Hamas freed eight hostages and Israel released 30 Palestinians | Within the framework of the seventh day of truce

2023-12-01 01:45:05

The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) released eight Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip this Thursday, while Israel released 30 Palestinians, within the framework of the seventh day of truce between both sides.

“Among the Palestinians released from Israeli prisons are 23 minors and 7 women,” said Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed al Ansari through his X social network account. “The eight Israeli citizens released as part of the agreement includes two minors and six women,” he added in another publication.

Truce

The temporary ceasefire was extended for an additional 24 hours just before it expired on Thursday morning, and it is unclear whether it will also be extended for Friday. An extension of the truce would involve the release of an additional 10 people per day in exchange for the release of 30 Palestinian prisoners. Meanwhile, Qatar continues to work together with its regional and international partners with the aim of reaching a permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. So far, 105 captives have been released in Gaza, including 81 Israelis and 24 foreigners; while Israel freed 210 Palestinian prisoners, all of them women and minors.

Yemen’s Houthi rebels and Iraq’s pro-Ryan militias threatened in a pair of statements to attack again and expand their land and sea operations against Israel if the truce in the Strip is not extended. This amalgamation of militias claimed responsibility for some 70 attacks against United States targets in Iraq and Syria since the war broke out on October 7 due to Washington’s support for the Israeli Government, while it also launched drones directed against Israel that were intercepted.

The American Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, asked Israel to refrain from resuming the military offensive in the Gaza Strip unless it establishes a concrete plan to protect Palestinian civilians, during a press conference in Tel Aviv. “Before Israel resumes its military operations, it must implement a humanitarian protection plan for civilians,” said Blinken, emphasizing that the United States does not want a repeat of the massive loss of civilian life and death in the south of the Palestinian territory. the displacement of people, on the scale that occurred in the north.

Shooting in Jerusalem

Meanwhile, in the morning, two Hamas members shot dead three Israelis and wounded six others at a bus stop in Jerusalem, before being killed by security forces and civilians. Jerusalem Police Chief Doron Torgeman said the attackers got out of a white car armed with a rifle and a pistol and opened fire. “The perpetrators of the incident were quickly killed by two soldiers who were not on duty and a civilian who shot them,” the Police said in a statement.

The Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, condemned the attack and stressed that his Government will continue to expand the delivery of weapons to civilians. “It is a measure that demonstrates his worth again and again in the war against murderous terrorism,” he said in a message posted on his Telegram account.

The three dead Israelis were two women, one aged 24 and the other in their 60s, and a 73-year-old rabbinic judge, said the Israeli emergency service equivalent to the Red Cross, the AFP news agency reported. Hamas said in a note that the attackers were members of its armed wing, two Palestinian brothers aged 30 and 38. “They sacrificed themselves by carrying out an operation that killed three settlers and injured several more,” said the Islamist group, which called for more attacks like this one, calling for an escalation of resistance against the Israeli occupation.

El dolor de Bibas

On the other hand, Hamas assured in a statement that the Government of Israel refused to receive the bodies of the Argentine-Israeli Silverman Bibas and his children – Kfir Bibas, 10 months old, and Ariel, 4 years old -, whom he kept as hostages but who died, according to the Islamist group, from Israeli bombings.

Yarden Bibas, the husband and father of the victims, blamed the Israeli prime minister, through a video released by Hamas. “Bibi, you bombed my family. It was all I had in my life. Take them home to be buried in Israel; I beg you,” said Bibas, with tears of despair as he looked straight into the camera, sitting in a room with White walls. Bibi is Netanyahu’s nickname.

In the October attack, José Luis Silberman and Marguit Schneider, his wife’s parents, were murdered by Palestinian militants who set fire to their house. Shiri, Yarden and their two children tried to hide but were kidnapped. The family lived in Kibbutz Nir Oz, next to the Gaza Strip. Other Argentines released on Monday also resided there: Sharon Alony Cunio and her two Argentine twins, Yuli and Emma, ​​aged five.