After a threat to break the four-day ceasefire in Gaza, which was finally lifted the day before, Hamas this Sunday freed another 13 Israeli hostages – children between the ages of 4 and 17 and women – who are already back in their homeland, according to reports from the Israeli army. Another Israeli citizen, also holding a Russian passport, was released, as were three Thai prisoners. The group’s oldest abductee on this third day of the lull in fighting, Alma Avraham, 84, was evacuated to a hospital by helicopter, according to Israeli public television. She was in serious condition. As stipulated in the agreement that came into force on Friday, Israel soon released 39 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, all of them minors. The exchange on the third day of the ceasefire came amid fresh pressure from the main mediators in the current war, the United States, Qatar and Egypt, for the parties to negotiate an extension of the ceasefire.
At the end of the day, Hamas assured in a statement that it is “seeking to extend the four-day ceasefire” to “ensure the release of more Palestinian prisoners,” marking the first time that the Palestinian fundamentalist movement has expressed its willingness to do so accept this extension. Hours earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Gaza for the first time in seven weeks of war. In the Gaza Strip, Netanyahu addressed his troops: “We will continue until the end, until victory.” Nothing will stop us. “We are convinced that we have the power, strength, will and determination to achieve all war goals,” Netanyahu said, according to a statement from his office. These words do not allow us to predict that the partially restored calm in the devastated Gaza Strip will last longer than the four days already agreed in the agreement that provides for the exchange of 50 of the approximately 240 Israeli hostages for 150 Palestinian prisoners. Late on Sunday, US President Joe Biden had a telephone conversation with Netanyahu and told him that the Israeli army would resume the military operation in Gaza “with all its forces” after the current ceasefire expires.
Gazans, of whom nearly 15,000 have died in the war so far, according to Gaza health authorities, are certainly the ones most yearning for an extension of this short-lived ceasefire, but also the international allies of the two sides they face each other in This conflict strives for a prolongation of peace. Biden, appearing this Sunday from Massachusetts, stated that Washington is working to ensure that “the ceasefire is extended.” “We are committed to ensuring that this agreement is fully implemented and we will work to extend it,” Biden said. “For weeks I have been calling for a pause in the fighting for two reasons: to increase aid to civilians in need in Gaza and to facilitate the release of hostages.” Biden also reiterated his commitment to the “two-state solution.” “This is the only way to ensure the long-term security of both Israelis and Palestinians.” That they can live in freedom and dignity under equal conditions. “I will not give up working towards this goal,” he reports. Iker Seisdedos.
Other diplomatic movements are moving in the same direction. The first is the announcement of a new visit by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Israel in the coming days, for the fourth time since the beginning of the conflict, and the arrival of a high-level delegation this Saturday on Israeli territory from Qatar – unprecedented since the two countries does not have official diplomatic relations – to try to extend the pause in bombing that is giving Gaza a brief respite.
During his last visit to Israel on November 3, Blinken showed, as always, the Joe Biden administration’s strong support for Israel, but with a nuance that shows the growing unease of Israel’s international champion due to the very high death toll in Gaza: The Foreign Minister called on its Israeli partner to “do more to prevent the deaths of civilians.” At least 6,150 of those killed are children, whom Israel can hardly claim were Hamas fighters. This visit, according to the Israeli press, partly laid the foundation for the temporary ceasefire to allow the release of hostages and the arrival of more humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip. The parties finally agreed to this plan and it came into force last Friday with a long delay and a lot of mistrust.
Several young Palestinians were picked up this Sunday in Ramallah (West Bank) after their release from an Israeli prison. AMMAR AWAD (Portal)
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The Israeli press assumes this Sunday that Washington’s diplomatic chief will once again address the issue of prisoners in Israel, but above all assumes that the trip will serve to persuade Netanyahu’s government to extend the ceasefire. Both topics are closely related. So far, the only concrete way to accept this extension offered by Netanyahu is to extend the break in fighting by one day by ten more hostages in addition to the agreed 50. Since the ceasefire began last Friday, the Palestinian fundamentalist militia has released 58 hostages, 40 of them Israelis and the rest workers from Asian countries, while Israel has released 117 Palestinians.
An unprecedented journey
Egypt, another country mediating between Hamas and Israel, had shown cautious optimism about the ceasefire this Saturday. In a statement, his spokesman said his country, which borders the Gaza Strip, had received “positive signals” that this could be extended “for a day or two,” according to Portal, suggesting Hamas may be ready to to release more prisoners. An Egyptian security source went further this Sunday, telling Efe Agency that the parties had given “a positive response” to a proposal from Egypt and Qatar to extend the ceasefire for another four days “under the same conditions.”
Qatar was the main negotiator against Hamas – the fundamentalists’ political office is based in Doha. This Saturday, in an unexpected visit – at least publicly – a small Qatari plane landed in Tel Aviv with an official delegation from the country on board. Afterwards, Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Mayid al Ansari told French broadcaster France 24: “We hope that after four days we can sign a second agreement extending the ceasefire,” a path he described as “long.” “. At least part of this delegation also visited Gaza this Sunday. Several social media users have shown a video in which Qatari Minister of Cooperation Lolwah Alkhater is seen talking to journalists from Gaza
The cautious optimism of Egypt and Qatar contradicts repeated statements by Netanyahu and his Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. As he did this Sunday in Gaza, the Prime Minister keeps repeating that the war will continue. According to Haaretz newspaper, one of the topics that Secretary of State Blinken will discuss with Netanyahu is the Israeli executive branch’s intention to expand its ground offensive into the southern Gaza region, where most of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents are located, after Israel gave them had ordered to move there on October 12th. This project has met with reluctance in Washington because of fears that the already enormous death toll in Gaza will skyrocket as Israel advances its offensive south. This would jeopardize Israel’s international position and also its own position as its main supporter.
Israel’s image is already taking a hit, especially in the countries of the Global South, but it is also beginning in the West, where the governments of some EU member states, such as Spain and Belgium, have seen Israel accuse them of supporting the Terrorism,” after their respective heads of government, Pedro Sánchez and Alexander de Croo, reminded him of the high number of civilian casualties in Gaza, without ceasing to blame the Hamas attack that claimed 1,200 lives in Israel on October 7. This Sunday, the Israeli government added another to its diplomatic fronts by summoning the Irish ambassador following statements by her country’s prime minister that it considered “scandalous.” The day before, Leo Varadkar welcomed the release of a minor released by Hamas, also of Irish nationality, saying she was “lost”.
Despite all this, thanks to Washington’s support, international pressure on Israel to extend the ceasefire remains far less relevant to the Netanyahu government than the pressure it faces within its own country. This pressure comes not only from the families of the hostages, who hope that those released are not just the 50 already announced, but also from a large part of public opinion that supports them. Tens of thousands of people demonstrated in Tel Aviv on Saturday afternoon to show their support for these families, while thousands more in Jerusalem called for the prime minister’s resignation.
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