KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Hamas is preparing to release a dozen hostages Saturday in exchange for dozens more Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, the second day of a cease-fire that has allowed critical humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. Civilians after their first retirement The Seven Weeks War.
Despite the uncertainty surrounding the details of the exchange, there was optimism on both sides amid scenes of happy family reunions. On the first day A four-day ceasefireHamas released 24 of the approximately 240 hostages it captured during that time October 7 attack Israel freed 39 Palestinians from prison over Israel for inciting war. 13 Israelis released in Gaza 10 from Thailand and one from the Philippines.
On Saturday, Hamas offered Mediators Egypt and Qatar A list of 14 hostages to be released has been sent to Israel, an Egyptian official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the details of ongoing negotiations. A second official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the details. Egypt’s government press office and state-run Cairo news agency said 13 hostages would be exchanged for 39 prisoners.
But on Saturday evening Hamas said it was delaying the release of a second group of hostages, saying Israel had not complied with the terms of the deal and had not provided enough aid to the besieged region. Hamas did not specify the length of the delay. UN for Palestinian refugees The agency said 196 aid trucks entered Friday, and Israel said four fuel trucks and four gas tanks entered Saturday.
Under the cease-fire agreement, Hamas will release one Israeli hostage for every three prisoners released. Israel’s prisons said on Saturday that it was preparing for the release of 42 prisoners. It was not immediately clear how many non-Israeli prisoners might be released.
In total, Hamas is set to release at least 50 Israeli hostages and Israel 150 Palestinian prisoners – including women and minors – during the four-day ceasefire.
Israel has said the ceasefire could be extended an extra day for every 10 hostages released – US President Joe Biden said he was optimistic.
Separately, a Qatari delegation arrived in Israel on Saturday to coordinate with the parties on the ground and “ensure that the agreement continues to run smoothly,” a diplomatic official briefed on the visit said. The diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss details with the media.
The start of the ceasefire brought the first peace to the 2.3 million Palestinians reeling from relentless Israeli bombardment that has killed thousands. Three-quarters of the population is motivated from their homes and Balanced residential areas. Gaza militants’ rocket attack on Israel calms down.
War-weary Palestinians in northern Gaza, the epicenter of Israel’s ground offensive, have returned to the streets, raking rubble between collapsed buildings, sometimes digging through it with their bare hands. At the Indonesian hospital in Jabaliya, which was besieged by the Israeli army earlier this month, bodies lay in the courtyard and outside the main gate.
For Emat Abu Hajar, a resident of the Jabaliya refugee camp in the Gaza City area, the suspension allowed him to search again for the remains of his home, which was leveled in an Israeli attack last week.
He found the bodies of his cousin and nephew, bringing the death toll in the attack to 19. With his sister and two cousins still missing, he continued digging on Saturday.
“We want to find them and give them a dignified burial,” he said.
The United Nations said the moratorium enabled it Increase food supplySince the resumption of aid convoys on October 21, water and medicine have been in huge quantities. It was able to deliver 129,000 liters (34,078 gallons) of fuel – 10% of the pre-war daily volume – as well as cooking gas, a first since the start of the war.
A long line of people with containers waited outside a filling station in the southern city of Khan Younis on Saturday. Hossam Fayyad lamented that the ceasefire was only for four days.
“I want it to be extended until people’s conditions improve,” he said.
For the first time in a month, aid reached northern Gaza. The Palestinian Red Cross said 61 trucks carrying food, water and medical supplies had arrived there on Saturday, the largest aid convoy yet to reach the area.
UN And the Palestinian Red Cross was able to evacuate 40 patients and family members from a hospital in Gaza City, where most of the fighting has taken place, to a hospital in Khan Younis.
However, the relief brought by the ceasefire has been limited. For the Israelis, indeed Not all hostages will be released. For the Palestinians, by the contraction of the pause.
At least two Palestinians were injured on Saturday at a tense West Bank checkpoint to release Israeli prisoners. Israeli security forces fired tear gas and rubber bullets at Palestinians gathered at the Beituniya checkpoint. It is not known how the two were injured.
The first hostages were released
Among the freed Israelis were nine women and four children under the age of 9. They were taken to Israeli hospitals for observation and were reported to be in good condition.
In a plaza in Tel Aviv known as “Hostage Square,” a crowd celebrated the gospel, but insisted on more. “Don’t forget the rest, because it’s harder and harder and harder. It’s heartbreaking,” said Tel Aviv resident Neri Gershon.
Some families blamed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government Not doing enough To bring home the hostages.
The hostages span multiple generations. Nine-year-old Ohad Munder-Sikri was released along with his mother Keren Munder and grandmother Ruthie Munder. He was abducted while visiting his grandparents in Kibbutz Nir Oz, where around 80 people – nearly a quarter of the community’s residents – are believed to have been taken.
Hours later, 24 Palestinian women and 15 teenage boys held in Israeli prisons in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem were freed. Adolescents have been jailed for petty crimes like stone pelting. Several women were also convicted of stabbing Israeli soldiers.
“It is a joy tinged with sadness, because our release from prison came at the cost of the lives of martyrs and the innocence of children,” said freed Palestinian prisoner Aseel Munir al-Thiti.
According to the Palestinian Prisoners Club, an advocacy group, Israel holds 7,200 Palestinians, including about 2,000 arrested since the war began.
A long silence?
The war broke out when several thousand Hamas fighters were present Attacked in southern IsraelKilled approximately 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and many hostages, including children, women and the elderly, as well as soldiers.
Israeli leaders have said they will resume fighting until Hamas, which has controlled Gaza for the past 16 years, is crushed. Israeli officials argued that only military pressure could bring the hostages home. But the government is under pressure from the hostages’ families to prioritize the release of the remaining prisoners.
More than 13,300 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks Ministry of Health In the Gaza government run by Hamas. Women and children continue to account for two-thirds of the dead. This figure does not include the updated numbers of hospitals in the north Communication is broken.
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Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writer Julia Frankel in Jerusalem contributed.
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Full AP coverage https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war.
