The head of Israel’s National Security Council, Tzachi Hanegbi, said the release of the hostages would not take place “before Friday” and that negotiations “continue incessantly.”
The entry into force of a truce agreement between Israel and Hamas providing for the release of 50 hostages held in the Gaza Strip in exchange for 150 Palestinian prisoners will not take place before Friday, Israeli officials announced Thursday.
As the Gaza Strip remained the scene of fighting on Wednesday, media reports said the planned four-day truce would come into effect at 0800 GMT on Thursday and a Hamas official said he expected “a first exchange of 10 hostages for 30 prisoners on Thursday”.
But the head of Israel’s National Security Council, Tzachi Hanegbi, said the release of the hostages would not come “not before Friday” and that the negotiations “continue incessantly”.
And there will be no “no break” in the fighting on Thursday, an Israeli official immediately told AFP.
The truce was postponed for last-minute discussions on the list of hostages to be released, according to a Palestinian official.
US President Joe Biden spoke separately with Qatar Emir Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi.
According to the White House, MM. Biden and al-Thani committed “to remain in close contact until the agreement is fully implemented.”
The Israeli government approved this agreement which concerns the release of at least 50 hostages, women and children, despite internal dissensions, with National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir (far right) citing a “historical error”.
In Israel, the main association of hostage families declared itself “happy” of the announcement of an agreement for a “partial release”but said he didn’t know at the moment “Who will be released and when”.
“It gives me hope to see my daughters come back”said Maayan Zin, mother of two children held in Gaza.
The agreement was announced on the 47th day of the war, triggered by an attack of unprecedented scale and violence in Israeli history carried out on October 7 by Hamas on Israeli soil. According to the authorities, 1,200 people, the vast majority civilians, were killed.
Around 240 people were kidnapped on the day of the attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement.
In retaliation for the October 7 attack, Israel, which promised “to annihilate” Hamas, relentlessly bombs the Gaza Strip, where more than 14,000 people have been killed, including more than 5,800 children, according to the government of the Islamist movement in power since 2007 in this territory of some 360 km2. The Gaza Strip has also been besieged since October 9 by Israel, which has cut off water, electricity and fuel supplies.
“The most dangerous place in the world for a child”
The bombings devastated the territory and caused a serious humanitarian crisis according to the UN, including the displacement of more than 1.7 million of Gaza’s 2.4 million inhabitants, where aid is arriving in trickles.
Detailing the terms of the agreement, Qatar Foreign Affairs spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari said that “every day a certain number of hostages will be released, and this number is expected to reach 50 by the 4th day” truce. The agreement does not provide for the release of kidnapped soldiers.
Israel has released a list of 300 Palestinian prisoners likely to be released (33 women, 123 adolescents under the age of 18, and 144 young people around the age of 18). Among them are 49 Hamas members.
According to the Israeli authorities, other exchanges could take place as part of an extension of the truce, with a total of 100 hostages for 300 Palestinian prisoners.
The humanitarian pause will also allow the entry of a “greater number of humanitarian and aid convoys, including fuel”Qatar said.
Some 200 to 300 aid trucks will enter Gaza, including eight with fuel and gas, said Hamas executive Taher al-Nounou.
Palestinian President Mamhmoud Abbas, like his Egyptian counterparts Abdel Fattah al-Sissi and American Joe Biden, welcomed the agreement reached. This “humanitarian truce must make it possible to negotiate the conditions of a ceasefire” which must be “as lasting as possible”pleaded French President Emmanuel Macron.
The UN called it “not important” but estimated that “much remains to be done”.
This limited truce is “insufficient” to bring the necessary aid into Gaza, stressed several international NGOs, calling for a ceasefire.
The territory has become “the most dangerous place in the world for a child”also denounced the boss of Unicef, Catherine Russell, alarmed by the risks of epidemic and massive increase in cases of malnutrition.