A fragile truce aimed at ending the war in the Gaza Strip enters its second week on Sunday, the day after the release of four Israeli hostages and some 200 Palestinian prisoners, greeted on both sides by scenes of joy.
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• Also read: Truce in Gaza: four Israeli hostages released in exchange for 200 Palestinian detainees
A sign of the difficulties in implementing the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, a last-minute dispute on Saturday blocked the start of the planned return to the north of the territory of hundreds of thousands of inhabitants displaced by more of 15 months of war, triggered by the unprecedented Hamas attack on October 7, 2023.
Israel conditioned the opening of the “Netzarim corridor”, which isolates the south from the north of the Gaza Strip, on the handover of a civilian hostage, Arbel Yehud, citing Hamas’s failure to comply with a term of the truce agreement which was not made public, obliging him to release the civilians “first”.
While waiting, Samia Helles, originally from Gaza City, found herself stranded along the way with her three children. “I still don’t know if my house is still standing or destroyed […] whether my mother is alive or dead,” this 26-year-old woman explains to AFP.
A Hamas leader told AFP on condition of anonymity that the civilian hostage would be “released during the third exchange” scheduled for 1is FEBRUARY.
“Bring them all back”
A first exchange of three Israeli hostages for 90 Palestinian prisoners took place on the first day of the truce, January 19, in the devastated Palestinian territory plunged into a serious humanitarian crisis.
On the second Saturday, Daniella Gilboa, Karina Ariev, Liri Albag and Naama Levy, aged 19 to 20, were presented on a podium in front of a crowd flanked by hooded fighters from the military branches of Hamas and allied Islamic Jihad.
Smiling, in khaki uniforms, they greeted the gathered Gazans, before being taken to Israel, where they found their parents for long embraces of which the army released photos.
The young women, who were carrying out their military service assigned to surveillance of the Gaza Strip when they were kidnapped, were then transferred by helicopter to a hospital near Tel Aviv, greeted by a crowd waving Israeli flags.
The hospital said they were in “stable condition.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed a “very happy moment”, with the White House assuring for its part that it would continue its efforts with Israel for the “release of all the remaining hostages”.
-In Tel Aviv, cries of joy broke out in “Hostage Square” among relatives and supporters of the soldiers at the sight of live images showing their release.
“Bring them home now, everyone!” said some in the crowd, triggering applause.
In the evening, relatives of hostages and their supporters also demonstrated in Tel Aviv to demand the return of the other hostages, 87 people, including 34 dead according to the army, out of a total of 251 kidnapped on October 7, 2023.
33 hostages against 1900 prisoners
The Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people on the Israeli side, the majority civilians, according to an AFP count based on official data.
The retaliatory offensive launched by Israel in the besieged Gaza Strip has left at least 47,283 dead, mostly civilians, according to data from the Hamas Health Ministry.
The first phase of the ceasefire agreement should last six weeks and allow the release of a total of 33 hostages against some 1,900 Palestinian prisoners.
During this first phase, the modalities of the second must be negotiated, which should allow the release of the last hostages, before the last stage relating to the reconstruction of Gaza and the restitution of the bodies of the hostages who died in captivity.
But under pressure from the far right, part of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government wants to resume fighting at the end of the first phase of the agreement, which would probably doom the last hostages.
In Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, a crowd waving Palestinian flags jubilantly welcomed some of the approximately 200 newly released Palestinians.
Carried on the shoulders by residents, still dressed in prison uniform, they found their loved ones between hugs and tears. “We pray to God to free all our brothers whom we left behind,” said Azzam al-Shallalta.
The list of released detainees — 199 Palestinians and one Jordanian — includes 120 sentenced to life imprisonment — including Mohammed Tous, a Fatah member imprisoned continuously since October 1985 — 70 of whom were exiled to Egypt, according to the Club of prisoners. Fourteen other prisoners were transferred to Gaza.
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