truce delayed, list of hostages not provided following a technical incident

Israel warned on Sunday, less than an hour before the ceasefire agreement with Hamas comes into effect, that the truce will not begin until the Palestinian Islamist movement has transmitted a list expected hostages to be released during the day.

The Israeli army even indicated that it “continues to carry out attacks in the Gaza Strip”.

A delay due to a technical incident

Hamas said in a statement that it had intends to respect the agreement but acknowledged a delay “in providing the names of the hostages to be released”, and this “for technical reasons on the ground”.

“The Prime Minister gave instructions to the Israeli army that the ceasefire, which is to come into effect at 8:30 a.m. local time, will not begin until Israel receives the list of released hostages, as Hamas is committed to doing so,” Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.

The ceasefire negotiated by Qatar with the help of the United States and Egypt is supposed to come into effect at 7:30 a.m. French time. It must be followed by the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza.

The agreement, reached by mediators on Wednesday, a few days before the inauguration of the new American president Donald Trump, fueled hopes for lasting peace despite another warning from Benjamin Netanyahu.

The latter warned that it was “a provisional ceasefire” and that his country retained “the right to resume the war if necessary and with the support of the United States”.

According to the terms of the agreement, hostilities must cease and 33 Israeli hostages must be released, in a first phase spread over six weeks.

In exchange, Israel will release 737 Palestinian prisoners, according to the Israeli Ministry of Justice, with Egypt reporting “more than 1,890 Palestinian prisoners” to be released during this first phase.

Hostages will be released on Sundayannounced the Israeli government, without specifying their number or at what time.

Three reception points have been set up on Israel’s southern border with Gaza, at the Kerem Shalom and Eretz crossings and at the one near Kibbutz Reim, a military official said. The captives will be taken care of by doctors.

Detainees released in exchange for hostages

According to sources close to Hamas, the first group of hostages released should include three Israeli women.

Israel designated 95 Palestinian detainees for release on Sundaymostly women and minors, most of them arrested after October 7. Their release will take place after 2:00 p.m. GMT, according to the authorities.

Among the prisoners expected to be released is Zakaria al-Zoubeidi, responsible for anti-Israeli attacks and former local leader of the armed wing of Fatah, arrested and imprisoned in 2019.

Two Franco-Israelis, Ofer Kalderon, 54, and Ohad Yahalomi, 50, are among the 33 hostages who can be released, according to Paris. They were kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz along with several of their children, released during an initial one-week truce in November 2023.

“When they cross the (Gaza) border and are reunited with their families, then maybe we can breathe again,” Shahar Mor Zahiro, nephew of a deceased hostage, told AFP on Saturday evening , during a demonstration in Tel Aviv.

Sunday morning, before the truce came into force, the Israeli army ordered Gaza residents not to approach its soldiers or head towards the buffer zone.

“At this point, heading towards the buffer zone or moving from south to north puts you in danger,” Arabic-language army spokesperson Avichay Adraee warned on Telegram.

600 aid trucks per day

According to US President Joe Biden, the first phase also includes an Israeli withdrawal from densely populated areas in Gaza and an increase in humanitarian aid in the territory threatened by famine according to the UN.

The Egyptian authorities clarified that the agreement provided for “the entry of 600 aid trucks per day”including 50 fuel trucks.

During the first phase, the modalities of the second will be negotiated, which should allow the release of the last hostages, before the third and final stage devoted to the reconstruction of Gaza and the restitution of the bodies of hostages who died in captivity.

In the conflict-ravaged Gaza Strip, many displaced Palestinians said they were in a hurry to return home.

“We are looking forward to this moment. We want to be safe,” he told theAFP Ahmed Hamouda, a displaced Palestinian, in Deir el-Balah (center).

The agreement aims, according to Qatar, to lead to a definitive end to the war, triggered by a bloody attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in Israel on October 7, 2023.

The attack resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people on the Israeli side, the majority of them civilians, according to a count by theAFP based on official data. Of the 251 people kidnapped that day, 94 are still hostages in Gaza, 34 of whom are dead according to the Israeli army.

At least 46,899 peoplemostly civilians, were killed in the Israeli retaliatory offensive in Gaza, according to data from the Hamas Ministry of Health deemed reliable by the UN.

Considerably weakened, Hamas, which took power in Gaza in 2007, is however still far from being wiped out, contrary to the objective set by Benjamin Netanyahu, according to experts.

With AFP

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