Israel and Hamas have confirmed that the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip will continue, which will allow the release of more hostages and the release of more Palestinian prisoners, following a six-day ceasefire that ended at 7 a.m. local time (5 GMT) on Thursday. ) expired.
“In light of the efforts of the mediators to continue the process of releasing the hostages and in compliance with the terms of the agreement, the ceasefire will continue,” the army said in a brief statement. it did not specify for how long. the ceasefire is extended.
For its part, the Islamist group Hamas limited itself to confirming in a short note on its Telegram channel that “it has been agreed to extend the ceasefire to a seventh day.”
Under the terms of the agreement, Hamas must release at least ten hostages for each additional day of pause in fighting; while Israel must release thirty Palestinian prisoners for every ten abductees.
Israel’s War Cabinet unanimously decided last night that if a list is not delivered by 7 a.m. (5 GMT) “as agreed in the original draft”, fighting will resume “immediately”, the Prime Minister’s Office said.
“Israel recently received a list of women and children in accordance with the terms of the agreement and therefore the ceasefire will continue,” the statement said.
Last night, at the stroke of midnight and as negotiations continued, Hamas freed ten Israeli hostages in addition to four Thais, and a few hours earlier Hamas had handed over two Russian-Israeli women to the Red Cross under a parallel agreement with the Russian leader. , Vladimir Putin.
In response to the release of the ten Israelis under the Israel-Hamas deal brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the United States, Israeli authorities released 30 Palestinian prisoners, 15 women and 15 adolescents.
Since last Friday, 210 Palestinian prisoners, all women and children, have been released from prisons as part of the exchange pact for Israeli hostages held captive in Gaza by Palestinian militias.
A total of 97 prisoners have already been released in Gaza, including 73 Israelis and 24 foreigners – 23 Thais and one Filipino. It is believed there are still approximately 145 inmates on the Strip.
Two hours before the deadline expired and it was confirmed that the ceasefire would remain in force for another day, Hamas announced that Israel had reneged on its offer to release seven women and children, along with the bodies of three other Israelis, during the long overnight negotiations turned down.
The group did not specify who the bodies belonged to, but assured yesterday that the three members of the Argentinian-Israeli Bibas family, the mother and two children, four years old and a 10-month-old baby, had been killed in the Israeli bombings. . The Israeli military said it had been unable to verify the information.
Hamas clarified that the list of seven Israelis it presented yesterday included the only Israeli women and children it could find in Gaza, as the rest are in the hands of other groups; Therefore, negotiations were apparently extended to the exchange of men and soldiers, although nothing concrete has been announced in this regard.
A senior Israeli official told media on Wednesday that at least 15 women and children remain in Gaza.
Meanwhile, the al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing, issued a statement overnight, before the ceasefire was finalized, ordering their forces to be on high alert in anticipation of a resumption of fighting with Israel.
Source: El heraldo
Karen Clayton is a seasoned journalist and author at The Nation Update, with a focus on world news and current events. She has a background in international relations, which gives her a deep understanding of the political, economic and social factors that shape the global landscape. She writes about a wide range of topics, including conflicts, political upheavals, and economic trends, as well as humanitarian crisis and human rights issues.
