1. The exchange
50 hostages against 150 prisoners, a ratio of 1 to 3 – this is what Israel and Hamas have agreed on, mediated by Qatar, under pressure from the United States. On Thursday, tomorrow, the exchange is to begin. The key points of the agreement:
There is a four-day ceasefire, during the first three days Hamas is to release ten hostages.
In return, Israel will take women and juveniles out of its prisons and hand over about 30 of them to Hamas every day.
On the fourth day, 20 hostages and 60 prisoners are to be released.
The ceasefire could be extended to 30 days if Hamas were to hand over about 150 more hostages to the Israelis. However, Hamas would first have to collect these from other terrorist groups in Gaza. If that happens, Israel promises to release up to <> more Palestinians.
Every day, 300 trucks carrying aid are to be allowed to enter the Gaza Strip.
Israel's soldiers hold their positions, Palestinian civilians are still allowed to move from the north to the south, but not the other way around.
Israel is not allowed to launch reconnaissance flights in the south and suspend flights in the north for six hours during these days; a Hamas commander fears that otherwise the Israelis will find out where the hostages are being held.
What happens after the ceasefire? Another war with unbroken ferocity, as Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announces? Or start negotiations on a final solution, as Qatar hopes? My colleague Richard C. Schneider thinks an agreement is unlikely in the foreseeable future: "Hamas will only allow the release of the soldiers among the hostages at a very high price." At the beginning of the war, it was said: all hostages for all 6000,<> Palestinian prisoners in Israel. "However, Netanyahu cannot and will never push through such a deal," Schneider reports. "His coalition would collapse, and many Israeli citizens would also be against it." The relatives of the hostages are likely to see things differently. Who can blame them?
Read the full analysis here: The hostage agreement is a respite – nothing more
More news and background information on the war in the Middle East can be found here:
Who will be released now and what happens next: Relatives have been waiting for a sign of life for more than six weeks, and now there is finally hope: The terrorist organization Hamas wants to release 50 hostages as part of a deal. But whom? Watch the video here.
Radical settlers dream of returning to Gaza: The Gaza Strip was their home until Israel withdrew from the Palestinian territory in 2005. Now the war is awakening new hope in the former Jewish inhabitants of the place they call "Gush Katif".
Historians object to comparisons of Hamas with Nazis: Renowned Holocaust and anti-Semitism researchers warn against comparing Hamas' terror with the Nazi genocide. This distorts the causes of violence and promotes anti-Arab racism.
2. .AI, there he is again!
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Old and new OpenAI boss: Altman does not protect against folly
Photograph:
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Sam Altman, the recently fired head of arguably the most famous artificial intelligence lab, is returning to his post at OpenAI in a triumphal procession. This is the collapse of the coup that the board (a kind of board of directors) has instigated.
In a tech podcast, the hosts joked: Over the weekend, so many text messages were sent out in the industry, plus all the press inquiries – the mass was large enough to feed a new AI language model. If your name isn't Sheldon Cooper, here's the director's note: Please laugh. (And more on how AI language models are trained here).
The scramble for the top job at OpenAI could be followed almost in real time on the net, but the jokes and memes were more entertaining. Sample: Sam Altman's return to OpenAI in a matter of days is like Steve Jobs' return to Apple after twelve years, but at TikTok speed. (Let's not be Childish, but here's more cool fare on the subject).
The board members obviously haven't read the classic "Coup d'État: A Practical Handbook" from 1968, according to my colleague Patrick Beuth from our Netzwelt department. According to the book, the decisive factor for the success of a coup d'état is "maximum speed in the transitional phase, and the need to completely neutralize the opposition." It is essential to have diplomatic skills, immediate control over communication channels, and tactical skills if the targets are heavily protected. Patrick says, "The insurgents have done pretty much everything wrong that author and military strategist Edward Luttwak once warned." Accordingly, they have failed across the board.
Read more here: OpenAI is dead, long live OpenAI
3. Crime Scene Dallas
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Photo: DER SPIEGEL
Where were you 60 years ago today? Supposedly, almost anyone who was conscious at the time could answer this question as if shot out of a pistol, even if the metaphor seems cynical: On November 22, 1963, John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, was shot.
Now one of Kennedy's bodyguards has broken his silence: Former Secret Agent agent Paul Landis, now 88, spoke with my colleague Katrin Seelmann-Eggebert for a video series about the assassination. He claims to have observed a detail that does not fit the lone perpetrator thesis – he found a projectile in the back of the seat behind Kennedy. It is the famous "magic ball". Conspiracy believers and Oliver Stone fans nod knowingly at this point (more about the myths, theories and facts about the assassination here).
"For us in television, it's always important how a person speaks, and experience has shown that it's always very difficult with older people," says Katrin. But Landis had surprised her, had told her vividly and vividly. "I could feel how difficult it was for him to talk about it in some passages, which only made his long silence more believable." In four videos, Katrin and her team trace the history of the Kennedys and the course of events. Companions and observers remember one of the most famous families in the USA – and also tell what it looked like behind the façade.
Here you can find all episodes: SPIEGEL Original – The Assassination of John F. Kennedy
What else is important today
Traffic light postpones adoption of the 2024 budget: The adoption of the 2024 budget has been delayed: After the decisive meeting of the Budget Committee, the vote in the Bundestag has now also been postponed by the coalition parties.
Orbán threatens EU with veto on Ukraine policy: Actually, the EU accession negotiations for Ukraine were supposed to start in December. Now Hungary's head of government is threatening to impose a blockade. Diplomats suspect that this is an attempt at blackmail.
European Parliament overturns law to reduce pesticides: The EU Commission has failed with its proposal to significantly reduce the use of plant protection products by 2030. The law did not find a majority in parliament. There will be no further negotiations.
What we recommend today at SPIEGEL+
Can this man save the House of Murdoch from destruction? Rupert Murdoch once humiliated his eldest son Lachlan. Now he is handing over the world's most powerful media group, which also owns the right-wing US channel Fox News. This could be the salvation – or the end.
Three reasons why Chancellor Scholz needs to reach out to Meloni: Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni once raged against the EU and Berlin. Olaf Scholz now wants to adopt an "action plan" with the right-wing populist. Even if it sounds paradoxical, this is not enough.
Like the country, so the national team: The German national team has had one of its worst years, and there is little hope that this will change in the summer of the European Championship. The team adapts perfectly to the general mood in the country.
What helps people with chronic pain: Pain cannot be measured like fever, and those affected do not always feel taken seriously. Psychotherapist Judith Kappesser explains how best to support patients. This can start with a real question.
What is less important today
Marsupial care: The author of the "Kangaroo Chronicles" Marc-Uwe Kling, 41, does almost only what he feels like doing, as he says in a children's interview with my "Dein SPIEGEL" colleague Johann, 14, and my "Dein SPIEGEL" colleague Luise, 13. The two of them talked to him about how funny texts are created and why smartasses help him write. His tip: "The joke always belongs at the end of the sentence."
Mini Concave Mirror
Here you can find the whole concave mirror.
Cartoon of the Day
And tonight?
You could cook – and cheaply again. My colleague Sebastian Maas recommends heavenly "Mormon potatoes" for 1.20 euros: "This US classic not only tastes good on sad occasions, it also cuts a fine figure on the festive buffet," he says. " In any case, you can get rid of all restraint with butter and cheese here." (Here is the recipe).
Have a rich evening. Yours sincerely,
Yours sincerely, Oliver Trenkamp, Editor-in-Chief