The Islamist movement Hamas claimed responsibility for an attack in Jerusalem on Thursday that left three people dead after it agreed to extend the fragile ceasefire with Israel by a day and release more Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners.
• Also read: Three dead in Palestinian attack in Jerusalem
• Also read: Qatar confirms the extension of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas until Friday
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “absolutely” protect civilians in the southern Gaza Strip if the ceasefire fails.
This ceasefire, which was scheduled to last until 0500 GMT on Friday, came into effect on November 24 after more than seven weeks of devastating Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip, in retaliation for an unprecedented attack by the Islamist movement Hamas on October 7 Israeli soil from Palestinian territory.
Making the situation even more unstable, three Israelis, including two women, were killed on Thursday in an attack on a bus stop in West Jerusalem carried out by two Hamas-affiliated Palestinians, according to Israeli police.
The Palestinian movement, considered terrorist by the United States, the European Union and especially Israel, said it was behind the attack.
In a statement, Hamas said the two attackers were members of its armed wing and were originally from Sour Baher, a neighborhood in East Jerusalem, the Palestinian part of the city that was occupied and annexed by Israel.
Israeli police confirmed that the attackers, two brothers, had been shot.
According to the army, two Israeli soldiers were also slightly injured in a car attack at a checkpoint in the occupied West Bank.
Minutes before the ceasefire expired on Thursday, the Israeli army announced that the “pause in operations” would continue, saying it had received a new “list” of women and children to be released later.
New exchange planned
Hamas had confirmed a “seventh day” of ceasefire until 0500 GMT on Friday, as had Qatar, the main mediator backed by the United States and Egypt.
For its part, a Hamas source told AFP that the Islamist movement would release “ten Israelis, two of whom also have Russian nationality,” on Thursday as part of the ceasefire agreement.
Since this temporary ceasefire came into force, Hamas has released around ten hostages every day, receiving three times as many Palestinian prisoners in return.
According to Israeli authorities, about 240 people were taken hostage in the unprecedented attack on October 7 and kidnapped into the Gaza Strip, leaving about 1,200 people dead.
In retaliation, Israel promised to “destroy Hamas,” shell Palestinian territory and launch a ground offensive on October 27 that lasted until the start of the ceasefire.
According to the Hamas government, more than 15,000 people died in the Israeli attacks, including at least 6,150 under the age of 18.
Very tough negotiations
During his third trip to the Middle East since the conflict began, Mr. Blinken sought to apply pressure to maintain the ceasefire.
Arriving in Ramallah in the West Bank on Thursday afternoon to meet Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, he previously spoke with Mr. Netanyahu and Israeli President Isaac Herzog.
He praised its pause agreement, which had “yielded results,” and said that “today’s events in Jerusalem remind us of how Israel and Israelis face terrorism every day.”
For his part, a Hamas source told AFP that “negotiations were very tough and lasted all night” before the decision to extend the ceasefire was made.
The hostages offered by Hamas “are all alive,” this source said, adding that Israel “rejected a Hamas list of three bodies last night.”
The ceasefire, which began for four days and was then extended twice, enabled the release of 70 Israeli hostages and 210 Palestinian prisoners.
27 foreigners or dual nationals, the majority of whom were Thais working in Israel, were also released without consent.
On the night of Wednesday to Thursday, the sixth exchange of Palestinian prisoners for hostages from Hamas and other affiliated groups took place.
Ten Israeli hostages, including five dual citizens (one Dutch, three Germans and one American) as well as two Russians and four Thais, were released.
In return, thirty Palestinians (16 minors and 14 women) held in several Israeli prisons were released.
“I can breathe”
Hadas Kalderon, mother of French-Israeli teenagers Erez and Sahar released on Monday, expressed her relief on BFM television: “I can breathe, I can smile.”
However, she calls for them to “fight so that their father (still held hostage) can return” and regrets that her sons “had to deal with situations that no child, no teenager, no adult should have to face.”
Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, assured the international organization’s Security Council that this war could end “tomorrow, even today” if “Hamas returns all hostages and all terrorists involved in the October 7 massacre “.
Among the Palestinians released that night was 22-year-old Ahed Tamimi, an icon of the fight against Israeli occupation. She was arrested on November 6 for an Instagram post that Israeli sources said called for the massacre of Israelis and referenced Hitler.
Her mother Narimane, whose husband was also arrested, denies that Ahed is the author of this publication as her social media accounts were blocked by Israel.
Lama Khater, who was also just released, assured AFPTV that the officer who released her told her: “We can arrest you again and the punishment will be harsher.”
“I would have preferred to die”
While the released prisoners were greeted with joy, clashes broke out between Palestinians and Israeli security forces outside Ofer prison near Ramallah in the West Bank.
One Palestinian was killed, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, which lists nearly 250 Palestinians killed by Israeli soldiers or settlers in the West Bank since October 7.
The temporary ceasefire agreement has accelerated the access of humanitarian aid but is “still totally inadequate,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres denounced on Wednesday, denouncing “a monumental humanitarian catastrophe.”
The Gaza Strip had been under an Israeli blockade since 2007 and was completely besieged by Israel on October 9th.
According to the United Nations, 1.7 million of the 2.4 million population have been displaced by the war, with more than half of the homes damaged or destroyed.
Thousands of displaced people took advantage of the ceasefire to return to their homes in northern Gaza, the most devastated part of the territory, ignoring orders from the Israeli army, which took control of several sectors there.
“If I had known that life in the south would be like this, I wouldn’t have left, I would have rather died,” Waed Taha, a Palestinian who left her home after two weeks of war, told AFP from the northern Gaza Strip.