2023-11-24 11:00:49
If everything goes as expected, 13 Israeli hostages will be released by the Palestinian group Hamas this Friday (24), as part of a prisoner exchange agreement, mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States. The first 13 kidnapped will leave Gaza today at four pm local Israeli time (11 am in Brasília).
Daniela Kresch, RFI correspondent in Israel
The list of candidates for liberation would include only children and their mothers. In return, Israel agrees to a ceasefire lasting a few days, depending on the number of hostages released.
The first day of the truce began today at 7 am – local time (2 am in Brasília). The ceasefire, however, has already been violated by two Hamas rocket barrages against southern Israel – one 15 minutes after the start of the truce and another an hour and a half later. No one was injured, but the action could put the entire agreement at risk.
Israel has asked residents of northern Gaza, which was practically evacuated after Israel’s land incursion, not to return to the region because of the truce, but there is some movement in this direction, which could also be an obstacle to the agreement.
If it remains in force, the truce will also include allowing more fuel into the Gaza Strip and Israel’s commitment to release three Palestinian prisoners for every hostage freed. Israel only agreed to release only minors and women who, despite their involvement in terrorism, have not killed Israelis.
If everything goes well, the total number of hostages that Hamas has committed to releasing will be around 50, spread over four days. In other words, something like 12 or 13 kidnapped per day for the next four days. This means that 150 Palestinian prisoners would be released from Israeli prisons in return.
For each group of hostages released, Israel will maintain a 24-hour truce. In other words, there would be a four-day ceasefire. But there is the option that the truce could be maintained for a few more days, depending on Hamas’ ability or willingness to release more kidnapped people. For each group of 10 hostages released from captivity, there will be another day of truce and the release of another 30 Palestinian prisoners.
The list of Israeli hostages will not include foreigners. Of the 237 Hamas hostages in Gaza, 194 are Israeli or have dual nationality – including Jews and Arabs. Four women with British and American nationalities have already been released. A 5th woman, a 19-year-old Israeli soldier, was rescued by troops alive. Another, however, was found dead inside Al Shifaa hospital, in Gaza City. Another 43 are foreigners, generally agricultural workers employed in border villages.
Hamas committed, on October 7, the largest terrorist attack against Israel since the country’s founding 75 years ago, killing more than 1,200 people – including 304 foreigners or those with dual nationality – and kidnapping more than 240 Israelis and foreigners, the great mostly civilians, including 39 children under 18 and 25 elderly people over 80.
In reaction, Israel declared war on Hamas in Gaza. According to the local Ministry of Health – controlled by Hamas – around 14 thousand people died. The numbers do not differentiate between civilians and combatants and cannot be independently verified. The Israeli army reported that, so far, 68 soldiers have died in the ground incursion.
Israel demands live hostages
But negotiations for the release of these foreigners are being carried out directly between their governments and Hamas. This Thursday (23), a Qatari newspaper, for example, published that Hamas must release, at the request of Iran and without receiving anything in return, the 23 Thai workers held captive.
Israel also demanded that among the 50 freed people there should only be living hostages, not corpses. For its part, Hamas demanded that the lists for the next four days not include soldiers. Hamas’ objective is to exchange the dozens of Israeli soldiers it kidnapped for all of the approximately 6,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, including those on trial and convicted of terrorist acts that killed thousands of Israelis.
The prisoner exchange agreement may, however, not come to fruition or only partially come to fruition. The agreement between Israel and Hamas had actually been announced on Wednesday and would, in principle, be carried out as of yesterday. But, after Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced everything himself, there was some kind of unclear snag that led to a 24-hour postponement.
But yesterday, the Qatari government announced that the prisoner exchange will begin today and that the names of the first hostages to be released from captivity had already been handed over to Israel. However, nothing is certain. That is why US President Joe Biden yesterday refused to give details about the hostage release “until it is completed”.
There may be some kind of technical obstacle or some surprise hostility. Hamas has promised to increase the pace of air strikes against Israel – which have already totaled more than 10,500 since October 7 – until the ceasefire comes into force. This is a common practice. And, as it turned out, the group already violated the truce after it came into force.
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