The Israeli army and Hamas fighters appeared to be observing a ceasefire for a fifth day on Tuesday, after a four-day truce was extended at the last minute by at least two days to free more hostages.
A plume of black smoke could be seen rising over the devastated wasteland of the northern Gaza war zone from across the fence in Israel, but there was no sign of a jet in the sky or the sound of an explosion.
Both sides reported some Israeli tank fire in the Sheikh Radwan district of Gaza City in the morning, but there were immediate reports of casualties. A spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces said: “After the suspect approached IDF soldiers, an IDF tank fired a warning shot.”
During the truce, Hamas fighters freed 50 Israeli women and children as young as children from among the 240 hostages they seized in southern Israel during a deadly rampage on Oct. 7.
In return, Israel released 150 security detainees from its prisons, all women and teenagers.
Hostages kidnapped by Hamas gunmen during the October 7 attack on Israel are handed over by Hamas militants to members of the International Committee of the Red Cross November 27, 2023. via REUTERS
Hamas also separately released 19 foreign hostages, mainly Thai farm workers, under a separate agreement parallel to the ceasefire agreement.
Israel has said the ceasefire could last indefinitely as long as Hamas continues to release at least 10 hostages a day.
But with fewer women and children remaining in captivity, a ceasefire after Wednesday may require negotiations to free at least some Israeli men for the first time.
Agam Goldstein-Almog, 17, who was freed from the Gaza Strip on November 26 after being taken hostage by the Palestinian militant group Hamas during the October 7 attack on Israel, reacts as he is hugged by loved ones shortly after being reunited with his family. via REUTERS
“We hope the (Israeli) Occupation complies with (the agreement) in the next two days because we are looking for a new agreement, apart from women and children, where the other categories we have we can change,” said Hamas official Khalil Al-Hayya. told Al Jazeera late on Monday.
That, he said, would require “moving towards an additional period of time to continue to change people at this stage”.
Israel’s security cabinet minister Gideon Saar told Army Radio that a two-day extension had been agreed under the terms of the original offer, and that Israel remained open to extending the ceasefire if more hostages were released.
Tal Goldstein-Almog, 9, who was freed from the Gaza Strip on Nov. 26 after being taken hostage by the Palestinian militant group Hamas during the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, is hugged by loved ones shortly after being reunited with his family at Israel’s Schneider Children’s Medical Center in Petah Tikva. via REUTERS
Israel will know when the ceasefire ends because the fighting will start again.
“Immediately after the completion of the hostage recovery framework, the war will be renewed,” he said. “We have every intention of carrying out the war’s aims as they apply to bringing down Hamas in Gaza.”
FIRST BREAK
The ceasefire has so far brought the first reprieve to the Gaza Strip in seven weeks, where Israel bombarded large parts of the territory, especially the north, including Gaza City, into a lonely moonscape.
More aid is reaching the region, which is already under a total Israeli siege.
This handout photo released by the Israeli military on November 27, 2023 shows hostages released by Hamas Gal. Israel Defense Forces (IDF)/AFP via Getty Images
Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas, the militant group that rules Gaza, after its gunmen stormed the fence and went on a rampage, killing about 1,200 people and taking 240 prisoners.
Since then, Gaza health authorities deemed credible by the United Nations say more than 15,000 people have been confirmed killed in Israeli bombardment, about 40% of them children, with many more feared lost under the rubble.
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More than two-thirds of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents are homeless, trapped in enclaves with supplies running low, with thousands of families sleeping rough in makeshift shelters with only the belongings they can carry.
FIGHTING OUTSIDE PRISON
As Israel released the last 33 prisoners under the original deal on Monday night from the Ofer prison in the occupied West Bank, its troops clashed with several dozen Palestinians waiting outside.
Some of the protesters waved the flags of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, another Palestinian militant group.
The Palestinian health ministry said one Palestinian was killed in the area. Israel had no immediate comment on the incident.
Israel added 50 additional Palestinian women to a list of 300 detainees allowed to be released under the ceasefire, seen as a sign it is willing to negotiate for more hostages to be released under an extended extension.
Any release of Israeli male civilians is expected to begin with fathers and husbands arrested along with children and women released in recent days, such as Ofer Calderon, whose daughters Sahar and Erez were released on Monday.
“It is difficult to go from a state of endless worry about their fate to a state of relief and joy,” said Ido Dan, a relative, of the release of the two girls.
“This is an exciting and heart-warming moment but … it is the beginning of a difficult recovery process for Sahar and Erez, who are young and have been through a difficult experience.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
