5th Day Truce: More Gaza Hostages, Palestinian Inmates Freed

Another 12 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza have returned to Israel via Egypt, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Tuesday evening. This occured as the temporary truce in the Gaza war appeared to hold amid reports of an exchange of fire between the two sides. According to the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the latest group of freed hostages comprises 10 Israelis and two Thai nationals. Among the Israeli nationals are senior female citizens – one in her 80s and a 17-year-old teenager, who was released together with her mother. One of the releases hostages also holds German citizenship, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on X, formerly Twitter. This puts the total number of hostages released from Gaza since the beginning of a breakthrough truce agreement between Israel and the Palestinian extremist organisation Hamas on Friday at 81, including 61 Israeli nationals. In return for the group released from Gaza on Tuesday, 30 Palestinian prisoners were released from different Israeli jails on Tuesday evening, according to the Israeli prison authority. Among them were 15 women, some of them minors, and 15 male minors, the youngest being 14 years old. In total, 180 Palestinian prisoners have been released from Israeli prisons since the beginning of the temporary ceasefire negotiated by Qatar and Egypt last week. In return, Hamas has released a total of 81 hostages, including 61 Israelis. One male Israeli, who also has Russian citizenship, was released on Monday evening as a gesture of goodwill to Russia, with no Palestinians being released in return. Some 240 people had been abducted into the Gaza Strip amid the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks on southern Israel by Hamas and other militant groups. The pause in fighting, which came into effect on Friday morning and was initially set to last four days, has been extended by another two days under the previously negotiated conditions. It is unclear whether it can be extended further. The agreement has also facilitated the delivery of urgently needed humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. In spite of the ongoing truce, an exchange of fire between Israel and Hamas was reported in the north of the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, according to the Israel army. Israeli soldiers were reportedly shot at and returned fire. In addition, a total of three explosive devices exploded next to soldiers at two locations. This meant that the framework of the ceasefire had been “violated,” the IDF said. According to the army, several soldiers sustained slight injuries. The soldiers were at the locations agreed upon as part of the ceasefire. Hamas confirmed a confrontation with the Israeli army. The group charged that Israel had violated the truce in the north of the Gaza Strip. However, Hamas emphasised that it would continue to feel bound to the agreement as long as Israel also felt committed. Hamas called on mediators Qatar and Egypt to put pressure on Israel to respect the ceasefire. Netanyahu meanwhile reiterated Israel’s commitment to continue its military campaign in Gaza to destroy Hamas once the truce agreement runs out. In an interview with German broadcaster Welt TV published on Tuesday, the premier did not comment on for how long the deal could be extended. “We agreed that women and children as well as the foreign hostages would be released first,” Netanyahu said in the interview, which was conducted in English and later translated by Welt TV into German. “After that has happened, we will continue the fighting,” he added. Hamas, who took power in Gaza by force in 2007, had committed the worst murders, Netanyahu said, referring to the brutal Oct. 7 attacks committed by Hamas fighters and other groups from Gaza on Israeli border communities in which some 1,200 people were killed. “We have absolutely no choice but to destroy Hamas,” Netanyahu said in view of the massacre. Israel would continue to do everything in its power to spare civilians in the Gaza Strip as much as possible, he said. However, according to Hamas, almost 15,000 people have already been killed and around 36,000 injured amid Israel’s military campaign in Gaza triggered by the Oct. 7 attacks. A further 7,000 inhabitants of the densely populated coastal area are considered missing. The numbers cannot currently be independently verified.

Ceasefire: First Hostages From Gaza Set For Release Friday

Delays are already affecting the start of a four-day ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas to let aid into Gaza and to free dozens of hostages, which was set to go into effect after nearly seven weeks of war. The truce was due to begin on Thursday at 10 am (0800 GMT) but the exact timing remains unclear as Israel has not yet said when it would pause its air and ground offensives in the coastal area. An Israeli army spokesman said the process of returning hostages from the Gaza Strip to Israel is complex and not yet concrete. The military is preparing the implementation of this first phase of the hostage exchange agreement, said Daniel Hagari late on Wednesday. However, the repatriation of the people abducted to the sealed-off coastal strip could take time and take place in several stages, he said. “The release (of hostages) will begin according to the original agreement between the parties, and not before Friday,” Israel’s security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi was quoted by newspapers Haaretz and the Times of Israel and the N12 channel as saying. “The talks on the release of our hostages are progressing and will continue on an ongoing basis.” The first exchange of hostages kidnapped in Israel for Palestinian prisoners was initially expected to take place on Thursday. The Times of Israel cited an Israeli official as explaining the delay by saying that both Israel and Hamas would have to sign a document ratifying the agreement for it to come into force. Haaretz reported that Israeli officials had said there would be no halt to the fighting as long as there is no finalized timeline for the agreement with Hamas. The agreement foresees 100 hostages being released from Gaza in exchange for 300 Palestinian prisoners held in Israel. The Israeli Cabinet signed off on the deal early Wednesday after weeks of fraught negotiations mediated by Qatar and the United States. The deal’s first step involves the release in stages of 50 Israeli women and children that have been held by militants in Gaza since the October 7 terrorist attack. In exchange, 150 Palestinian prisoners are to be released. In a second step, up to 50 further Israeli hostages are also to be exchanged in small groups for up to 150 further Palestinian prisoners. The ceasefire is to be accompanied by larger aid deliveries for the suffering civilian population in the Gaza Strip, where food, water, electricity, and medical supplies are running scarce. Israel said the ceasefire will last at least four days but could be extended by one day for every additional 10 hostages released. A maximum of 10 days is planned for the entire exchange. After that, the Israeli army’s fight against Hamas and other Islamist extremists in the Gaza Strip is to continue. Terrorists from Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups carried out unprecedented massacres in southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing around 1,200 people and taking around 240 people hostage. Of the 240 people who were kidnapped and taken to Gaza, four women have so far been released by Hamas. One young soldier was rescued by the Israeli military. The army also found the bodies of two people. It is unclear how many hostages are still alive. Local media reported Israel will pass on a first list of names of hostages to be released. Kidnapped mothers and children were not to be separated. The Israeli government on Wednesday announced the names and details of the 300 imprisoned Palestinians who are eligible for release from prison. On list are 123 people under the age of 18, with the youngest being 14. According to the list, 33 prisoners are girls and women. They are accused of throwing firebombs, arson, and knife attacks, among other offences. No prisoners serving time for murder are set for release. Once free, they are to return to the places where they lived before their imprisonment, such as the West Bank or East Jerusalem. Shortly after the Oct. 7 attack Israel’s military launched airstrikes on the Gaza Strip and deployed ground troops with the aim of destroying Hamas. According to the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health, more than 16,000 people have been killed so far. The Israeli army said on Wednesday that soldiers have destroyed around 400 tunnel shafts since the start of the war. Many of the tunnels used by Hamas were found under civilian hospitals, schools, and houses. The Palestinian Red Crescent said more patients are to be evacuated from the ruined al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Fourteen ambulances, accompanied by staff from the UN and Doctors Without Borders, arrived at the Gaza Strip’s biggest hospital on Wednesday. Patients were to be taken to hospitals in the south, where conditions are relatively safer than in the north.