Netanyahu says further releases of hostages are “welcome” as standoff continues
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “welcomes” further release of hostages as Israel and Hamas extend their pause in fighting for two more days.
The process of transferring a fifth group of hostages held by militants to the Red Cross on their way to freedom began on Tuesday, multiple media outlets reported, as the two-day extension of an uneasy ceasefire in the war-torn Gaza Strip took place.
Hamas has handed over a fifth group of hostages to the International Committee of the Red Cross in Gaza, which is facilitating their transfer from the enclave, Egyptian officials told the Wall Street Journal. Several Israeli news outlets and ABC News, citing a source in the Israeli prime minister’s office with direct knowledge of the operation, also said the process had begun and it was unclear how long the release would take.
A timetable for the planned release of 30 Palestinians from Israeli prisons was not immediately available. Hamas leaders are planning a news conference in Beirut at 1 p.m. ET, but gave no details on its content other than the “latest developments in the ongoing Zionist aggression against our people.”
Eleven hostages were released and reached Israel late Monday, and Israel released 33 Palestinian prisoners. Nearly 70 women and children hostages as young as three years old were released during a ceasefire that began on Friday, 50 of them Israelis, along with 150 women and teenage Palestinians – one of them 14 years old – from Israeli prisons.
A two-day ceasefire extension called for the release of 10 hostages by Hamas on Tuesday and Wednesday. Israel should release 30 Palestinians every day.
11 more hostages released in Gaza: Ceasefire between Israel and Hamas extended by two days
Developments:
∎ About two-thirds of Palestinian prisoners released from Israeli prisons since Friday were in administrative detention, meaning they were neither informed of the charges against them nor properly, according to a CNN analysis of Israel Prison Service data received court proceedings. The other third had been convicted and sentenced.
∎ Relatives and a friend of Israelis kidnapped or killed by Hamas visited the Australian Parliament on Tuesday to lobby for support for Israel’s war effort and increase international pressure for the release of hostages held by Hamas.
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According to several media reports, CIA Director Bill Burns and Mossad chief David Barnea were in Qatar on Tuesday for meetings with Qatari and Egyptian officials. The Times of Israel said the talks focused on a proposal to extend the temporary ceasefire for more days so that all women and children held hostage could be released. The Washington Post said Burns was pushing to expand releases beyond women and children and to immediately release the eight or nine Americans believed to be held by Hamas.
“We are trying to build trust and goodwill to open the door to a long-term peace and political solution,” a senior Egyptian official told the Wall Street Journal. “It’s a long road, but so far both sides have refrained from seeking military advantage during the pause, which gives us hope that it can be done.”
Three explosive devices were detonated by militants near Israeli troops in two locations in northern Gaza on Tuesday, violating the ceasefire, the Israeli military said. At one of the locations, militants also opened fire on troops, who fired back, the military said. A “number” of soldiers sustained minor injuries in the incidents. Israeli Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to ignore the ceasefire and let the military “crush Hamas by force.”
“Hamas has now attempted to murder (Israeli) soldiers in the northern Gaza Strip,” Ben-Gvir said on social media. “We cannot wait for our fighters to be killed. We must once again act in accordance with the goal of the war: the complete destruction of Hamas.”
Hamas’s military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, accused Israel of “today a clear violation by the enemy of the ceasefire agreement in the north of the Gaza Strip” and said its fighters had dealt with the violation.
“We are committed to the ceasefire to which the enemy has committed and we call on mediators to put pressure on the crew to comply with all clauses of the ceasefire on the ground and in the air,” the group said in a statement Telegram.
A U.S. Air Force transport plane flew 27 tons of medical supplies, food and nutritional aid to Egypt on Tuesday, boosting humanitarian efforts for Gaza. Egyptian authorities transported the aid to Gaza for distribution by U.N. agencies, the U.S. Agency for International Development said in a statement. More flights are planned as the Biden administration expands humanitarian efforts during the temporary ceasefire.
“The United States will continue to lead the humanitarian response in Gaza to further support people in urgent need,” the statement said.
More than 2,000 trucks carrying humanitarian aid have entered the Gaza Strip since October 21, including 800 trucks in the last few days alone, as fighting temporarily halted as part of an agreement between Israel and Hamas to release hostages held in Gaza.
President Joe Biden announced $100 million in humanitarian aid for Gaza last month after Israel declared war on Hamas following the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7. The military’s humanitarian flights to Egypt will be followed by five commercial flights to Egypt for humanitarian purposes.
The World Health Organization warned on Tuesday that Gaza was at high risk of explosive outbreaks of infectious diseases due to severe overcrowding and disruption to health, water and sanitation systems. WHO said in one opinion that food shortages weaken people from hunger and increase the likelihood of becoming ill.
The agency called for an extended ceasefire, permanent humanitarian access to Gaza, the protection of civilians and respect for international humanitarian law.
Israel must work to prevent “significant further displacement” of Palestinian civilians in the southern Gaza Strip as it resumes its ground campaign to destroy Hamas, senior US officials said. To avoid further large civilian casualties or mass displacement, the administration stressed to Israelis that it must be more precise in southern Gaza than in the north, the officials and briefed reporters said on condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the White House.
Israel’s prime minister has repeatedly said Israel will eventually resume its military campaign in Gaza to crush Hamas after the Oct. 7 attack that killed about 1,200 Israelis. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, more than 13,000 Palestinians were killed in the subsequent Israeli attack on Gaza.
Contribution: The Associated Press