11/23/2023 9:07 pm (current 11/23/2023 9:10 pm)
Hostage handover will take place during the ceasefire ©APA/AFP
According to mediator Qatar, the ceasefire announced between Israel and the Islamist Hamas is scheduled to begin on Friday at 7:00 am local time (6:00 am CET). Majid al-Ansari, spokesman for the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said this on Thursday in Doha. Hamas’ military wing confirmed this via Telegram. Israel reiterated that it would maintain its objective of destroying Hamas after the ceasefire. Meanwhile, fighting continued on Thursday.
The agreement, which aims to allow the delivery of aid given the precarious situation of the civilian population in the densely populated Gaza Strip, was brokered by Qatar with the support of Egypt and the US and announced on Wednesday. It provides for a four-day ceasefire during which 50 women and children will be released, who are among the approximately 240 hostages who were kidnapped in the Gaza Strip during the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7. There are also numerous people with foreign citizenship among the hostages. On Thursday, Israel confirmed receipt of a list of hostages to be released. The competent authorities are verifying this list and are in contact with their families, it said in a statement.
In return, Israel was to release 150 Palestinian prisoners. Israel says the ceasefire can be extended as long as Gaza extremists release at least 10 hostages a day. Palestinian circles have said up to 100 hostages could be released in a second round by the end of the month.
Fighting continued on Thursday. Palestinian media reported at least 15 deaths in Israeli airstrikes on the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis. At least 27 people were killed in an attack on a UN-run school, according to a Palestinian doctor. At least another 93 people were injured at the school, said the doctor who works at Al-Awda Hospital in Jabalia, in the north of the Gaza Strip. He blamed Israel for the attack. The Israeli army initially did not comment on the incident.
Attacks were also reported in other parts of the Gaza Strip. Israel said its forces struck more than 300 Hamas targets from the air over the past day. In Israel there was another air alert near the border, warning of rocket launches coming from the Gaza Strip. There were no reports of casualties or damage.
The head of Al-Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip was arrested by Israeli soldiers on Thursday, according to a doctor at the clinic. “Doctor Muhammad Abu Salmiya was arrested along with several other senior doctors,” said doctor and department head Khalid Abu Samra. The Israeli army has been at Al-Shifa Hospital for about a week, where it is suspected to be an operations center for the Palestinian radical Islamic organization Hamas. On Sunday, the army said it found a tunnel 55 meters long, ten meters deep beneath the clinic and a cache of weapons.
According to the Palestinian Red Crescent, more patients were evacuated from hospitalized Shifa. The humanitarian organization said on Wednesday night that 14 ambulances and two UN buses took 190 injured and sick people, their companions and some medical staff to hospitals in Khan Younis and Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip. “Many other injured people and their companions, along with medical staff, are still in hospital.”
Israel reiterated that it would maintain its objective of destroying Hamas after the ceasefire. “We will not end the war. We will continue until we are victorious,” Chief of the General Staff Herzi Halevi told commanders in a video released by the military on Thursday. According to the Israeli Defense Minister, the Israeli army will continue to fight for at least two more months after the ceasefire. Soldiers must organize themselves during the short ceasefire, supply weapons and prepare for upcoming fighting, Israeli media quoted Joav Galant as saying on Thursday night. After the “brief pause”, the army will continue to exert pressure to bring more hostages held in the Gaza Strip back to Israel.
After this intense fighting ends, there will continue to be many operations in the Gaza Strip until there is no longer a military threat from there. Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said taking control of northern Gaza was the first stage of a long war. During the ceasefire, the military will focus on planning the next phases of combat.
Hamas also announced that it would continue to fight against Israel.