i'm joined now by former us ambassador to israel and senior fellow at the harvard belfer centre, edwardw difficult was this deal to get done, and what do you think was the main factor that got it across the line? the deal was very difficult to get done. it has been months in the making. as your commentary reported. it is very interesting. the deal is fundamentally the same with certain revisions than the plan the president biden put forward last may. so what brought it to this combination, i think, are two majorfactors. one is the fact that public opinion in israel has also shifted, finally, with the hostage — with the hostage release is becoming such a predominant issue in israeli internal politics and that, with that is the assessment of the israeli defence establishment, for months now, but there isn't much more militarily that israel and the idf can do in gaza to suppress and denigrate hamas, including the decapitation of its leadership. so that is one factor. there is the political shifts within israel. the other factor is what one can call the trump effect. president—elect trump m

former us ambassador to israel and senior fellow at the harvard belfer center, edward djerejian told he thought, got the deal across the line. after the public anger and the protests, in tel aviv deny, a private, shared relief. too soon for celebrations. this deal too partial, too long coming to spark an explosion of joy. for 15 months, demonstrators here demanded the hostages' release. the names of israel's missing repeated like a mantra. their faces papering israel's walls. among them, five—year—old ariel and one—year—old kfir bibas and their parents. it's like a roller—coaster. i'm not breathing right now. we don't know if they're on the list, if they're going to come back in the first phase. if they're alive. if not... we actually don't know anything, so... ..it�*s scary. all living civilian women and children are due to be released over the next six weeks, along with elderly men and the sick. for now, soldiers and younger men will remain behind. you know, it's part of them, not all of them, and for us, it's only the beginning. we want them all here, 0k? because it's not ended, i