After mutual accusations of violations of the agreement that put the truce on the line, Israel and the fundamentalist group Hamas carried out the second round of the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners several hours late. The personal intervention of US President Joe Biden in Qatar and Egypt made it possible to save a very fragile pact.
While the Gazans lived a second day without bombs waiting for the four-day ceasefire to be extended as the queue did yesterday to receive gas cylinders, Israel once again experienced strong feelings at the return of some of those kidnapped in the attacks of Hamas on October 7.
In the morning, Israelis saw Ohad Munder (9) running into the arms of his father Avi or the elderly Yafa Adar (85) surrounded by her family after being held by militiamen for 49 days and being released on Friday night in the first group of 13 people. At night, they received another 13 children and women and speculated on the new list, knowing that more than 200 will remain in the hands of Hamas and Islamic Jihad. The ceasefire includes the release of Palestinian prisoners – this Saturday another 39 teenagers and women – and the increase in humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. At the same time and in parallel, Hamas has freed 15 foreigners (4 this Saturday) kidnapped while working in southern Israel.
The return of eight children and five women has been celebrated in a hotel on the Dead Sea where for 50 days the displaced people from Kibbutz Beeri, where the majority of the freed kidnapped people came from, have been staying. The hostages released on Friday were going to see him from the two hospitals where they were treated with medical examinations that confirmed that, at least from a physical point of view, they are fine.
“I am very happy to have my wife Doron and my two daughters Raz (4) and Aviv (2) here again, but we do not celebrate it because there are many who stayed there. We are all a family and I will continue fighting for everyone to return” proclaimed Yoni Asher after meeting for the first time with his kidnapped family at Kibbutz Nir Oz. Adar, one of the founders of this agricultural group, returned without knowing that she can no longer return to her razed kibbutz nor that many of her neighbors were kidnapped, including her grandson Tamir, and others, murdered. . Hanna Katzir (76) also did not know that her husband was murdered and her son, apparently, kidnapped. From her first comments, it is deduced that they were in a tunnel. The belief is that the majority of those kidnapped are in the south of the Gaza Strip. That is, far from the soldiers massively deployed in the north.
Released Palestinian youth and women celebrated with flags of Al Fatah and especially Hamas, confirming Israel’s fear, shared in silence by Abu Mazen’s Palestinian National Authority (PNA), that the current crisis has increased the popularity of the fundamentalist group. in the West Bank. A recent poll a week ago confirmed support for Hamas including its 7-0 attack.
In the Gaza Strip, where Hamas has been in control since 2007, residents can see and film the enormous destruction caused by almost 50 days of airstrikes without risking their lives. “When I came out, I didn’t know what street or intersection I was going through,” Mahmoud Jamal (31) told the AP agency. This taxi driver from Beit Janun, in the north of the Gaza Strip, was alluding to the destruction in one of the areas most affected by bombs and fighting.
The truce also allows the arrival of humanitarian aid to this northern area that includes Gaza City. Almost a million Palestinians fled this area from an enclave in which two-thirds of its 2.2 million inhabitants are already in the south. According to the agreement, 200 trucks of food, water and medicine, four of fuel and another four of gas enter each day of the truce.
An unusual plane landed on its runways yesterday at Ben Gurion Airport. Coming from Cyprus, the device was Qatari and brought the emirate’s emissaries. The Arab emirate, headquarters of Hamas leadership abroad, wanted not only to more closely monitor the current truce – which, as seen this Saturday, can break at any time – but also to try to extend it. The director of Egypt’s State Information Service, Diaa Rashwan, revealed that her country received “positive signals to extend it by one or two more days.” To do this, the fundamentalist group must release dozens of hostages beyond the agreed upon 50.
For Hamas, this pause is essential to freeze and perhaps bury an offensive aimed at completely ending its armed wing and regime in Gaza. Hence, the Islamist leader abroad Musa Abu Marzuk assured that he will continue the truce despite complaints from his group of Israeli “violations” in reference to the identity of the released Palestinian prisoners and the number of aid trucks in Gaza. . Israel denied this and accused Hamas leader in Gaza, Yahia Sinwar, of “manipulations to terrorize society and the families of those kidnapped.” Mutual complaints delayed the second round.
Israel’s position is to take advantage of this truce window to save the maximum number of hostages but when it closes sooner or later to resume the attacks as stated by Army Chief Herzi Halevi: “Our obligation is to fight Hamas and even sacrifice our lives. to achieve the release of the kidnapped people so that they can return to their homes and live safely.
“We are committed to stopping military operations during the ceasefire as long as Israel commits to it. We will not abandon prisoners and we will not stop our campaign until our objectives are achieved,” said the spokesman for the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, Abu Hamza, who has several hostages in his possession for exchanges. Another armed wing, in this case Hamas, yesterday released images of two Palestinians who were murdered and hanged on an electricity pole in Tulkaren (northern West Bank) under the suspicion that they were collaborators with Israel.