After 48 days of war, the first truce between Israel and Hamas comes into effect this Friday, a four-day respite for the punished Gazan civilian population, which will allow the release of a first batch of 13 hostages of the almost 240 that the Islamist group holds captive in the Gaza Strip.
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After the parties accepted the terms of the agreement in the early hours of Wednesday, the ceasefire for the release of hostages was expected to take effect this Thursday, but was ultimately delayed due to the need to finalize details.
(Also read: Israel assures that fighting will resume with intensity in Gaza after ‘brief truce’)
It was the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Qatar, the mediating country, who first reported this Thursday that the ceasefire begins this Friday, at 7 am, local time (at midnight in Colombia), and that The first 13 hostages, all of them women and children, will be released at 4 pm local time (9 am Colombia time). Israel and Hamas confirmed this information shortly after..
“The criterion for prioritizing the hostages was purely humanitarian and we focused on putting women and children out of danger as quickly as possible,” said Majed al Ansari, the Qatari spokesman, who trusted in the fulfillment of the truce after appreciating “positivism and commitment” on both sides.
(You can read: Qatar announces that truce between Israel and Hamas in Gaza will begin this Friday)
The criterion for prioritizing the hostages was purely humanitarian and we focused on getting women and children out of danger as quickly as possible.
Total, During the four days of the truce, Hamas is expected to hand over 50 hostages, between 10 and 13 each day, in exchange for the release of 150 Palestinian prisoners who have not been convicted of blood crimes. In both cases, the list includes only women and children.
According to Egyptian state television Al Qahera News, the first batch of Palestinians to be released this Friday is made up of 39 children and women.
The agreement, reached with the mediation of Qatar, Egypt and the United States, after an intense day of negotiations in Doha, the Qatari capital, contemplates that the truce can be extended to a maximum of 10 days, which will allow Hamas to hand over 150 kidnapped of the nearly 240 that he holds captive; and Israel, for its part, frees up to 300 Palestinians.
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In fact, it emerged that the head of Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, David Barnea, traveled to Qatar on Wednesday night to finalize loose ends and receive the list of freed hostages, as well as deliver that of Palestinian prisoners.
The Israeli Government confirmed having received the “preliminary” list with the names of the captives who will be released in the next four days. “Designated officials verify the details of the list and are in contact with all families,” said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office..
“We have informed all those families whose loved ones appear on the list, in addition to the rest of the hostage families,” indicated, for his part, the Israeli coordinator for the kidnapped and missing, Brigadier General Gal Hirsch, who requested maximum prudence and avoid leaks of that list, which until now remains secret.
(Continue reading: Why was the start of the truce between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip delayed?)
In addition to Israel, 26 countries have citizens among the hostages, according to figures from the Israeli Foreign Ministry. Many have dual nationality.
Twenty-six Thais were kidnapped along with 21 Argentines, 18 Germans, ten Americans, seven French and seven Russians, according to figures provided by their governments.
No details were provided on how the exchanges would be carried out.citing security reasons.
Fight breaks
For its part, the al-Qasam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, celebrated the “humanitarian truce.” “For every Zionist prisoner, three Palestinian prisoners will be released, including women and children,” they stressed.
“The truce implies the cessation of all military actions by the Palestinian resistance and the Zionist enemy during that period,” the group noted.
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Hamas also confirmed that The agreement contemplates the daily entry of 200 trucks with humanitarian aid, food and medicine to distribute throughout the Strip, including the north, as well as the daily distribution of four trucks with fuel, vital for the electrical supply of the enclave..
Aid convoy hours before the truce begins in Gaza.
Egypt mobilized this Thursday from Cairo a humanitarian aid convoy made up of more than a hundred trucks heading to the Rafah crossing, which connects Gaza with the Sinai, to enter the enclave once the truce begins.
The ceasefire is a respite for the devastated enclave, mired in the worst humanitarian catastrophe in its history, where more than 14,500 people have died – more than 70 percent of them children and women – and where There are more than 6,800 missing under the rubble or whose bodies are lying on streets and roads, so the number of fatalities could be higher, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health..
(Also read: Israel continues attacking Gaza, amid uncertainty about the start of the truce)
In addition to completely suspending military operations, Israel committed to suspend aerial surveillance with drones over the north of the Strip for six hours a day and all day in the south.
The Red Cross may also enter the enclave to provide medical care to the hostages who have not yet been released, most of them soldiers and civilian men, not included in this first batch, which also does not contemplate the delivery of corpses.
However, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant stated this Thursday that Once this “brief” temporary truce in Gaza ends, fighting within the enclave will resume “with intensity” for at least two more months..
What is required of you in this respite is to organize, prepare, investigate, resupply your weapons, and prepare to continue.
“What we will see in the coming days is the release of the hostages. This respite will be brief,” Gallant said.
(In context: Pope Francis meets with relatives of Hamas hostages and Palestinian prisoners)
“What is required of you in this respite is to organize, prepare, investigate, resupply weapons and prepare to continue,” Gallant urged the soldiers. “There will be a continuation because we need to complete the victory and create momentum for the next groups of hostages, who will only return thanks to military pressure,” he added.
Israel declared war on Hamas on October 7 after an attack by the Islamist group that included the launching of more than 4,000 rockets and the infiltration of 3,000 militiamen who killed more than 1,200 people and kidnapped about 240.
(Also: The keys to the agreement between Israel and Hamas for the release of hostages and a pause in Gaza)
Four women have already been released for “humanitarian reasons” – an American mother and daughter, and two elderly Israeli women; A soldier was rescued by the Army, and the bodies of two other kidnapped women, a 19-year-old soldier and a 65-year-old woman, have been found in the Strip.
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