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Release of hostages and prisoners after Israel-Hamas ceasefire. What is expected to happen today?

2023-11-25 10:13:28Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX

Release of hostages and prisoners after Israel-Hamas ceasefire. What is expected

As the interim cease-fire agreement went into effect in Gaza, US President Joe Biden spoke on Friday to highlight the merits of US diplomacy and thanked the countries that helped make the achievement possible.

For Israelis, the cessation of hostilities means the return home of some of the 240 hostages Israel says were kidnapped by Hamas in the unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7.

24 hostages, including 13 Israeli women and children, aged between 2 and 85, were released at dinner on Friday. Among the freed hostages were 10 Thai citizens and one Filipino, the Qatari government announced.

Meanwhile, the Israeli government released 39 Palestinian prisoners, women and teenagers.

"International Red Cross teams on Friday began a several-day operation to facilitate the release and transfer of hostages held in Gaza and Palestinian prisoners in the West Bank. The operation will also include the delivery of much-needed humanitarian aid to Gaza," the International Red Cross said in a statement about the four-day agreement brokered by Qatar.

Television footage on Egypt's state-run Al-Qahera channel showed the long line of ambulances picking up hostages being released from Gaza.

After their release, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that: "We have just completed the first phase of the return of the hostages. Children, their mothers and other women. Each of them is a world in itself. I emphasize to you families and all to you citizens of Israel: We are committed to the return of all our hostages."

In Tel Aviv, crowds of Israelis celebrated the developments, while in the West Bank city of Beituna, hundreds of Palestinians blew horns and set off fireworks to mark the release of Palestinian prisoners.

According to the ceasefire agreement, Israel will stop attacks on Gaza for four days.

Hamas confirmed on the Telegram network that the attacks by its forces will also stop. This group is considered a terrorist organization by the United States, Britain and the European Union.

During the four-day ceasefire, Hamas is expected to release at least 50 hostages, and Israel about 150 Palestinian prisoners.

Israel announced that the four-day ceasefire would be extended by one more day for every 10 hostages released by Hamas. A Qatari spokesman said from Doha that there was hope of brokering another deal to release the hostages from Gaza by the fourth day of the ceasefire.

As President Biden said in his speech on Friday, "the chances are real" for an extension of the temporary cessation of hostilities. He added that two American women and a 4-year-old child continue to be among the hostages.

Care of released hostages

The Israeli health official, Dr. Hagai Levine said some of the elderly hostages had chronic illnesses, such as diabetes. He added that the children have not seen sunlight for almost seven weeks.

"Because we don't know, we have to be prepared, hope for the best and prepare for the worst," Mr. Levin said. "Therefore we in Israel must be prepared to meet their needs, with a comprehensive approach. Some of the hostages were seriously injured, some had their limbs, hands or feet cut off, some were wounded with bullets; we don't know how they treated them, if they had infections," said Mr. Levine.

A second group of Israeli hostages is expected to be released today.

Aid to the residents of Gaza

For Palestinians, the ceasefire means an end to nearly seven weeks of Israeli airstrikes, which have killed more than 14,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Jason Lee, West Bank director for Save the Children, said children in Gaza are the most affected.

"We already have a situation where a child is killed every 10 minutes," Mr Lee said. "The number of injured civilians is also increasing. Over 30 thousand civilians have been injured, and again as an indicator of the asymmetry of this conflict, almost 70% - so 7 out of 10 - are women or children".

Israel announced that it would allow large amounts of humanitarian aid to Gaza.

"Four containers of fuel and four containers of cooking oil were transferred from Egypt to UN humanitarian aid organizations in the Gaza Strip from the Rafah border crossing," the Israel Defense Forces announced.

About 200 trucks with humanitarian aid crossed into Gaza on Friday morning, according to President Biden. Before the war between Israel and Hamas started, about 500 trucks entered the Palestinian territories every day.

The parties vow to continue the fight

Israel dropped leaflets warning residents of northern Gaza who fled the fighting not to return to their homes, as fighting is expected to resume after the ceasefire ends.

The spokesman for Hamas' armed wing called on Thursday for an escalation of fighting against Israel. "We call for an escalation of the confrontation with the occupiers throughout the West Bank and all resistance fronts," said Abu Ubaida, spokesman for the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, in a speech broadcast by Al Jazeera TV.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to ensure that Hamas no longer has the ability to attack Israel in the future.

"I want to be clear. The war continues. The war continues. We will continue it until it achieves all our objectives," Mr. Netanyahu said during a press conference on Wednesday.

International reaction

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, who welcomed the prime ministers of Spain and Belgium on Friday, said in a televised speech that international leaders, including President Biden, had told him that the Palestinians would not be forced to leave Gaza for to go to Egypt. He said that living conditions in Gaza are impossible, and that this will drive people to leave. The Egyptian leader said he spoke with President Biden, who assured him that the United States will not allow the forced emigration of Palestinians from Gaza.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told reporters during a visit to Egypt's Rafah border crossing on Friday that the European Union hopes to bring further aid to Gaza, on top of the level of aid currently flowing in.

Mr. Sanchez called on Hamas to release the other hostages and called on Israel to show more restraint.

"It also reiterates Israel's right to self-defense, but it must do so within the parameters and limitations set by international humanitarian law, and this is not the case," he said. "The indiscriminate killing of innocent civilians, including thousands of boys and girls, is completely unacceptable. Violence will bring more violence."

Mr. Sanchez proposed holding an international peace conference to discuss the ongoing conflict and to emphasize the need to implement a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians.

Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said the goal of the European Union's mediation between Israel and the Palestinians was "a permanent ceasefire" and to allow the entry of humanitarian aid supplies collected at the Egyptian border. He also criticized Israel's military operation in Gaza, while condemning the Palestinian group Hamas, which rules Gaza.

"On the other side of this border, terrible fighting has taken place; many civilians have been killed, and as always the first victims are women and children; families are destroyed; communities have been destroyed," Mr De Croo said. "Israel has the right to protect its citizens. All of Hamas is barbaric, and Hamas must do everything to free the innocent hostages."

Arab and Islamic leaders called for an unconditional ceasefire and efforts by the international community to implement a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians during a high-level Arab-Islamic meeting on November 11 in the Saudi capital Riyadh.

President Biden on Friday reiterated his stance in favor of a two-state solution so that Israelis and Palestinians could live side by side.

"It is now more important than ever before," said President Biden.

VOA. Linda Gradstein in Jerusalem and Steve Herman in Washington contributed to this article. Edward Yeranian contributed from Cairo. Some of the data was obtained from the news agencies Associated Press, AFP and Reuters.


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