The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas comes into effect this Sunday at 7:30 a.m. As provided for in the agreement, 33 hostages must be released in exchange for the release of 737 Palestinian prisoners. A few hours before the start of the truce, the situation remains tense in Tel Aviv with a day marked by violence and fear.
An attack took place this Saturday afternoon in the city. A 19-year-old Palestinian illegally entered Israeli territory and stabbed a man before being shot and killed by a local resident. The attacker’s motivations are still unknown, but this attack increased the pressure in Tel Aviv.
The day started with a first missile alert around 11 a.m.. Sirens rang out across the country following the launch of a missile from Yemen which was intercepted by Israeli defenses. A second projectile, shot down, followed in the afternoon in the south of the country.
Three women aged 24 to 30 released
Incidents which remind us that the war is not over until the ceasefire comes into force. It will begin tomorrow with the release of the first three hostages. Even if Hamas has still not revealed the exact identities of these hostages, we know that it will be three women kidnapped during the Nova music festival on October 7 and in the surrounding kibbutzes. They are between 24 and 30 years old.
The release of the hostages will take place on Sunday afternoon, around 3 p.m. French time. The Israeli army must collect them in Gaza from the Red Cross. They will then be taken to one of three emergency centers in Israel set up at different points on the Gaza border and will meet doctors and mental health professionals for a first assessment.
If their condition allows it, these women will then take the helicopter to Tel Aviv where several hospitals have prepared to receive them. It will then be the turn of the Palestinian prisoners to be released. Little information has yet been communicated, except that they will be a priori 95 to be released from prison tomorrow in exchange for the three women.
A gathering in honor of a 2-year-old hostage child
In the meantime, in Tel Aviv, a gathering is organized for the hostages, in particular for little Kfir Bibas, a boy of which this Saturday marks the second anniversary. Eight to ten thousand people are expected on the “hostages square” in Tel Aviv. A birthday cake was placed in the middle and a doll with red hair was placed on a chair. She represents Kfir.
-Galitz and Edith came to the rally: “This cake was the first thing we saw when we arrived. This story is like a trauma for every Israeli citizen. In his life, he spent more time in a tunnel than outside. We’re talking about a two-year-old child. We really wanted to come here.”
The two friends also claim that it is important to come together to hammer that this agreement must hold. There is no question for them to miss this meeting so full of emotions, despite the sirens and the attack this Saturday afternoon.
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