Despite a fragile truce, Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners were released on Saturday evening. A new exchange is planned for this Sunday.
A new exchange of Hamas hostages for Palestinian prisoners is planned for Sunday, the third day of the truce between Israel and the Islamist movement in power in Gaza, after two first series of releases.
At the same time, hundreds of humanitarian aid trucks continue to enter the Gaza Strip, besieged and devastated by seven weeks of intense Israeli bombardments in retaliation for the bloody Hamas attack on Israeli soil on October 7.
In total, Hamas handed over 41 Israeli and foreign hostages held in Gaza to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Friday and Saturday, while Israel released 78 Palestinian prisoners.
The agreement, concluded Wednesday under the aegis of Qatar with the support of the United States and Egypt, provides for the exchange of 50 Hamas hostages for 150 Palestinian prisoners throughout the four days of this truce, which can be extended.
The Israeli government indicated on Saturday evening that it had the list of abductees who must be released on Sunday, but did not reveal their identity, their number, or the expected time for their handover to the ICRC.
“Psychological warfare”
Saturday’s releases were delayed for many hours, with Hamas accusing Israel of not respecting the terms of the agreement, but the situation was eventually resolved. Israeli army spokesman Doron Spielman spoke of a “delaying tactic” of Hamas within the framework of “psychological warfare”.
Hamas finally released 17 people late Saturday. The Ezzedine al-Qassam brigades, the armed wing of the Islamist movement, released a video showing the 13 Israelis and four Thais getting into ICRC 4x4s shortly before midnight. A young woman, with a bandaged ankle and walking on crutches, was laid down on a stretcher in one of the vehicles. All arrived in Israel shortly after, via Egypt.
Among the hostages released on Saturday was Maya Regev, 21, kidnapped with her 18-year-old brother as they tried to flee the Tribe of Nova music festival attacked by Hamas fighters at dawn on October 7. A video posted on social media showed the young woman and her brother tied up in the back of a pickup.
“I am very happy that Maya is about to join us. However, I am heartbroken because my son Itay is still a prisoner of Hamas in Gaza”said his mother Mirit in a statement published by the Hostage Families Forum.
In total, 364 people were killed by Hamas during the Tribe of Nova attack, which became one of the symbols of the October 7 massacre in Israel. Maya Regev is the first of the participants kidnapped during this festival to be released.
“Immense joy”
A 9-year-old Israeli-Irish girl, Emily, is also part of the group of 17 people released on Saturday, announced Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, referring to “a day of immense joy and relief.”
All the hostages released on Saturday were able to reunite with their families, and only one person was hospitalized, according to the Israeli army.
In Tel Aviv, tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered on Saturday evening in Hostage Square. “Take Them Out of Hell”could we read on a banner.
Late in the evening, Israel announced that it had released a second group of 39 Palestinian prisoners, all women and young people under the age of 19, like the day before.
In the occupied West Bank, convoys of cars topped with flags of the various Palestinian movements, led by Hamas, paraded through the streets, escorting a Red Cross bus which was transporting the released detainees.
In East Jerusalem, the celebrations were more discreet. Helmeted and armed members of the Israeli security forces were particularly numerous in the house of Israa Jaabis, 39, the most famous prisoner on the list.
She was sentenced to 11 years in prison for detonating a gas canister she was carrying in the trunk of her car at a roadblock in 2015, injuring a police officer. His photo in an Israeli court, raising his atrophied fingers, his face partly burned, is regularly brandished in demonstrations or to illustrate the suffering of Palestinian prisoners.
“I am ashamed to speak of rejoicing when all of Palestine is hurt”she told journalists in the family living room in her neighborhood of Jabal Moukkaber, alongside her son Moatassem, 13 years old. “They must release everyone”she pleaded.
Humanitarian convoys in Gaza
The truce agreement also includes the entry of humanitarian aid and fuel into Gaza, subject to a total siege by Israel since October 7. These cargoes, whose entry from Egypt is subject to the Israeli green light, have been arriving in recent weeks in dribs and drabs.
A total of 248 trucks loaded with humanitarian aid entered the Gaza Strip on Saturday, 61 of which delivered water, food and medical equipment to the north of the territory, according to the UN.
The Israeli army considers the northern third of the Gaza Strip a combat zone. She ordered the population to leave and prevents anyone from returning.
Despite this warning, thousands of displaced Gazans took advantage of the break in fighting to try to return home to the north. And according to the Hamas Ministry of Health, seven of these people were injured on Saturday by Israeli fire. Six Palestinians were also killed on Saturday during several incidents with the Israeli army in the West Bank.
Hospitals in the south of the Gaza Strip continued on Saturday to receive many wounded evacuated from the North. But according to Ashraf al-Qidreh, spokesperson for the Hamas health ministry, “they no longer have the reception capacity or the equipment” to cope with this influx.
More than half of the territory’s housing has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN, and 1.7 million people have been displaced, out of 2.4 million inhabitants.
According to Israeli authorities, 1,200 people, the vast majority civilians, were killed during the Hamas attack on October 7, and 240 people were taken hostage.
In retaliation, Israel promised to“eliminate” Hamas, classified as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union and Israel, relentlessly bombed the Palestinian territory and launched a ground offensive on October 27, until the truce.
In the Gaza Strip, 14,854 people, including 6,150 children and young people under the age of 18, were killed by Israeli strikes, according to the Hamas government.
Israeli army chief of staff General Herzi Halevi has warned that the war is not over. “We will resume attacking Gaza as soon as the truce ends”he promised.