2023-11-29 17:25:55
In it sixth day of Stop the fire between Israel and Hamas In Gaza, a new exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners was expected this Wednesday, and hopes reigned to extend the truce, with Qatar leading talks for a possible new agreement.
Israel reported that already received a list of hostages held in Gaza who could be released later Wednesday. But the names contained in that list were not released. It is also unknown if the 10-month-old Argentine baby, Kfir, is in the group.
The kidnapped baby along with his 4-year-old brother and his parents is the youngest hostage.
With his brother They would be the only minors who have not yet been released and her family fears for the health of the baby who would only consume formula milk.
The new prisoner exchange comes after on Tuesday, Hamas freed 12 hostages, including a group of Argentinian women, in addition to exchanging 30 Palestinian prisoners.
Is it possible to extend the truce?
International mediators sought this Wednesday to extend the truce between Israel and Hamas, so that the Islamist movement releases more hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and a greater respite from the Israeli air and ground offensive in the Gaza Strip.
The truce ends this Wednesday, but Hamas says it is willing to extend it and Israel, happy about the release of dozens of hostages in recent days and waiting to receive more, says that will maintain the ceasefire if the Palestinian group continues to hand over captives.
Israeli hostages hug with their families. Photo: Archyde.com
Under the agreement, which has already been extended once, Hamas freed 60 Israelis of the total 240 hostages of different nationalities that he took in his attacks in Israel at the beginning of last month, including a dozen people with Argentine nationality.
Israel frees 180 Palestinian prisonersmostly women and teenagers accused of throwing stones and firebombs during clashes with Israeli forces in the West Bank territories, which Israel occupies in Palestine.
Hamas should release another 10 Israelis this Wednesday in exchange for another 30 Palestinian prisoners.
Israel said that For every 10 hostages released, the ceasefire would be extended one more day. But that formula could be complicated because many hostages would not be in the hands of Hamas but rather other radical Palestinian groups inside and outside Gaza, which would not be easy to locate due to the state of enormous destruction in the Strip.
How did the bombings affect Hamas?
Weeks of intense aerial bombardment and a ground invasion They have demolished vast areas of northern Gaza and killed thousands of Palestinians, but they seem to have had little effect on the Hamas governmenta group that Israel promised to eradicate from the face of the earth after the October 7 attack.
Pro-Palestinian activists protest in South Africa. Photo: DAVIDE LONGARI / AFP
This seems to be demonstrated by Hamas’s ability to carry out complex negotiations, enforce the ceasefire between other armed groups and orchestrate a smooth release of hostages.
The Hamas leadership in Gaza is believed to has taken refuge in the south of the enclavealong with hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians who migrated there from the north, where the Israeli offensive is focused, and are sheltered mostly in UN facilities.
A southern invasion could uncover Hamas leaders and destroy the rest of its infrastructure, including kilometers of tunnelsbut at a cost in lives and destruction that the United States, Israel’s greatest ally, appears unwilling to accept.
President Joe Biden’s government told Israel that if it resumes the offensive, must operate with much greater precisionespecially in the south, and avoid again causing a large displacement of Palestinians within Gaza.
That approach is unlikely to bring Hamas to its knees any time soon, and international pressure for a lasting ceasefire It is already increasing.
The director of the CIA, William Burns, and the director of the Israeli spy agency Mossad, David Barnea, They were in Qatar on Tuesday to discuss extending the ceasefire and releasing more hostages.
Qatar has played a key role in mediating with Hamas and hosted the talks, which also included mediators from Egypt.
The Secretary of State of the United States, Antony Blinken will visit the region this week, and is also expected to push for a longer truce.
In a joint statement, foreign ministers from the G7 group of rich countries, which includes close allies of Israel, today called for a “further extension of the pause” and “the protection of civilians and compliance with international law.”
The escalation began with the October 7 Hamas attacks in southern Israel, in which militants infiltrated from Gaza killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped about 240 people, including babies, children, women and soldiers. .
Another 21 hostages – 19 Thais, a Filipino and a Russian-Israeli – have been freed in separate negotiations since the truce began.
Before the truce, Hamas freed four hostages and the Israeli Army rescued another. Two other hostages were found dead in Gaza.
Israel responded with a devastating air campaign throughout Gaza and ua land invasion of the north of the territory.
More than 14,800 Palestinians, among them about 6,000 childrenhave died in Israeli bombings and fighting, and more than 1.7 million of the 2.3 million Palestinians living in Gaza have had to leave their homes.
Israel imposed a total blockade of Gaza at the beginning of hostilities, but under the truce, which has now been in place for six days counting this Wednesday, it authorized hundreds of trucks with humanitarian aid to enter the region from Egypt.
Before the truce, had only allowed in a small amount of aid, causing widespread shortages of food, water, medicine, and fuel for power generators amid a nationwide blackout.
On Tuesday, Israel and Hamas blamed each other for a brief exchange of fire in northern Gaza, but that did not appear to jeopardize the truce.
Palestinian militiamen have stopped launching rockets against Israel, as does Lebanon’s Hezbollah Islamist movementwhich had exchanged fire almost daily with Israeli forces along the northern border since the start of the escalation.
With information from agencies and BBC News
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