NAfter hours of waiting, a second group of 13 Israeli hostages has been handed over by Hamas to the Red Cross. According to the Israeli army, the women and children that Hamas kidnapped into the Gaza Strip during its major attack on Israel on October 7th are on their way to the Rafah border crossing into Egypt. From there they were then to be taken to Israel. According to Hamas, seven foreign nationals were also handed over. Qatar’s Foreign Ministry, however, said there were only four foreigners. Confirmation from the Red Cross was initially pending.
In return, 39 Palestinian prisoners were to be released from Israeli prisons in the evening. According to Hamas, among them are six women and 33 male youths under the age of 19.
The release of the Israeli hostages was preceded by turbulent hours in which fears grew in Israel that the hostage agreement would fail. As Israeli media reported, Israel had already threatened to resume the offensive in the coastal strip in the wake of an ever-increasing delay in the release if the second group of abductees were not released by midnight. There has been a ceasefire there since early Friday morning.
Shortly before the midnight deadline, cautious confidence finally spread: the Qatari Foreign Ministry announced that they had “removed the obstacles through Qatari-Egyptian talks with both sides.” The Israeli hostages would be released that night. Finally, Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari also said the efforts were making progress. Then finally the relatives of the abductees received the redeeming news.
Major discrepancies
According to the original agreement, the hostages were to have been released from Gaza at 4 p.m. local time after the first group of abductees was able to leave the coastal strip on Friday. However, earlier in the evening, Hamas said the release would be delayed, without giving any specific timing. The terrorist organization accused Israel of not adhering to the terms of the Qatari-brokered agreement, which calls for a four-day ceasefire and the exchange of an initial 50 Israeli hostages for 150 Palestinian prisoners.
Israeli media initially cited “technical” problems as the reason for the late release of the hostages. However, Hamas statements had previously suggested that the delay was due to major disagreements between the terrorist organization and Israel. In the afternoon, Hamas’s military wing announced that Israel had not adhered to the agreed timetable for the release of Palestinian prisoners. The announcement said that the hostages would not be released until Israel complied with the agreements.
At midday, an advisor to Hamas’s political office, Taher al-Nunu, also made critical comments to the broadcaster AlJazeera He explained that there had been “many violations of the agreement by Israel.” According to Al-Nunu, Israel has not complied with the agreements on humanitarian aid to northern Gaza. “If Israel does not commit to delivering aid to the northern Gaza Strip, it jeopardizes the entire agreement,” al-Nunu said.
No aid for northern Gaza?
Hundreds of trucks carrying aid supplies have reached the Gaza Strip since the ceasefire began on Friday morning. The United Nations spoke on Friday of the largest convoy since the reopening of the Rafah border crossing in the south of the coastal strip on October 21. However, the relief organization for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) initially left it open whether the north of the country would also be there for the first time in weeks Gaza Strip could be supplied with relief supplies. However, the Israeli side said on Saturday that 50 of the trucks had already reached northern Gaza.
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