Hamas said on Wednesday it was ready to extend the truce in Gaza by four days and release new hostages.
A new exchange of 10 Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip since October 7 for 30 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel is expected on Wednesday, the 6th day of this truce which allowed the entry of humanitarian aid into the besieged, devastated Palestinian territory by seven weeks of Israeli bombing.
Hamas announced in the afternoon the release of two female Russian hostages, but outside the framework of the truce agreement negotiated through Qatar, the United States and Egypt.
The Israeli army said “check” information on the death of a 10-month-old baby, the youngest of the hostages kidnapped on October 7, his mother and his 4-year-old brother. Hamas’ military wing claimed they had been “killed in Gaza in Israeli bombardment”.
After an initial extension of the truce until Thursday 05:00 GMT, a source close to Hamas told AFP on Wednesday that the Islamist movement was “All right” to extend it “four days” additional and free Israeli hostages, “under the current agreement and on the same conditions”.
In the West Bank, Palestinian territory occupied by Israel for 56 years, an eight-year-old child and a 15-year-old teenager were killed by the Israeli army, according to the Palestinian Authority. The Israeli army said “check” these informations.
Since the start of the war triggered by a bloody Hamas attack on October 7 in Israel, violence has flared in the West Bank, separated from the Gaza Strip by Israeli territory. Nearly 240 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli soldiers or settlers since October 7, according to the Palestinian Authority.
Antony Blinken in Israel on Thursday
On October 7, Hamas commandos infiltrated from the neighboring Gaza Strip launched an attack in Israel on an unprecedented scale. Around 1,200 people, the vast majority civilians, according to authorities, were killed in the attack.
The Israeli army estimated the number of people kidnapped that day at around 240. Hamas said it held the majority of the hostages. The others are in the hands of other Palestinian armed groups in Gaza.
In retaliation, Israel promised to “annihilate” Hamas, in power since 2007 in Gaza, shelling the Palestinian territory and launching a ground offensive on October 27, until the truce came into force on November 24.
According to the Hamas government, 14,854 people, including 6,150 under the age of 18, were killed in Israeli strikes.
With the aim of extending the truce, the mediating countries are redoubling their efforts and American Secretary of State Antony Blinken is due to have talks on Thursday in Israel and the West Bank.
“We would like to see this pause extended,” Mr. Blinken said in Brussels. This extension “means more hostages returning home, more help.”
Return to their families
Since November 24, Hamas has released around ten women and children every day, compared to the release of three times as many Palestinian prisoners.
On Tuesday, ten Israeli hostages and two Thais were released, as well as 30 Palestinian prisoners.
The truce agreement has already enabled the release of a total of 60 Israeli hostages and 180 Palestinian detainees. In addition, 23 other hostages, mostly Thais living in Israel, were released outside the framework of this agreement.
Few direct testimonies have filtered through on the living conditions of the hostages in Gaza. But the grandmother of Eitan Yahalomi, a 12-year-old released Monday, said he was held in solitary confinement for 16 days.
“The days he was alone were horrible”Esther Yaeli told the Israeli news site Walla.
In East Jerusalem, occupied and annexed by Israel, Ahmed Salaima, a 14-year-old Palestinian ex-detainee, reunited with his family on Tuesday evening. He is the youngest Palestinian prisoner to have been released since November 24.
ADVERTISEMENT“I can never thank God enough for the release of my son,” exclaimed his father, Nayef Salaima.
“Monumental disaster”
Benjamin Netanyahu promised Tuesday to “release all the hostages” of Hamas, classified as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union and Israel.
And its chief of staff Herzi Halevi affirmed that “the army is ready to resume fighting” and “is taking advantage of the days of break to strengthen (its) preparation”.
A resumption of fighting would risk causing “a disaster which could engulf the region”, warned the head of Chinese diplomacy Wang Yi, who chaired a meeting of the UN Security Council.
“Our people face an existential threat,” Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki warned at the UN.
ADVERTISEMENTDespite the “ray of hope” brought by the truce, the inhabitants of Gaza are experiencing “a monumental humanitarian catastrophe”, denounced UN boss Antonio Guterres, calling for a “true humanitarian ceasefire”.
He also called for the release of all hostages in Gaza “immediately and unconditionally”.
“No water, no food”
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.
According to the UN, 1.7 million of its 2.4 million inhabitants have been displaced by the war and more than half of the homes have been damaged or destroyed.
According to a US official, the quantity of humanitarian aid arriving by road, at the current rate of 240 trucks per day, now totals 2,000 trucks of food, fuel, medicine and equipment necessary for the operation of the desalination infrastructure of the ‘sea water.
ADVERTISEMENT“We have had no water, no food, no flour for ten days. The situation is tough, very tough,” Achraf Selim, a resident of Gaza, told AFP.
Thousands of Palestinians, displaced in the south of the Gaza Strip, took advantage of the truce to return to their homes in the north, the most devastated region, ignoring the ban by the Israeli army which took control of several sectors.
On Wednesday in Gaza City, people carrying containers lined up near a cistern to get drinking water.
“People come here on foot, from far away, about 10, 20 or 30 kilometers, just to get drinking water,” Mohammed Matar, the owner of a water desalination plant, told AFP.
In the same city, at al-Nasr hospital, five premature babies were discovered dead, said Hamas Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidreh, accusing Israeli soldiers of denying them care. by preventing doctors from approaching them.
ADVERTISEMENT
