2023-11-26 04:55:00
Israeli security forces said the second group of hostages released yesterday in the Gaza Strip had returned to Israel.
The joint announcement by the Israeli military and the Shin Bet security service came after the prime minister’s office said in a statement that the government “embraces the seventeen hostages returning home, thirteen of our citizens and four Thai citizens.” .
Shortly before, Hamas confirmed that it was moving forward with the release of the second group of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, after mediators dispelled its doubts about the Jewish state’s compliance with the agreement.
The delay of several hours that occurred last night had distressed the hostages’ relatives, because Qatari and Egyptian mediators warned that the Islamist group maintained that Israel was interfering in the selection of prisoners to be released and was not allowing the aid will reach the civilian population of northern Gaza during the four days of truce.
Hamas declared that it had “responded positively” to the Egyptian and Qatari mediators, after they conveyed to it Israel’s promise to “maintain all the conditions of the agreement.”
Qatar declared that in the second exchange of the truce, thirteen Israeli hostages – eight children and five women – would be released in exchange for thirty-nine Palestinian prisoners – thirty-three children and six women – convicted of acts of terrorism.
Israeli officials denied any breach of the terms of the pause.
Hamas had accused the Israeli army of preventing aid from reaching northern Gaza, its main center of operations, where troops have banned the return of civilians during the truce that began early Friday.
The U.N. humanitarian agency OCHA said that in “several incidents reported” on Friday, “Israeli forces opened fire and launched tear gas at people heading north; “At least one person was reported dead, and dozens injured.” The Israeli army had warned the residents not to return to the northern area, because it is a “war zone”, since Hamas combat posts are concentrated there, but “Palestinian officials” encouraged the civilians to return to their homes, according to the local press.
The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said seven people had been injured in similar incidents yesterday.
First exchange. On Friday, Hamas freed thirteen Israelis, all of them women and children. Israel, in turn, released thirty-nine Palestinian women and children from its prisons under an agreement that calls for three-to-one exchanges. Hamas also unexpectedly released ten Thais and one Filipino.
Hamas fighters captured about 240 captives, many of them children, when they crossed Gaza’s militarized border with Israel on October 7 and launched a series of terrorist attacks against a kibbutzim and an electronic party, killing about 1,200 people. , between Israelis and foreigners, mostly civilians.
Following the deadliest attack in its history, Israel launched an air, artillery and naval bombardment along with a ground offensive to destroy Hamas, killing nearly 15,000 people, according to the Hamas government in Gaza.
A video released by Hamas on Friday showed masked militants with rifles, dressed in military uniforms and the green ribbon of the armed wing of the Islamist movement, handing hostages to the Red Cross. In a Tel Aviv suburb, people cheered and raised Israeli flags as helicopters transported the freed hostages.
At Israel’s Wolfson Medical Center, which took five elderly hostages, Dr. Shoshi Goldner said “there was no one in the room who could hold back their feelings and stop crying.” “They are finally home, in a safe place,” Goldner said.
“Today we are excited for the returnees, but I want us not to forget all those who have not yet returned,” Yael Adar, daughter-in-law of former hostage Yaffa Adar, 85, told the Israeli news website Ynet.
Hamas is expected to release a total of fifty hostages during the truce in exchange for 150 Palestinian prisoners, under a deal brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the United States.
Egypt said it had received positive feedback from both sides about the idea of extending the truce by another day or two and freeing more hostages and prisoners. “It’s just a beginning, but so far it has gone well,” US President Joe Biden told the press, adding that “the possibilities of extending the truce are real.”
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi called for “a permanent ceasefire and a complete end to this aggression.”
But the head of the Israeli armed forces, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, insisted yesterday that the war to eliminate Hamas will resume as soon as the lull in fighting ends. “We will return immediately at the end of the ceasefire to attack Gaza,” Halevi said. “We will do it to dismantle Hamas, also to create great pressure for the return as soon as possible of as many kidnapped people as possible, every last one of them,” he added.
The Palestinians celebrated. In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, fireworks exploded and crowds filled the streets. The freed prisoners waved Palestinian and Hamas flags.
“I was just waiting for the day I was released so I could hug my mother like this,” said Rawan Abu Matar, who served eight years in prison for attempting to stab an Israeli soldier.
In Israel, authorities asked the media to allow newly freed hostages to meet their loved ones in private. Among those released was Hannah Katzir, 76, who her family said uses a walker and requires medication. Mothers with her children were also released, including Doron Katz-Asher, 34, and his two young daughters. In an emotional reunion at an Israeli hospital, nine-year-old Ohad ran to hug his father after being released along with his mother and grandmother.
The pause in fighting in Gaza paved the way for more aid for Palestinians struggling to survive with shortages of water and other essential items. Israel had put Gaza under a near-total siege.
Trucks loaded with fuel, food and medicine began entering Gaza through the Rafah border crossing from Egypt on Friday, and more entered yesterday.
The UN estimates that 1.7 million of Gaza’s 2.4 million people have been displaced by the fighting.
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