No celebrations as the prisoner exchange between Israelis and Palestinians begins

With the launch of the prisoner and hostage exchange process between Israel and the Palestinian factions in Gaza, the families of the liberated prisoners, both Palestinian and Israeli, decided, on their part, to refrain from holding celebrations for their release, even if the truce and exchange process succeeded and expanded to 10 days.

The first phase of the truce agreement was launched at seven o’clock on Friday morning, with a ceasefire throughout the Gaza Strip, as well as on the border with Lebanon, and also partially in the West Bank. At four in the afternoon, the Red Cross received the first batch, which included 13 Israeli prisoners from Hamas, and handed them over to Israel, via Egypt, along with 10 prisoners of Thai workers and a Filipino prisoner who were released as part of another deal apparently brokered by Egypt. It is known that 23 workers from Thailand were kidnapped on October 7 from their workplaces in Israel. Hamas reached an agreement to release them, apart from the deal with Israel. The rest will be released in the next batches.

On the other hand, 39 Palestinian prisoners, including 24 women and 15 minors, were released from Ofer military prison, a quarter of them from East Jerusalem. They were handed over to their families in the Israeli Al-Maskobiyya prison. The rest were released to the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The Palestinians said that Israel violated the agreement in the morning, when it opened fire on a group of people from northern Gaza, who tried to move from the south, in order to see the conditions of their homes and relatives who were forced to leave them due to Israeli bombing during the war. It killed two of them and wounded 9 others. But the Qatari and Egyptian mediators contained the incident and did not stop the implementation of the rest of the terms of the deal.

The decision of the Families Forum in Israel not to celebrate the release of prisoners came as a result of the killing of more than 1,200 people, most of them civilians, in the Hamas attack on October 7, and as a result of more than 200 prisoners remaining in Hamas’ tunnels, and concern that the agreements would explode. armistice, or the resumption of a more destructive war that threatens the lives of captured soldiers and other civilians.

In Palestine, the decision to abstain from celebrations came out of pain and sadness over the killing of about 20,000 people, most of them children and women, the wounding of about 30,000, the displacement of more than half of Gaza’s population from their homes, and the massive destruction caused by 27,000 tons of Israeli explosives being thrown over their heads. More than 4,000 people from the West Bank and Gaza Strip were arrested in Israeli prisons. They see them as days of mourning rather than days of joy in freedom. Even during the days of the truce, which is supposed to provide a breathing space for them after 48 days of continuous military attacks, the scenes of their destroyed homes add to their tragedy. They expected that the war would leave them with massive destruction, but since seven o’clock on Friday morning, with the start of the ceasefire, they have discovered that the destruction was greater and more dangerous and that they would need months to know the truth about the damage and discover the true number of deaths.

But, nevertheless, they are clinging to the straw of hope provided by the truce. It is true that it is not complete and its complete success is not guaranteed, but they hope that compliance with its conditions will continue for four days, and extend it to 10 days as well. According to many estimates, the pressure of world public opinion on the one hand, and the Arab countries on the other hand, has begun to bear fruit on the American administration and the European Union countries, and they are showing a change in their position.

After giving Israel the green light to launch a devastating war on the Gaza Strip, primarily against the civilian population of Gaza, and a parallel war on the West Bank, it is now moving to urge Israel to extend a longer truce and prepare to move to stop the war and search for other means to fight “Hamas” without targeting the Palestinian people. The American administration in particular says that it still supports Israel’s goal of liquidating Hamas, but it prefers to choose professional methods of work similar to surgical operations without harming civilians. According to American media, officials in Washington formulated the position by saying: “We will not be disappointed if Israel stops its fire completely.”