(Jerusalem) The Israeli government gave the green light on Wednesday to an agreement aimed at obtaining the release of 50 hostages held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and a truce in the Gaza Strip, the first tangible sign of respite after weeks of war.
What there is to know
- Israel and Hamas reached ceasefire agreement Wednesday to release hostages;
- BRICS member countries called for an “immediate humanitarian truce” leading to a ceasefire;
- UNICEF has warned that a real health tragedy is looming in the Gaza Strip, due to the lack of fuel and water;
- Two of the 33 premature babies who were to be evacuated from al-Chifa hospital died during the night before their evacuation;
- South African President Cyril Ramaphosa accused Israel of “war crimes” and “genocide” in Gaza;
- According to Hamas, the Indonesian hospital is still besieged by Israeli tanks, 700 people are trapped there and 50 dead lie in front of the establishment;
- Two journalists and two other civilians were killed Tuesday in southern Lebanon in Israeli strikes.
“The government approved the outline of the first stage of an agreement under which at least 50 abductees – women and children – will be released for four days during which there will be a lull in the fighting,” according to a press release in Hebrew from the government sent to AFP.
The agreement to release hostages is “the right decision” to take, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared Tuesday evening before the start of his cabinet meeting which continued early Wednesday with this green light.
Around 240 people were kidnapped during the bloody attack launched on October 7 against Israel by the Islamist movement in power in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas, whose leader Ismaïl Haniyeh had reported progress in the talks, welcomed a “humanitarian truce” agreement, specifying that the “provisions of this agreement were formulated in accordance with the vision of the resistance”.
Mr. Netanyahu, who had made the release of hostages a prerequisite for any ceasefire, specified that American President Joe Biden had contributed to obtaining a proposal to release more hostages “at a lower cost”.
Doha is working with Washington and Cairo to obtain the release of hostages held in Gaza in exchange for that of Palestinian prisoners and a truce in the fighting.
PHOTO AMIR COHEN, REUTERS
Demonstrators hold signs demanding the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip.
Qatar said on Tuesday that the negotiations had entered their “final phase”.
Two Israeli and Palestinian sources indicated that the agreement involved the release of 50 hostages in exchange for 150 Palestinian prisoners in Israel. On both sides, those released will be women and children, Hamas said.
Continuation of the war
This truce agreement does not mean the end of the war in the Gaza Strip, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned Tuesday evening, saying he wanted a “full force” resumption of operations after the truce in order to “undo” Hamas and “create the necessary conditions to bring home other hostages.”
REUTERS PHOTO
The Jabaliya Palestinian refugee camp, November 21, 2023
“The Israeli government, Israeli army and security forces will continue the war to return all abductees, eliminate Hamas and ensure that there is no further threat to the State of Israel from Gaza,” the government also confirmed after its vote.
“We confirm that our hands will remain on the trigger and that our triumphant battalions will remain on the lookout,” warned Hamas for its part.
Health “tragedy”
International organizations and many foreign capitals are increasing calls for a ceasefire or truce in the face of the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the small besieged territory, where the war has destroyed entire neighborhoods, devastated the health system and resulted in massive population movements.
A health “tragedy” is looming in the Gaza Strip, where water is “cruelly lacking” and the shortage of fuel risks causing “the collapse of sanitation services”, the United Nations Fund for Human Development warned on Tuesday. childhood (UNICEF).
In Israel, 1,200 people, the vast majority civilians, were killed, according to the authorities, in the Hamas attack of October 7, of a scale and violence unprecedented in the history of the country.
In retaliation, Israel promised to “annihilate” the Islamist movement and relentlessly shelled the Gaza Strip, where its army has been leading a ground offensive since October 27 against Hamas, classified as a terrorist organization by the United States, the Union European and Israel.
In the Palestinian territory, more than 14,000 people were killed in Israeli bombings, including more than 5,800 children, according to the Hamas government.
A hospital under siege
In the Gaza Strip, where humanitarians report a sharp increase in illnesses such as diarrhea and respiratory infections, nearly 900,000 displaced people have sought refuge in overcrowded shelters run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).
PHOTO YOUSEF MASOUD, THE NEW YORK TIMES
Wounded evacuated from the Indonesian Hospital arrive at the Nasser Medical Hospital in Khan Younis, in the south of the Gaza Strip.
“We are seriously lacking water. “Fecal matter litters densely populated areas,” UNICEF spokesperson James Elder warned on Tuesday.
In Rafah, not far from the Egyptian border in the south of the Gaza Strip where many Palestinians have found refuge in extremely precarious conditions, Hamza Abdel Razeq, a resident, hopes for a ceasefire agreement “in order to alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian people who have endured 45 days of war, destruction and killings. »
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) announced that three doctors, including two working for its operations, were killed in a strike on the al-Awda hospital in the Jabaliya camp.
According to the Hamas Ministry of Health, the Indonesian Hospital, on the edge of this camp, was still under siege on Tuesday by Israeli tanks and “50 dead” were lying in front of the establishment.
Hamas claims that Israel is waging “a war against hospitals” in Gaza, almost all of which in the north of the territory are no longer functioning.
Israel, which has occupied al-Chifa hospital, the largest in the Gaza Strip, since November 15, accuses Hamas of using hospitals as military bases, buried in particular in tunnels, and of using the civilians there as “human shields”, which the Palestinian movement denies.
According to the UN, nearly 1.7 million of the 2.4 million inhabitants have been displaced by the war in the Gaza Strip, subjected since October 9 by Israel to a “total siege”. Humanitarian aid, the entry of which is subject to the green light from Israel, arrives in dribs and drabs via Egypt, in insufficient quantities, according to the UN.
On Tuesday, in Rafah, long lines of men and women waited for a distribution of bags of flour in front of the UNRWA premises. “The missiles did not kill us, but now we are dying of hunger and thirst,” Halima Abu Amr, a resident, told AFP.
In southern Lebanon, where exchanges of fire intensified on the border between the Israeli army and Hezbollah, eight people including two journalists were killed Tuesday in Israeli strikes, reports the official Lebanese press agency,
The Israeli army reported several shots overnight from Lebanon towards northern Israel at a time when the international community fears an extension of the conflict in the region.
In Iraq, an American strike killed pro-Iranian militia fighters, the Pentagon said on Tuesday, in response to an attack targeting American soldiers in the region.