2023-11-23 02:45:34
The tractactions continue. The entry into force of a truce agreement between Israel and Hamas providing for the release of 50 hostages held in the Gaza Strip in exchange for 150 Palestinian prisoners will not take place before Friday, Israeli officials announced Thursday.
While the Gaza Strip remained the scene of fighting on Wednesday, media reported that the truce would come into effect on Thursday morning and a Hamas official said he expected “a first exchange of 10 hostages for 30 prisoners as early as Thursday.”
But the head of Israel’s National Security Council, Tzachi Hanegbi, said the release of the hostages would not happen “before Friday” and that negotiations “continue incessantly.” And there will be “no pause” in the fighting on Thursday, an Israeli official immediately told AFP.
50 hostages against 150 Palestinian prisoners
The Israeli government said it had approved this agreement which concerns the release of at least 50 hostages, women and children, citing a “lull in the fighting” for four days. According to him, 50 hostages should be released in exchange for 150 Palestinian prisoners during the truce.
In Israel, the main association of hostage families declared itself “happy” with the announcement of a “partial release”, but said it did not know for the moment “who will be released and when”. “It gives me hope that my daughters will return,” said Maayan Zin, a mother of two children held in Gaza.
The agreement was announced on the 47th day of the war, triggered by an attack of unprecedented scale and violence in Israeli history carried out on October 7 by Hamas on Israeli soil. According to the authorities, 1,200 people, the vast majority civilians, were killed.
An extension of the agreement possible
Around 240 people were kidnapped on the day of the attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement.
Detailing the terms of the agreement, Qatar Foreign Affairs spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari said that “every day a certain number of hostages will be released, and this number is expected to reach 50 by the 4th day” of truce. The agreement does not provide for the release of kidnapped soldiers.
Israel has released a list of 300 Palestinian prisoners likely to be released (33 women, 123 adolescents under the age of 18, and 144 young people around the age of 18). Among them are 49 Hamas members. According to the Israeli authorities, other exchanges could take place as part of an extension of the truce, with a total of 100 hostages for 300 Palestinian prisoners.
#HamasIsrael #war #truce #release #hostages #Friday