what to remember from Sunday, November 26

At the end of a third day of truce, a new exchange between Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners was carried out.

The war between Israel and Hamas, which entered its 51st day on Sunday, remains on pause. A four-day, renewable humanitarian truce came into force Friday morning after an agreement between Israel and Hamas concluded under the aegis of Qatar, Egypt and the United States. The agreement provides for the release of 50 hostages held in the Gaza Strip in exchange for 150 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, as well as the daily entry of aid into Gaza. On Sunday, a third exchange allowed the release of 17 Israeli hostages and 39 Palestinian prisoners. Franceinfo takes stock of what to remember from the day.

A third exchange

Thirteen hostages have arrived in Israel, the army announced Sunday evening, adding that four more were on the way. They include four women and nine children, including a four-year-old Israeli-American girl named Abigail whose release was confirmed by US President Joe Biden. According to Qatar, one of the hostages is also South African and two also have Hungarian nationality. Ten of the thirteen hostages are members of the same three families. The other four hostages include three Thais and a Russian-Israeli who were not part of the deal.

Hamas says it frees Russian hostage “in response” At “support for the Palestinian cause” of Russian President Vladimir Putin. In return, Israel announced that it had released 39 Palestinian prisoners, all under the age of 19. Buses left the Israeli Ofer prison in the occupied West Bank, where prisoners had been transferred before their release. They then arrived in Beitunia. On Friday, 24 hostages and 39 Palestinians were released. On Saturday, 17 hostages and 39 Palestinians were released. The Israeli hostages concerned are only women and children. The Palestinian detainees are women and young people under the age of 19.

Pressure for an extension of the truce

A source close to Hamas told AFP that the Palestinian Islamist movement had “informed the mediators” Qataris and Egyptians that the armed groups holding Israeli hostages were “agree to extend the current truce from two to four days”. These Palestinian movements “believe it is possible to secure the release of 20 to 40 Israeli prisoners” additional.

Israel, for its part, affirmed that beyond four days, the release of “ten additional hostages” would lead to “an extra day of break”. Each day that passes therefore increases the number of hostages released, responding to an immense demand of Israeli public opinion, but also allowing Hamas to regain strength after weeks of a devastating war. “Time is against Israel”, assures Andreas Krieg, of King’s College London. The researcher summarizes the dilemma of the Israeli authorities: “On the one hand you want all your hostages out, knowing that you will not liberate them militarily. On the other hand, you do not want to lose the dynamic of the war”.

Hamas confirms death of top military leader

The armed wing of the Palestinian movement Hamas announced the death of the military commander of the Northern Gaza Brigade and three other executives during the Israeli offensive on the Palestinian territory. Ahmed al-Ghandour was a member of the Hamas Military Council and considered a “terrorist” by American authorities since 2017. He was accused of being involved in an attack against the Israeli army in 2006 at the Kerem Shalom crossing point, between Israel and the Gaza Strip, in the far south of Palestinian territory.

Targeted for a long time by the Israeli army, he had lost two of his children in strikes before the current offensive. Among the other executives named in the al-Qassam Brigades press release, all killed before the start of the truce in progress since Friday, is Ayman Siam, presented as the leader of the rocket firing units. Hamas rarely communicates about its dead. In mid-October, however, he announced the death of Ayman Nofal, a commander of the Al-Qassam Brigades, in an Israeli army strike.

Benjamin Netanyahu traveling to Gaza

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the Gaza Strip on Sunday. The leader’s presence is a first for an Israeli head of government since Israel’s unilateral withdrawal from Palestinian territory in 2005. The army launched a ground operation in the Palestinian enclave on October 27.

“We continue until the end, until victory. Nothing will stop us”the Prime Minister told Israeli soldiers, according to a video posted by his office. “We have three goals in this war: to eliminate Hamas, to return all of our abductees, and to ensure that Gaza does not become a threat to Israel again.”

Humanitarian aid delivered to Gaza

The UN announced on Saturday that a total of 248 humanitarian aid trucks have arrived in the Gaza Strip since the truce took effect and of these, 61 vehicles have delivered medical equipment, food and water in the north of the enclave. Eleven ambulances, three buses and a flatbed vehicle were delivered to Al-Shifa hospital, the largest in the Gaza Strip, “to help with evacuations”specifies the United Nations agency responsible for humanitarian coordination in a press release.

The establishment is, according to Israeli authorities, the main command center for Hamas operations in the Gaza Strip, something the Palestinian Islamist movement denies. “The longer the truce lasts, the more humanitarian organizations will be able to send aid inside and outside the Gaza Strip”added the UN, thanking the Palestinian Red Crescent and the Egyptian Red Crescent.