GUERRA
Hamas announces that truce in Gaza will come into force at 5am this Thursday
Truce will last four days
Published on November 22, 2023 at 11:23
The Islamist movement Hamas announced this Wednesday (22) that the four-day truce, agreed with Israel in exchange for the release of 50 hostages, comes into force at 10am local time on Thursday (5am in Brasília).
“The truce in the Gaza Strip will begin at 10am tomorrow [quinta-feira]”, declared Musa Abou Marzouk, a senior member of the political wing of Hamas, to the Qatari television channel Al Jazeera.
Marzouk said that Hamas “is prepared for a global ceasefire and prisoner exchange”, adding that most of the hostages taken during the October 7 attacks were foreigners.
After six weeks of war in the Middle East, Israel and Hamas reached an agreement. The extremist group has committed to releasing at least 50 hostages in Gaza. In exchange, Israel will release 150 Palestinians from prison, in addition to stopping bombings in southern Gaza for four days and allowing humanitarian aid into the region.
Although the agreement was for the release of 150 Palestinians, the list released by the Israeli Ministry of Justice includes 300 names. This is to give Hamas the possibility of releasing more hostages than expected, in exchange for more prisoners. Now, Israeli citizens have one day to appeal the court’s decision.
Of the three hundred names on the list, in Hebrew, 123 are minor. Five of them are 14 years old and were arrested for crimes ranging from setting fires to throwing bombs.
One of the Palestinian citizens on the list is Misoun Mussa, sentenced in 2015 to 15 years in prison for stabbing an Israeli soldier in Jerusalem. Another is Marah Bakeer, arrested in the same year for stabbing a border police agent and sentenced to eight and a half years in prison.
The daily Haaretz also cites the case of Asra Jabas, a Palestinian woman who exploded a fuel depot, leaving a police officer injured. The oldest woman on the list, aged 59, is detained for security-related crimes. Samira Harbawi, 53, was arrested for “serious physical harm” to third parties and for “transporting and manufacturing” sharp weapons.
Those convicted of murder were left off the list
Israel has refused to release prisoners convicted of murder. It agreed, however, to let out those convicted of attempted murder and terrorist activities, as well as less serious crimes, such as damage to property, interference in police activity, illegal meetings, attacks on police or possession of weapons and explosives.
According to Haaretz, the Palestinian prisoners belong to the groups Hamas, Fatah, Islamic Jihad and Popular Front. However, many of them would have acted in their own name. Several of the detainees were never tried.
Some of the 300 people on the list live in Jerusalem and have Israeli identity cards.
The Israeli government has decided that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and opposition leader and member of the emergency government Benny Gantz will determine which prisoners will be released at each stage.
The date for the end of the ceasefire is also in the hands of the three men, as long as it does not last for more than ten days.
