The truce between Israel and Hamas, which has allowed the release of hostages and prisoners and the distribution of some desperately needed humanitarian aid, is in its fourth and final day today, amid talks to extend it.
On the night of Sunday to Monday, the armed Palestinian Islamist movement assured in a statement that it “seeks to extend the truce beyond the four days” provided for in the agreement, with the aim of “increasing the number of prisoners to be released”.
This is something that was foreseen in the agreement.
An AFP source close to Hamas explained that the movement “informed the mediators” that it wants the truce to be extended for “two to four days”.
The deal, brokered by Qatar — backed by Egypt and the US — and which came into force on Friday, called for a four-day ceasefire, the distribution of humanitarian aid to Gaza and the release of 50 of the more than 200 hostages held. in the Palestinian enclave, in exchange for the release of 150 imprisoned Palestinians.
As of Friday, 39 hostages were freed under the deal and 24 outside, mostly Thais working in Israel, as well as 117 Palestinian prisoners, as the agreed ratio is 1 to 3.
There is a clause in the agreement that allows the truce to be extended, subject to the release of 10 hostages a day, in exchange for the release of 30 Palestinians.
The Israeli Prime Minister, who is expected today to ask his Government to approve a “war” budget of 30 billion shekels (7.3 billion euros), declared that the military operations will continue as “the victory”. He made this statement in northern Gaza, where he went — for the first time since Israel’s unilateral withdrawal from the Palestinian enclave in 2005 — to inspect soldiers.
In the occupied West Bank, buses of the International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent (ICRC) transported to Ramallah and Beitunia freedmen who were greeted by crowds waving flags of Palestine, Hamas and other organizations.
“I feel happy and sad at the same time for the blood of our martyrs. I grieve for our martyrs but I am happy for the victory of our resistance,” Yazan Saba, a young prisoner released as part of the truce, told Beituniya.
Israel began its offensive on the Gaza Strip after Hamas militants raided southern sectors of the Israeli territory on October 7, killing 1,200, according to Israeli authorities. During the deadliest attack that Israel has ever suffered by a state, moreover, 240 people were kidnapped and taken to the Palestinian enclave.
In retaliation for this attack, Israel’s military, where the political leadership has vowed to “wipe out” the Palestinian Islamist movement that took power in 2007 in the Gaza Strip, launched a relentless bombardment and on October 27 began a ground operation.
According to the latest tally from the Hamas Health Ministry, 14,854 people, including 6,150 children, were killed in the Israeli bombings. Civil protection in Gaza says another 7,000 are missing, much of whom were buried in the rubble.
“200 trucks a day for two months”
Although the truce has offered a respite to Gazans, the humanitarian situation remains “dangerous” and needs “unprecedented”, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
As of Friday, 248 vehicles loaded with humanitarian aid were able to enter the Gaza Strip, according to the UN.
“We would have to send 200 trucks a day for at least two months to cover the needs,” UNRWA representative Adnan Abu Hasna told AFP, explaining that “neither drinking water nor food” has yet arrived in some areas. .
“They talk about aid and fuel deliveries, but I’ve been at the gas station for nine hours and it’s still closed,” protested Bilal Diab, a resident of the city, to Khan Younis yesterday.
The Israeli military, which designates the northern third of the enclave a war zone, had already repeatedly ordered the civilian population to leave and barred anyone from returning during the cease-fire.
Despite his warnings, thousands of displaced Gazans tried to return to their homes in the north during the truce.
In Gaza City, which has been largely reduced to rubble, residents moved in clouds of dust yesterday amid piles of debris from houses and other buildings, AFP cameras captured.
More than half of the homes in the Gaza Strip have been damaged or completely destroyed, according to the UN; the majority of its residents, 1.7 million of the 2.4 million, have been forcibly displaced.
Hospitals in the southern part of the enclave continue to receive many wounded people brought to them from the north, where almost all health facilities have now ceased to function.
Source: KYPE