2023-11-24 12:25:31
The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas today released 25 hostages (13 Israelis and 12 Thais) in the first commitment of the agreement reached by Israel that now forces Tel Aviv to let Palestinian prisoners out of its prisons, after a four-year truce began. days to allow food, medicine and fuel to enter the Gaza Strip.
Despite the start of the truce, which opens a period in which Hamas must release another 25 hostages and Israel do the same with 150 prisoners, two Palestinians died and at least 10 were injured when they tried to return to their homes.
The truce between Israel and Hamas, which led to the release of the 25 hostages in the afternoon, is the first sign of detente after seven weeks of war that left nearly 15,000 Palestinian dead and 36,000 wounded, in addition to 1,200 Israeli dead and 5,500 wounded. .
Qatar, a key mediator with Egypt and the United States, reached an agreement last Wednesday for an extendable four-day truce and the exchange of 50 hostages held captive in Gaza for 150 Palestinian prisoners in Israel.
The entry into force of the pact was initially scheduled for yesterday, but was delayed until today at 7 a.m. (2 a.m. in Argentina), the Qatari authorities announced.
Today at 4 pm local time they are scheduled to release 13 women and children held in Gaza.
Despite the truce, the exchange of fire continued in the last hours, according to the Europa Press news agency.
At least two Palestinians were killed and a dozen injured at the hands of the Israeli Army when they tried to return to their homes in the northern Gaza Strip.
The incident occurred after the Israeli Army opened fire on a group of Palestinians who were advancing north, ignoring Israeli warnings not to move towards the area again during the truce.
Israeli planes had stopped bombing, but were dropping leaflets warning: “The war is not over. Returning to the north is prohibited and very dangerous.”
According to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, the injured were taken to the Deir al Balah hospital in central Gaza.
In southern Israel, meanwhile, the sirens of the anti-aircraft defense system sounded 15 minutes after the truce began, the Army reported without giving further details.
In the north, on the border with Lebanon, there were no reports of fire.
The Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah said it was joining the truce as long as the Israeli army does not carry out attacks against southern Lebanon, after weeks of clashes on the border.
“We join the truce declared in Gaza on the condition that Israel does not attack southern Lebanon,” said a spokesman for the movement in statements to the Lebanese newspaper L’Orient-Le Jour.
According to the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the four days of truce will be used to collect data on the remaining hostages and study the possibility of releasing more captives (among whom there are twenty with Argentine nationality), while working to extend the humanitarian pause.
The Israeli Defense Minister, Yoav Galant, assumed, however, that, after “a brief pause”, the war operations in the Gaza Strip will continue “with intensity” for at least two more months, the agency reported. Sputnik news.
On the other hand, Islamic Jihad announced that it wants to force Israel to exchange all Israeli hostages in its possession for Palestinians in Israeli prisons.
“We will force the enemy to carry out a major exchange operation that guarantees the release of all our captives according to the ‘all for all’ formula,” declared the organization’s secretary general, Ziad al Nakhala.
The truce agreement also stipulates the entry of humanitarian aid, medical supplies and fuel to the Gaza Strip.
Egypt, through whose border with the Gaza Strip humanitarian supplies are entering, announced today that the enclave will receive 130,000 liters of fuel and four trucks of gas daily during the duration of the truce.
In the occupied territories of the West Bank, meanwhile, a Palestinian died during a raid by the Israeli Army in the Agabat Jaber refugee camp, in the city of Jericho, reported the Ministry of Health of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), which identified the died as Muhammad al Hanaui, 22 years old.
Israel, for its part, said the deceased was “an armed terrorist linked to the Islamic Jihad organization.”
Likewise, he announced the demolition of a house in the West Bank town of Rummaná in response to an attack carried out in August in Tel Aviv that resulted in the death of a police officer.
More than 200 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank and Jerusalem by Israeli security forces and in attacks by settlers since October 7.
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