The Israeli army stated this Sunday that 14 Israeli hostages and three foreigners held in the Gaza Strip by the Islamist movement Hamas They were handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross in the Palestinian territory. “According to information received from the Red Cross, 14 Israeli hostages and three foreign hostages were transferred to the Red Cross,” declared a military statement, on the third day of a truce between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, according to an agreement that It also includes the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.
Saturday’s releases were delayed several hours after Hamas would accuse Israel of not respecting the terms of the agreement reached on Wednesday thanks to the mediation of Qatar, United States and Egypta sign that shows the fragility of the truce.
While, Hundreds of trucks with humanitarian aid continue to enter the Gaza Stripbesieged during seven weeks of war sparked by Hamas’ bloody attack on Israel on October 7.
Total, The Islamist movement handed over 41 Israeli and foreign hostages to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Friday and Saturday, and Israel freed 78 Palestinian prisoners.
The agreement provides for four days of truce that should allow the release of 50 hostages and 150 Palestinian prisoners.
The Israeli government said it had a list of hostages who will be released on Sunday, but did not reveal their identities, number or time.
Hamas fighters accompanying recently freed Israeli hostage Maya Regev, 21, to a Red Cross vehicle in the Gaza Strip early on November 26, 2023. (AFP).
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“Psychological warfare”
Israeli army spokesman Doron Spielman declared that Hamas employs a “delaying tactic” in “psychological warfare” after Saturday’s delayed release of 17 hostages.
In a video published by the brigades Ezzedine al-Qassamthe armed wing of the Islamist movement, are shown 13 Israeli and four Thai hostages boarding ICRC vehicles shortly before midnight. They all arrived shortly after in Israel through Egypt.
Among the freed hostages is Maya Regev21, kidnapped along with her brother, 18, while trying to flee the Tribe of Nova music festival, where Hamas killed 364 people in its attack in the early hours of October 7.
“I’m so happy that Maya is about to join us. YesHowever, I am heartbroken because my son Itay is still a prisoner of Hamas in Loop”said his mother Mirit, quoted by the Hostage Families Forum.
In Tel Aviv, tens of thousands of protesters gathered Saturday afternoon to call for the full release of those held captive.
On October 7, Hamas militants killed 1,200 people and kidnapped around 240according to authorities, in the worst attack on Israeli soil in the country’s history.
In response, Israel has relentlessly bombed the tiny territory. The Islamist group, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, says 14,854 people have been killed so far by the Israeli offensive, including 6,150 children.
:quality(75)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/elcomercio/QXORMS64MBDXZIBIPXBRUSQJS4.jpg "Hamas handed over 14 Israeli and 3 foreign hostages to the Red Cross this Sunday, confirms the Israeli army 1")
A bus carrying Red Cross staff and Palestinian prisoners released from Israeli prisons passes among citizens holding flags in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, early on November 26, 2023. (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP).
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“Palestine is hurt”
Late Saturday night, Israel announced the release of a second group of 39 Palestinian prisoners, all women and under 19 years of age.
In West Bank occupied, convoys of vehicles flying flags of Palestinian movements led by Hamas paraded through the streets while escorting an ICRC bus transporting freed prisoners.
In East Jerusalem, occupied and annexed by Israel, the celebrations were more discreet. Members of the Israeli security forces, armed and wearing helmets, surrounded in large numbers the home of Israa Jaabis, 39, the best-known prisoner on the list.
Jaabis was sentenced to 11 years in prison for detonating a gas container she was carrying in the trunk of her vehicle during a traffic stop in 2015, injuring a police officer.
His photograph with withered fingers and partially burned face in an Israeli court is often used to show the suffering of Palestinian prisoners.
“I am ashamed to speak of joy when all of Palestine is hurt”Jaabis told reporters alongside his 13-year-old son Moatassem. “They must be released all,” he requested.
The chief of staff of the Israeli army, General Herzi Halevi, warned that the war is not over. “We will start attacking Gaza again as soon as the truce ends,” he promised.
The armed arm of Hamas confirmed the death of the command of its northern Gaza brigade, Ahmed al-Ghandourand three other senior officials, including Ayman Siyyam, presented as the head of the rocket firing units, in the Israeli offensive.
Humanitarian aid
The agreement also includes the entry of humanitarian aid and fuel into Gaza, besieged by Israel since October 9.
A total of 248 trucks loaded with humanitarian aid entered the Gaza Strip on Saturday, 61 of which carried water, food and medical supplies to the north of the territory, according to the UN.
The army considers that the northern third of the Gaza Strip, where Gaza City is located, is a combat zone that houses Hamas’ infrastructure center. He ordered the population to leave that area and prevents them from returning.
Despite the warning, thousands of displaced people in Gaza took advantage of the pause in fighting to try to return to their homes in the north.
“We don’t have weapons. We are civilians,” said Mahmud Masood among the rubble of Jabaliya, in the north of the territory. “Why have they destroyed our houses?”
According to UNhalf of Gaza’s homes were damaged or destroyed and 1.7 million people – out of 2.4 million inhabitants – were displaced.
In West Bank occupied, eight Palestinians died in 24 hours in several incidents with the Israeli army, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
