The exchange of prisoners and hostages between Hamas and Israel is expected to continue today as mediators have begun efforts to extend the truce. The situation in Gaza remains tragic.
The deal brokered by Qatar, backed by Egypt and the US, and which came into force on Friday, has so far allowed the release of fifty Hamas hostages held in the Gaza Strip and 150 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons. Another 19 hostages, mostly foreign workers, were released by Hamas outside the framework of the deal.
Hours before the truce expired, the US and Qatar announced a two-day extension, from today at 07:00 to the day after tomorrow Thursday at 07:00 (local and Greek time), which will allow the release of more at least 20 hostages and 60 Palestinian prisoners.
“The parties (…) have reached an agreement to extend the humanitarian pause in Gaza for another two days, under the same conditions”, i.e. the ratio of 1:3 in terms of the release of hostages and prisoners, the representative of Qatar’s diplomacy said. Majid Bin Muhammad al Ansari.
In the early hours of the morning, the government of Israel received a list of the names of ten hostages who will be released within the day, without however making it public, according to Israeli media.
Yesterday, 11 more hostages were released, among them 3 with dual Israeli and French citizenship.
French President Emmanuel Macron said he was “extremely happy” for their release. “Immense joy” but incomplete, as the father of the two children remains in the hands of Hamas, the family’s lawyer said to AFP.
Israel then announced that 33 Palestinians had been released from prison. Among them was Muhammad Abu al-Humous.
“I can’t describe how I feel. The joy is indescribable,” he said as he entered his home in east Jerusalem, where his mother took him in her arms. “It’s the most beautiful feeling in the world to have your children around you, by your side,” the woman said.
But in Beitunia, in the occupied West Bank, where the released arrived in a white bus, the celebrations did not last long. A Palestinian youth, whose identity has not been confirmed, was killed “by a bullet” in clashes with Israeli forces at close range, the Palestinian Authority’s health ministry said.
Attempts to extend further
Shortly before it became known that the truce would be extended, the Israeli prime minister’s office approved the inclusion of “50 prisoners,” including Ahed Tamimi, the young woman who has become a symbol of the Palestinian struggle—she was arrested again in early November—on the list of release.
Mediators and the U.S. are continuing cross-border efforts to extend the truce beyond Thursday to allow more hostage releases and more humanitarian aid to reach civilians in the Gaza Strip.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will visit Israel and the occupied West Bank once again later this week, where he is scheduled to hold talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
“During his meetings in the Middle East, he will insist on the need to continue delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza, ensure the release of all hostages and improve the protection of civilians in Gaza,” a US official said.
On the Israeli side, the military and government, under heavy public pressure to guarantee the release of more hostages, have insisted in recent days that their intention is once the truce ends to resume operations to “destroy” Hamas, eliminate any “threat” to the Gaza Strip and impose a favorable balance of power, as well as release the remaining hostages — which include military personnel.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government also approved a supplementary “war” budget of 30.3 billion shekels (€7.5 billion) overnight.
“Catastrophic” situation
The extension of the truce will allow more trucks with humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip, which remains under siege and has already suffered massive destruction from Israeli bombardment.
“The humanitarian situation in Gaza remains catastrophic and there is an urgent need for additional aid to flow in in a flowing, predictable and continuous manner to alleviate the excruciating suffering of the Palestinians” in the enclave, the United Nations Special Envoy for the Near East Tor Venesland.
More than half of the homes in the Gaza Strip have been damaged or completely destroyed, according to the UN, and the majority of its residents, 1.7 million of the 2.4 million, have been forcibly displaced.
As of Friday, Israel was relentlessly shelling the Gaza Strip in retaliation for an October 7 raid by Hamas militants on southern sectors of the Israeli territory that left 1,200 dead, according to Israeli authorities. During the deadliest attack Israel ever suffered by a state in 1948, 240 people were kidnapped and taken to the Palestinian enclave.
The Israeli leadership has vowed to “wipe out” the Palestinian Islamist movement that seized power in the Gaza Strip in 2007 and, on October 27, ordered a ground operation to begin.
According to the latest tally from the Hamas Health Ministry, 14,854 people, including 6,150 children, were killed in Israeli shelling of the Gaza Strip. Civil protection in Gaza says another 7,000 are missing, much of whom were buried in the rubble. Another 36,000 Palestinians have been injured.
Although the truce 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).
We “suffer” as “we have no food, we have no water, no one has offered us any help. And we have nowhere to sleep our five children,” said Fouad Hara, a resident of Gaza City, who was displaced by the war in the southern part of the enclave, one of the most densely populated areas in the world.
According to newsit, the French helicopter carrier Dixmude, in which a special configuration was made to operate as a floating hospital for the wounded in the Gaza Strip, also arrived yesterday Monday at the port of Al Ares, Egypt, confirmed a port source of the AFP.
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These are the 11 hostages freed by Hamas today and returned to Israel
