Hamas announced on Saturday that it was delaying the expected release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip, accusing Israel of failing to respect the truce agreement that offered a second day of respite to Palestinians in the besieged territory after seven weeks of war.
The armed wing of the Islamist movement, the Ezzedine al-Qassam brigades, notably demanded in a press release “the entry of humanitarian aid trucks into the north of the Gaza Strip” and the respect of the “selection criteria” for the release of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the hostages, before handing them over to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
According to Israel, which confirmed the delay, 14 hostages were to be released on Saturday in exchange for 42 Palestinian detainees.
This agreement, concluded by Qatar with the support of the United States and Egypt, provides for four days of truce which should allow the release of 50 hostages, out of the more than 200 held in Gaza, and 150 Palestinian prisoners. This pause in the fighting, renewable and which seemed respected on Saturday, also includes the entry of humanitarian aid and fuel into Gaza.
Israeli bombings since the bloody attack on Israel on October 7 and the military offensive on northern Gaza have stopped, as have Hamas rocket attacks on Israel.
On Friday, the first 13 Israeli hostages, women and children, were handed over to the ICRC and returned to Israel via Egypt to reunite with their families.
The Islamist movement also released ten Thais and one Filipino, who were not part of the deal.
In return, Israel released 39 Palestinians, women and young people under the age of 19.
” Do not forget ”
In Tel Aviv, smiling faces of freed hostages were projected Friday evening on the facade of the Art Museum, with the words: “I’m back home.”
Israeli authorities have asked the media to respect the privacy of the ex-hostages and their families. And those whose loved ones are still detained by Hamas waited in anguish for an end to a nightmare that has lasted for seven weeks.
“Today, we are happy to see our people return, but we must not forget all those who have not yet returned,” testified Yael Adar, the daughter-in-law of Yaffa Adar, 85 years old and the oldest of the ex-hostages, on the Ynet news site.
“We will not be silent until the last detainee returns home,” promised Yael Adar, whose son Tamir, a 38-year-old father of two young children, is still in Hamas hands after being kidnapped as his grandmother in the kibbutz of Nir Oz.
The chief of staff of the Israeli army, General Herzi Halevi, however, warned that the war was not over. “We will resume attacking Gaza as soon as the truce ends […] to dismantle Hamas and create enormous pressure to bring back as many hostages as possible, every last one of them, as quickly as possible,” he said.
Jubilation in the West Bank
In the occupied West Bank, scenes of jubilation, amid fireworks, Palestinian flags and various movements including the green banner of Hamas, accompanied the return of the released prisoners.
In East Jerusalem, occupied by Israel since 1967, demonstrations of joy were, however, prohibited.
PHOTO AHMAD GHARABLI, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
In the occupied West Bank, scenes of jubilation, amid fireworks, Palestinian flags and various movements including the green banner of Hamas, accompanied the return of Palestinian prisoners released by Israel.
“I was waiting for the day when I would be released from prison and could hug my mother,” said Rawan Nafez Mohammad Abou Matar, who returned to her home in Beitlo, near Ramallah in the West Bank. “It’s been years since I touched her or hugged her like that, except when I was able to take a photo with her,” says the young woman, convicted in 2015, when she was 21 years, to nine years in prison for attempted murder of an Israeli border guard.
According to Israeli authorities, 1,200 people, the vast majority civilians, were killed on October 7 during the attack by Hamas, classified as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union and Israel.
In retaliation, Israel promised to “eliminate” Hamas, which took power in Gaza in 2007, relentlessly bombing the Palestinian territory and launching a ground offensive on October 27, until the truce.
In the Gaza Strip, 14,854 people, including 6,150 children and adolescents, were killed by Israeli strikes, according to the Hamas government.
Hospitals overwhelmed
The truce offers a fragile moment of respite to the thousands of internally displaced people in Gaza who have left hospitals and schools in the south of the territory where they had found refuge to return home.
In hospitals in the south of the Gaza Strip, ambulance convoys evacuating wounded from the north continue to arrive. But, assures Ashraf al-Qidreh, spokesperson for the Hamas Ministry of Health, “they no longer have the reception capacity or the equipment” to cope.
PHOTO -, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
The Indonesian hospital located on the outskirts of the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip.
More than half of the territory’s housing has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN, and 1.7 million people have been displaced, out of 2.4 million inhabitants.
“The truce feels good, we hope it will last. It’s good when it’s quiet. People want to live,” said Mohammed Dheir, who found refuge with his family in Rafah, in southern Gaza.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from northern Gaza have massed in this part of the territory since the start of the war to try to escape the bombings.
The army considers the northern third of the Gaza Strip, where Gaza City is located, to be a combat zone housing the center of Hamas’s infrastructure. She ordered the population to leave and prevents anyone from returning.
According to the Hamas Ministry of Health, seven people were injured by Israeli fire while several thousand Gazans headed north.
The truce allowed the acceleration of the arrival of humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip. These cargoes, the entry of which from Egypt is subject to the green light from Israel, have been arriving in recent weeks in dribs and drabs.
Dozens of trucks crossed the Rafah border post on Saturday for the second consecutive day, according to images shot by AFP.
In the neighboring town of Rafah, many residents with empty gas canisters were waiting for a delivery.
“No one can cook or do anything without gas,” said a resident, Ezzeddine Abou Omeira. “All residents hope and are ready to have gas to make their lives easier. »