New releases of hostages held by Hamas and Palestinian prisoners held in Israel are expected on Monday on the fourth and final day of truce in the Gaza Strip, which could be extended.
This truce, which ends Tuesday at 7 a.m. (midnight EST), also allowed the entry of hundreds of trucks loaded with humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, besieged and devastated by seven weeks of Israeli bombing in retaliation for the The bloody attack launched by Hamas against Israel on October 7.
The Israeli government is under very strong pressure to extend the truce and allow the release of a larger number of hostages, strongly demanded by a public opinion traumatized by the Hamas attack.
After American President Joe Biden, who called for an extension of the truce, the head of diplomacy of the European Union, Josep Borrell, called on Monday for a “lasting” truce with a view to working on a “political solution” to the conflict.
During the night from Sunday to Monday, Hamas, in power in Gaza since 2007, said it was “seeking to extend the truce beyond its four days”, with the aim of “increasing the number of prisoners released”.
A source close to Hamas told AFP that the Palestinian movement was in favor of an extension of “two to four days” and had “informed the mediators” of this.
The agreement negotiated by Qatar, with the support of the United States and Egypt, and which entered into force on Friday, provides for four days of truce, the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza from Egypt as well as the release of 50 hostages and 150 Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.
A provision of the agreement allows its renewal to free around ten hostages daily, in exchange for the release of around thirty Palestinian prisoners.
“Other hostages released”
“Provisions provide for the release of ten more hostages every day and that is a blessing,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared on Sunday after an interview with Joe Biden.
“But I also told the president that we will, after the agreement, return to our objective: to eliminate Hamas and ensure that the Gaza Strip is no longer what it was,” he added. .
The US president said his goal was “to ensure that this pause continues beyond tomorrow, so that we can see more hostages released and more humanitarian aid” delivered to the Gaza Strip.
On Monday, “discussions were underway” in Israel, according to the Prime Minister’s Office, on the list of hostages to be released during the day.
In Qatar, a source close to the discussions reported “a slight problem” with this list. “The Qataris are working with both sides to resolve it and avoid delays,” according to this source.
Since Friday, 39 Israeli hostages kidnapped on October 7 by Hamas have been released as part of the agreement, as well as 117 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons, at a ratio of one hostage to three prisoners.
In addition, 19 hostages were released without agreement, the majority of them Thais who worked in Israel.
Among the hostages released on Sunday was a four-year-old girl with American nationality, named Abigail.
According to a senior American official, his mother was murdered before his eyes during the Hamas attack. Her father tried to protect her before being killed in turn. Abigail then fled to neighbors, where she was taken hostage.
Abigail “no longer has parents, but she has a whole country hugging her. We will take good care of her,” promised Benjamin Netanyahu.
“Sad and happy”
The prime minister, who is due to ask the government on Monday for a “war” budget of 30 billion shekels (CA$10.9 billion), called for “victory” on Sunday, during his first visit to the Gaza Strip since start of the war.
The army estimated the total number of hostages kidnapped by Hamas on October 7 at 240.
According to the Israeli authorities, 1,200 people, the vast majority civilians, were killed during the attack launched by commandos of the Islamist movement infiltrated from the Gaza Strip.
In retaliation, Israel promised to “eliminate” Hamas, classified as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union and Israel, 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 under the age of 18, were killed by Israeli strikes, according to the Hamas government.
In the occupied West Bank, crowds waving flags of Palestinian, Hamas and other Palestinian groups on Sunday welcomed freed prisoners, transported to Ramallah and Beitunia in International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) buses.
“I am sad for our martyrs and happy for the victory achieved by our resistance,” Yazan Sabah, a young released prisoner, told Beitunia.
“Unprecedented” needs
If the truce offered respite to the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip, the humanitarian situation there remains “dangerous” and the needs are “unprecedented”, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) estimated on Sunday.
Already subject to an Israeli land, sea and air blockade since 2007, the small, overpopulated territory was placed under total siege by Israel on October 9, which caused serious shortages of water, food, fuel and medicine. and electricity.
More than half of the territory’s homes have been damaged or destroyed by the war, according to the UN, and 1.7 million of the 2.4 million residents have been displaced.
Since Friday, several hundred trucks loaded with aid have been able to enter the Gaza Strip, via Egypt, and some of them have reached the north, the part of the territory most devastated by the war.
“We should send 200 trucks per day for at least two months to meet the needs,” UNRWA spokesperson Adnan Abou Hasna told AFP on Sunday, adding that there was “no water drinking or food” in the north.
“They are talking about bringing aid and fuel, but I have been at the gas station for nine hours and it is still closed,” lamented Sunday in Khan Younès, a large city in the south of the territory, Bilal Diab, a Palestinian interviewed by AFP.
The Israeli army, which considers the northern third of the Gaza Strip a war zone housing the heart of Hamas’s infrastructure, had already ordered the population to leave and barred anyone from returning during the truce. .
Despite this warning, thousands of displaced Gaza residents took advantage of the break in fighting to try to return home to the north, particularly to Gaza City transformed into a field of ruins.