Israel and the Palestinian terror group Hamas have raised concerns over a list of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners to be released on Monday, the last day of an agreed four-day pause in fighting, an official briefed on the matter said.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that Qatari mediators were working with Israel and Hamas to resolve the issues and avoid a delay.
Hamas says it wants to extend the ceasefire.
Israel has previously offered to agree to accept one extra day for every additional 10 hostages released, and release three times as many Palestinian prisoners each time.
“There is a slight issue with today’s list. The Qatari side is working with both sides to resolve it and avoid delays,” the official said in a briefing on the matter.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the Gaza Strip on Sunday, November 26, 2023, where he received a security briefing with commanders and soldiers and visited one of the tunnels that had been exposed. Facebook/Prime Minister of Israel
Israel said earlier it had received the final list of hostages scheduled for release.
The list is being reviewed, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said, adding it would provide more information when possible.
On Sunday, Hamas released 17 people, including a 4-year-old Israeli-American girl, bringing the total number of people the terrorist group has released since Friday to 58.
Israel released 39 Palestinian youth detainees on Sunday, bringing the total number of Palestinians released since the ceasefire began to 117.
A Palestinian official familiar with the truce talks said both Hamas and Israel had shown a positive attitude to requests to extend the truce for four days, but added that “a final decision has not yet been reached”.
Palestinians walk past houses damaged by Israeli strikes during the conflict, amid a temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in the northern Gaza Strip, November 25, 2023.REUTERS
An Israeli official told Reuters that Hamas was responsible for releasing a new list of 10 hostages who could be released on Tuesday in exchange for an additional day of ceasefire.
If Israel approves the list, the cease-fire would be extended by a day, with Israel releasing three times as many Palestinian prisoners as the number of hostages released.
The process will continue for a maximum of five days in addition to the current ceasefire, the official added.
Hamas spokesman Osama Hamdan, speaking to Lebanese broadcaster LBC, said the group would try to find more hostages to release and thus extend the ceasefire.
Hamas previously said it did not hold all the hostages brought to Gaza.
Those handed over by Hamas on Sunday included 13 Israelis, three Thais and one Russian, and the International Committee of the Red Cross confirmed it had successfully evacuated them from Gaza.
‘NOT THOUGHT OF’
President Biden said he hoped the ceasefire could continue as long as the hostages were freed.
Biden said the 4-year-old hostage, Abigail Edan, had witnessed her parents killed by Hamas terrorists during their Oct. 7 rampage into Israel and had been held since then.
President Biden delivers a speech on the release of hostages from Gaza, in Nantucket, Massachusetts, on November 26, 2023. AFP via Getty Images
“What he went through is unimaginable,” Biden said at a news conference.
Netanyahu, who spoke with Biden over the weekend, said that once the ceasefire ends “we will return with full force to achieve our goals: The elimination of Hamas, ensuring that Gaza does not return to the way it was; and of course the release of all our hostages.”
The European Union’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said on Monday the ceasefire was an important first step but more was needed to defuse the situation and find a way out of the crisis.
Israeli troops operate in the Gaza Strip during a temporary ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in this handout photo released November 27, 2023. via REUTERS
Speaking at the Forum for Mediterranean Union in Barcelona, Borrell also urged Israel not to “recolonize Gaza,” saying that the creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza is the best guarantee of Israeli peace and security. .
The four-day ceasefire agreed last week was the first cessation of fighting in seven weeks since Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 240 hostages back to Gaza.
In response to the attack, Israel has bombed the enclave and launched a ground offensive in the north.
Some 14,800 Palestinians have been killed, Gaza health authorities said, and hundreds of thousands displaced.
Palestinians gave a lively welcome to the released prisoners in Ramallah, according to the Palestinian news agency WAFA.
Omar Abdullah Al Hajj, 17, one of the detainees released on Sunday, told Reuters he had been kept in the dark about what was happening in the outside world.
“There are 11 of us crammed into a room that usually has six people. There was never enough food and I was never told how long I would stay,” he said.
Palestinians drive a motorcycle past the destroyed Islamic University building in Gaza City on November 26, 2023. AFP via Getty Images
“I can’t believe I’m free now but my joy is incomplete because we still have our brothers who remain in prison,” said Al-Hajj, who the Israeli Ministry of Justice accused of belonging to the Islamic Jihad terrorist group and posing as an unspecified security threat.
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The three most recently freed Thai hostages are in good health, Thailand’s prime minister said.
Efforts to free the remaining 15 Thai nationals will continue, the Thai foreign ministry said.
Qatar, Egypt and the United States are pushing for the ceasefire to be extended but it is unclear if it will happen.
Fighting and recriminations have threatened to undermine existing agreements.
‘DESPERATE PEOPLE’
Qatari diplomats are currently on location in Gaza to oversee the entry and delivery of their country’s aid, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said.
A UN official taking part in a humanitarian convoy to northern Gaza said on Sunday aid groups were on track to deliver the largest shipment in more than a month, describing emaciated and emaciated residents braving their thirst as water arrived.
“People are very desperate and you can see in the eyes of the adults they haven’t eaten,” James Elder of the UN children’s agency told Reuters via video link from southern Gaza after returning from Gaza City.
Even as aid shipments flowed north, Elder said he saw hundreds of Gazans heading in the other direction, fearing renewed Israeli bombardment if the ceasefire did not last.
“People are very afraid that this pause will not continue,” he said.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
