2023-11-28 13:45:46
Eleven Israeli hostages who were in the Gaza Strip and 33 Palestinian prisoners, three women and 30 children, were released on Monday night within the framework of a truce in the fighting between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, which must be extended until Thursday.
Qatar, mediator between the parties, and Hamas announced on Monday a 48-hour extension of this truce agreement that in four days has allowed the exchange of 50 Israeli hostages for 150 Palestinian prisoners.
In addition, 19 other hostages taken by the Palestinian group, mostly Thai workers, were released outside of this agreement. In total, 74 of the around 240 kidnapped have returned to their homes, adding five people released in October.
The last 11 hostages arrived in Israel on Monday night. “After an initial medical examination, our forces will accompany them until they are reunited with their families,” the army said in a statement.
For its part, the Israeli prison authority said shortly after midnight that 33 Palestinian prisoners had been released “overnight” under the terms of the truce agreement.
Qatar said the freed hostages are three French-Israelis, two German-Israelis and six members of two Argentine families.
These are Karina Engel-Bart and her two teenage daughters Mika (18 years old) and Yuval (11) and the twins Yuli and Emma (3 years old) and their mother Sharon Aloni Cunio, married to the Argentine David Cunio, still detained by Hamas.
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In a statement, the Argentine Foreign Ministry celebrated his handover, but demanded “the unconditional and immediate release of all the hostages.” The South American country has identified at least 21 nationals missing or held captive in the attack by Hamas militiamen on October 7.
In Beitunia, in the occupied West Bank, where Palestinian prisoners arrived in a white bus, violent riots broke out between the crowd and Israeli security forces, an AFP journalist saw.
A young Palestinian, whose identity could not be confirmed, “died by gunfire” in these clashes, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said.
“Light of hope”
Israel has not yet confirmed the extension of the truce as of Thursday, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office approved the inclusion of “50 prisoners” to the list of Palestinians who can be released if the truce is extended.
Under the agreement reached under the auspices of Qatar, Egypt and the United States and entered into force on Friday, 20 additional hostages can be freed on Tuesday and Wednesday in exchange for 60 Palestinian prisoners.
The pact also allowed humanitarian aid to enter Gaza, besieged and devastated after seven weeks of Israeli bombing, launched in response to the bloody Hamas attack on Israel on October 7.
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The White House “celebrated” the extension of the truce and hoped that this extension would go beyond Thursday. The Secretary General of the UN, Antonio Guterres, said that it is “a light of hope (…) in the midst of the darkness of war.”
The Secretary of State of the United States, Antony Blinken, will travel to Israel and the West Bank at the end of the week to meet with authorities from both parties, in his third trip to the Middle East since the start of the conflict.
His visit will address issues such as Israel’s right to defend itself, the release of hostages, the protection of civilians and the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza, as well as the creation of a future Palestinian state, a spokesman said.
The Israeli army and prime minister, under pressure from civil society to release more hostages, have suggested in recent days that they are preparing to resume the offensive.
“After the agreement we will return to our objective: eliminating Hamas,” the prime minister warned. His government gave him the green light this Monday to request from Parliament a “war” budget of 30 billion shekels (about $8 billion).
Voices such as the European Union and Iran demanded a lasting truce. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said its extension “would provide much-needed relief to the people of Gaza.”
Gazans detained during Israeli offensive
Israel launched its offensive against the Gaza Strip after the bloody Hamas attack on October 7, in which some 1,200 people were killed and another 240 kidnapped, according to Israeli authorities.
In Gaza, subjected to incessant bombing and a ground operation since October 27, the Israeli offensive left 14,854 dead, including 6,150 children under 18 years of age, according to the Hamas-ruled Ministry of Health.
The truce offered respite to Gazans, but the humanitarian situation remains “dangerous” and the needs “unprecedented,” estimated the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA).
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Since Friday, several hundred trucks with aid entered the Gaza Strip, where Israel has been applying a “total siege” since October 9 without the supply of water, food, electricity or medicine.
“We should send 200 trucks a day for at least two months to respond to the needs,” UNRWA spokesperson Adnan Abu Hasna told AFP, stating that in certain sectors there was “neither drinking water nor food.”
More than half of the territory’s homes were damaged or destroyed by the war, which displaced 1.7 of the 2.4 million inhabitants, the UN said.
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