Extending the truce between Hamas and Israel and anticipating the release of more hostages and detainees

Published in: 28/11/2023 – 08:33Last updated: 28/11/2023 – 08:31

6 minutes

The truce agreement entered into force on Friday after Qatari mediation, with the support of Egypt and the United States, and has so far allowed the release of 50 hostages held in the Gaza Strip and 150 Palestinians from Israeli prisons. 19 other hostages, the majority of whom were foreign workers, were also released, but outside the framework of the agreement.

A few hours before the end of the basic truce period, Qatar and the United States announced an agreement to extend it for two additional days, until seven o’clock in the morning on Thursday (5 GMT), which would allow the release of about 20 hostages and 60 additional Palestinian detainees.

Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majid Al-Ansari said on the X platform, “The State of Qatar announces that, within the framework of the ongoing mediation, an agreement has been reached to extend the humanitarian truce for an additional two days in the Gaza Strip,” according to the same conditions.

On Tuesday morning, the Israeli government said that it had received a list of the names of ten hostages who would be released during the day, without revealing their names, according to what Israeli media reported.

During the night, 11 Israeli hostages were released in the Gaza Strip, including three who also hold French citizenship: Eitan Yahalomi (12 years old), Erez (12 years old), and Sahar Calderon (16 years old).

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday evening that he was “very happy” with the release of the three French-Israeli minors, stressing the continuation of “full” mobilization for the release of all hostages. Lawyers for the Calderon family told AFP that “the joy is great but incomplete” because Erez and Sahar’s father is still a hostage in the Gaza Strip.

Shortly after that, Israel released 33 Palestinians from its prisons, including Muhammad Abu Al-Humus.

Abu Al-Homs said upon his return to his home in East Jerusalem, where he hugged his mother and kissed her hand, “I cannot describe what I feel. An indescribable joy,” according to an Agence France-Presse team at the scene. “This is the best feeling in the world, to have all your children around you,” his mother said.

But in Beitunia in the occupied West Bank, where detainees released by Israel arrived in a white bus, the celebrations did not last long. A young Palestinian man was “shot dead” during violent confrontations with Israeli forces a short distance away, according to what the Palestinian Ministry of Health reported.

Post-extension

Before extending the truce, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office approved a list of “50 Israeli female prisoners” to be released, including the young activist Ahed Tamimi, who was arrested in early November.

The mediators and the United States are active behind the scenes to extend the truce beyond Thursday to increase the number of people released and the aid entering the Gaza Strip.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will head again to Israel and the occupied West Bank by the end of this week to meet with Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, respectively.

A senior American official, requesting anonymity, said that Blinken “during these meetings in the Middle East, will stress the need to continue providing humanitarian assistance to Gaza, ensure the release of all hostages, and enhance the protection of civilians in Gaza.”

He added that Blinken will also stress the necessity of establishing an independent Palestinian state, considering that this is the only solution in the long term. He will also address the efforts made to “contain the conflict.”

On the Israeli side, the Israeli army and government, which are under pressure from local public opinion to work on releasing other hostages, have confirmed in recent days their intention to resume fighting to “eliminate” Hamas and suppress “any threat” emanating from the Gaza Strip.

Overnight, the Israeli government approved an additional “war” budget of 30.3 billion shekels (7.5 billion euros).

“catastrophic”

In parallel, extending the truce would also allow trucks carrying humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip, which is besieged and destroyed as a result of violent Israeli bombing that continued for seven weeks in response to an unprecedented attack launched by Hamas on the territory of the Hebrew state on October 7.

The United Nations Special Envoy for the Middle East, Tor Wensland, said, “The humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip remains catastrophic and requires the urgent entry of additional aid in a smooth and continuous manner to alleviate the unbearable suffering of the Palestinians in Gaza.”

More than half of the housing stock in the Strip was damaged or destroyed due to the war, according to the United Nations, while 1.7 million out of a population of 2.4 million were displaced.

The attack launched by Hamas on October 7 killed 1,200 people in Israel, the majority of whom were civilians, most of whom died on the first day of the attack, according to the Israeli authorities. During its attack, Hamas took 240 hostages, who were transported to Gaza, according to the Israeli army.

Israel responded with intense bombing of the Gaza Strip, which since October 27 was accompanied by extensive ground operations inside the Strip, causing the death of approximately 15,000 people, including more than six thousand children, according to the Hamas government. The Civil Defense in Gaza estimates the number of missing people at about seven thousand people.

Although the truce provided a brief period of calm for the residents of Gaza, the humanitarian situation in the Strip remains “dangerous” and the needs are “unprecedented,” according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

Israel has imposed an “absolute siege” on the Strip, which has been subject to a siege since Hamas came to power in 2007, and has cut off water, food, electricity, medicine, and fuel.

The Dixmod helicopter carrier, capable of providing medical care to the wounded in the Gaza Strip, arrived at the Egyptian port of Al-Arish, according to what a shipping source told AFP.

© 2023 AFP