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- A Hamas official says he is seeking a new deal with Israel to exchange “other categories” of hostages
CAIRO/JERUSALEM, Nov 28 (Portal) – The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip reached its fifth day on Tuesday as both sides completed the release of Israeli hostages and detained Palestinians and appeared poised to release more amid a lull in fighting extended by two days.
According to Israeli sources, Hamas took around 240 hostages in an incursion into southern Israel on October 7, in which 1,200 people were killed. This prompted Israel to retaliate by bombing the coastal enclave and launching a ground offensive in the north.
Israel said 11 Israelis returned to the country from the Gaza Strip on Monday, bringing to 69 the total number of Israeli and foreign hostages the Palestinian group has released under the ceasefire since Friday.
White House and Qatari negotiators said on Monday that the original four-day pause in fighting, which was due to end at 0500 GMT on Tuesday, had been extended by two more days.
Israel has not commented on an agreement to extend the ceasefire, but the Israeli prime minister’s office said in what may have been an implicit confirmation that the government had approved the addition of 50 female prisoners to its list of Palestinians for possible release if more Israeli hostages would be released.
Hamas said it was trying to revise the conditions under which it would free more hostages in addition to the women and children already released.
“We hope that the occupying power (Israel) will abide by the agreement in the next two days, because in addition to women and children, we are seeking a new agreement where we can exchange other categories that we have,” Hamas said. Official Khalil Al-Hayya told Al Jazeera late Monday.
This, he said, would mean that “an additional period of time will be required for further exchanges of people at this stage”.
The hostages Hamas still holds include fathers and husbands of those it released in recent days.
Israel had previously said it would extend the ceasefire by one day for every 10 more hostages released to provide some respite from the war.
The Israeli government has received a list of hostages whose release is expected on Tuesday, Israeli Army Radio reported, citing the Israeli prime minister’s office.
The news website Axios reported that the list included ten hostages. There was no immediate comment from the Prime Minister’s Office.
[1/8]A released Palestinian prisoner reacts after leaving the Israeli military prison of Ofer, amid a hostage-prisoner exchange deal between Hamas and Israel, near Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 28, 2023. Portal/Ali Sawafta LICENSES
Clashes outside prison
The Israel Prisons Service said 33 Palestinian prisoners were released Monday from Israel’s Ofer prison in the occupied West Bank and from a detention center in Jerusalem, bringing the total number of Palestinians released since Friday to 150.
According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, clashes broke out between Israeli forces and some of the dozens of Palestinians who had gathered outside Ofer prison to await the release of prisoners.
Some of the protesters waved the flags of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, another Palestinian militant group.
The ministry said a Palestinian was killed in the area and it was unclear whether he took part in the clashes. Palestinian media reported that he was shot. Israel initially did not comment on the incident.
In response to the October 7 attack, Israel bombed the Gaza Strip and launched a ground offensive in the north. According to the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip, more than 15,000 Palestinians have been killed and hundreds of thousands displaced.
Since the ceasefire began on Friday, Hamas has released some hostages each day, while Israel has released some Palestinians it is holding. Among the 69 hostages freed by Hamas were 51 Israelis and 18 foreigners.
Ido Dan, a relative of Israelis Sahar Calderon, 16, and Erez Calderon, 12, spoke of joy at their release on Monday, mixed with concern for their father Ofer, who is still being held.
“It is difficult to go from a state of endless worry about their fate to a state of relief and joy,” Dan said. “This is an exciting and heart-filling moment, but… it is the beginning of a difficult rehabilitation process for Sahar and Erez, who are still young and have endured an unbearable experience.”
The U.S. State Department said U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Israel, the West Bank and the United Arab Emirates this week to discuss maintaining aid flows to Gaza and the release of all hostages, as well as U.S. principles for the future of Gaza and its operations Need to discuss an independent Palestinian state.
The original ceasefire agreement allowed more aid trucks into the Gaza Strip, where civilians are suffering from shortages of food, fuel, drinking water and medicine. An estimated 1.8 million of the territory’s 2.3 million residents are internally displaced, according to the United Nations.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described the extension as “a breath of hope and humanity” and said two more days was not enough time to meet aid needs in the Gaza Strip.
Reporting by Portal bureaus; Additional reporting by Rami Amichay in Tel Aviv and Ali Sawafta in Ramallah; writing by Arshad Mohammed and Lincoln Feast; Edited by Cynthia Osterman and Raju Gopalakrishnan
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