their mothers held captive in Gaza since Hamas’s incursion into Israel will be freed via Egypt, according to the agreement.

Sources told the Independent Israel is willing to extend the humanitarian ceasefire by a day for every 10 additional hostages released by Hamas.

The first release is expected on Thursday.