2023-11-25 05:01:00
Israel and Hamas successfully carried out this Friday the first exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners, as part of an agreement to release 50 kidnapped by the Islamist group, in exchange for 150 prisoners during the four agreed days of truce, which has been respected by both parties.
It is expected that in the next three days the same operation will be repeated, in similar proportions to complete the terms of the agreement reached this week through the mediation of Qatar, Egypt and the United States. None of the parties in combat reported violations of the truce, which can be extended up to ten days if the Islamist group commits to the release of at least ten hostages per day.
“This operation shows the true impact of our role as a neutral intermediary between the parties in conflict,” highlighted in a brief statement the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which intervened in all the liberations of the day. “Our greatest wish is that all the hostages are freed and that civilians stop suffering the pain that the conflict has brought,” added the regional director for the ICRC in the Middle East, Fabrizio Carboni, in the text.
The hostages
The first batch of 24 captives was made up of Israelis – six elderly women, three women, three girls aged 2, 4 and 5 and a boy aged 9 -, ten Thais and one Filipino. They were handed over in the Gaza Strip to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) who took them to Egypt through the Rafah crossing. Once there they were received by the Israeli security services, who took them through the Kerem Shalom crossing to Israel, where they underwent a preliminary medical check-up. “Initial medical examinations prove that they are in good health,” said Army spokesman Daniel Hagari. “We must not forget that each and every one of those who return home still has a relative who was killed or is in captivity in Gaza. “It is great sadness mixed with joy and emotion,” he stressed.
About twenty hostages were later transferred to the Hatzerim air base, in the Negev desert, where they will undergo further physical and mental tests before being taken by helicopter to hospitals, where they will be reunited with their families, who are being informed of all the movements. “Two of the freed Israeli hostages were taken directly to a hospital by vehicle,” said a military spokesman, without specifying the reason.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu celebrated the release. “We have completed the return of the first of our kidnapped people. The children, their mothers and other women. Each and every one of them is an entire world,” he said in an official video statement. “I emphasize to you, the families, and to you, the citizens of Israel: we are committed to the return of all of our abductees,” he promised.
Palestinian prisoners
In return, Israel released the first 39 Palestinian prisoners – 24 women and 15 teenage boys accused of terrorism, but without blood crimes – who were gathered hours earlier from their respective prisons in the Ofer prison, near Jerusalem. From there the ICRC took them to the town of Beitunia, in the West Bank, where their families were waiting for them along with some 200 Palestinians who celebrated their release, because some had served sentences of up to eight years.
“The first thing I’m going to do is spend a lot of time with my family, then I want to go to university, since I want to think about my future, in which I want to study Law,” Marah Bakir, one of the released Palestinians, told the network. Al Jazeera after being released. The 23-year-old went to prison when she was 15, accused of trying to stab an Israeli police officer in Jerusalem, charges she and her family deny. “Although the joy of having left is great, the situation is very difficult. We were liberated in exchange for the blood of the martyrs in Gaza. I tell you to remain firm, God will not forget you and is with you,” said Bakir. .
The Palestinian Minister of Health, Mai Akaila, congratulated the prisoners released from prisons and asked their families to transfer them to a hospital so that they can be examined and their safety and health can be guaranteed. Hamas also celebrated the liberation of Palestinian women and minors and assured that this occurred thanks to the fighting on the battlefield, said Zaher Jabarin, head of the group’s office for martyrs, wounded and prisoners. “We have been able, with pride, to confront the occupation, break its will and dismantle its plans,” added the leader of the political arm of Hamas, Ismail Haniye, who stressed that martyrs are the price of freedom, liberation and independence.
The Palestinian Prisoners Society had announced hours earlier the names of the released prisoners, among whom are none of the Palestinians arrested by Israeli forces since the war began on October 7. According to the Prisoners Society, more than 3,100 people have been arrested since then, although the Israeli Army reduces that number to 1,800, of whom it alleges that more than 1,000 have links to Hamas. The Palestinian news agency Wafa claims that the number of Palestinians in Israeli prisons rises to 7,500, among whom there are 72 women and 250 minors.
The border with Lebanon
Part of the more than 55,000 Lebanese who remained displaced due to cross-attacks with Israel returned to the southern border areas, after the truce between Israel and Hamas came into force. The Lebanese Army confirmed this in a statement where it asked these people to take extreme precautions in the presence of unexploded ammunition left over from the last weeks of clashes in the region.
According to the latest data released by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), at least 55,491 people were forced to leave their homes in Lebanon. For the first time in almost seven weeks the border with Israel registers a tense calm. The Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah has not claimed responsibility for any attacks since the beginning of the war pause between Israel and Hamas, after sources close to the group announced that it planned to join.
Hours before the truce, there had been an upsurge in border violence, which is why the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon (UNIFIL) once again expressed its concern about the intensification of exchanges of fire and warned that the outbreak It has already claimed too many lives. “As blue helmets, we urge those exchanging fire across the Blue Line to stop this cycle of violence. Any further escalation in southern Lebanon could have devastating consequences,” UNIFIL commander, UNIFIL, said in a statement. Lieutenant General Aroldo Lázaro.
In a dialogue with the press in his country, US President Joe Biden said: “We must renew our commitment to working for a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians.” And he added that he considered it “more important than ever” to insist on that path. “Continuing down the path of terrorism, violence, murder and war would be giving Hamas what it wants,” the US president further declared.
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