The second exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners is already underway. At noon, Hamas handed over Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa, Naama Levy and Liri Albagfour female soldiers who were captured in their bases at the gates of … Gaza during the ‘Al Aqsa Flood’ operation on October 7, 2023. As a week ago, the Islamists they prepared a showwith a live signal from the major Arab networks, to try to give an image of strength against his own people and his enemy. Dozens of Hamas and Islamic Jihad militiamen, all hooded, guarded the Gaza City square where the four young women, dressed in their uniforms, were handed over to the International Red Cross envoys.
The Israeli media highlighted that the soldiers “appeared before the cameras walking, looking healthy, smiling and greeted the public at the time of the delivery.” In Tel Aviv’s hostage square, the moment was followed with great emotion and family and friends of the hostages demanded that the Government comply with the three phases of the agreement so as not to leave any of their loved ones in Gaza. This week, as agreed in Doha, Hamas and Israel must begin negotiating the second phase.
The hostages were handed over to Israeli troops before being taken to a hospital to undergo a medical examination and be reunited with their families after 15 months of captivity. The next step must be taken by Israel, which has already published the list with the 200 names of prisoners that it will release. Among the most prominent names on the list is the dean of Palestinian prisoners Muhammad Al-Tus (Abu Shadi)who will be released today after 39 years. Al Tus, a Fatah member, was arrested in October 1985 and sentenced to life imprisonment for his anti-occupation activities. He is one of the few prisoners who remain locked up since before the signing of the Oslo Accords of 1993 and Israel had always refused to include him in exchange.
Another name on the list is Mohammad Ardehone of the 6 Palestinian prisoners who in 2021 escaped through a tunnel they dug in the Gilboa prison. The agreement will also get Wael Qassema member of Hamas’s armed wing, responsible for attacks that left dozens dead, including bombings at Café Moment in Jerusalem, the Sheffield Club in Rishon Lezion, and the Frank Sinatra café at Hebrew University, in the early 1990s. 2000.
Operation in the West Bank
The army, which launched Operation Iron Wall in the West Bank on Tuesday, will try to prevent the arrival of prisoners from once again becoming a party in the occupied territories. Last week hundreds of people gathered to welcome the newly freed with fireworks, shouts and green Hamas flags. The Israelis have increased the number of checkpoints in the West Bank and movements from one location to another are increasingly complicated. According to the Palestinian Wall Resistance Commission, since the outbreak of the war in Gaza, 146 new iron doors around the West Bank later, 17 of them in January alone. This brings the number of checkpoints to 898 and makes life impossible for Palestinians.
The first phase of the agreement is progressing as agreed and Israel has allowed the entry of more than 4,800 trucks with humanitarian aid to a Strip where all help is little. After the second exchange is consummated, it will be the turn for the Gazans forcibly displaced to the south of the Strip to return to the north, although this point may remain up in the air in response to Hamas’s decision to alter the terms established for the release of hostages.
Those who can make this return journey in a vehicle must pass a control in the Netzarim corridor. That position will be in the hands of a private American security company, reported the ‘Axios’ portal, which will deploy armed guards in Gaza. “American companies will operate in Gaza as part of a multinational consortium that has been established under the ceasefire agreement and with the support of their intermediaries: the United States, Egypt and Qatar,” ‘Axios’ revealed. The objective is to inspect the vehicles so that do not carry weapons to a northern area where what awaits the neighbors is pure destruction.
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