(The Age, 27/11/2023)
The fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is back on track as the militants freed 17 more hostages, including 14 Israelis and the first American, in a third set of releases under a four-day truce that the US said it hoped would be extended.
The hostages ranged in age from four to 84 and included Abigail Edan, a four-year-old American girl whose parents were killed in the Hamas attack that started the war on October 7.
More than three dozen Palestinian prisoners returned to the West Bank overnight. The 39 young men, wearing grey prison garb, were welcomed by several hundred well-wishers in central Ramallah.
A fourth exchange is expected on Monday (Gaza time) — the last day of the ceasefire during which a total of 50 hostages and 150 Palestinian prisoners are to be freed. All are women and children.
Hamas has said for the first time said it would seek to extend the deal by looking to release a larger number of hostages. The IDF said it was open to extending the ceasefire if more hostages are released. Israel earlier said the truce can be extended by an extra day for every additional 10 hostages freed, but has vowed to quickly resume its offensive once it ends
The third release followed a second prisoner-hostage exchange on Saturday night that risked being derailed when Hamas’ armed wing claimed that Israel had failed to meet all truce conditions, including committing to letting aid trucks into northern Gaza.
COGAT, the Israeli agency for civilian co-ordination with the Palestinians, accused Hamas of delaying the trucks trying to deliver humanitarian aid to northern Gaza at a checkpoint.
Ahead of the latest release, Netanyahu visited the Gaza Strip, where he spoke with troops. “At the end of the day we will return every one,” he said of the hostages, adding that “we are continuing until the end, until victory. Nothing will stop us.” It was not clear where he went inside Gaza.
The killing of a Palestinian farmer in the central Gaza Strip had earlier added to concerns over the fragility of the truce.
The farmer was killed when targeted by Israeli forces east of Gaza’s long-established Maghazi refugee camp, the Palestinian Red Crescent said.
Violence flared in the West Bank where Israeli forces killed seven Palestinians, including two minors and at least one gunman, late on Saturday and early Sunday, medics and local sources said.
Even before the October 7 attacks from Gaza, the West Bank had been in a state of unrest, with a rise in Israeli army raids, Palestinian attacks, and violence by Israeli settlers in the past 18 months.
More than 200 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since October 7, some in Israeli airstrikes.
However, Diaa Rashwan, the head of Egypt’s State Information Service, said the truce was “proceeding without roadblocks” despite the violence.
Rashwan said 120 aid trucks crossed from Egypt to Gaza on Sunday, including two fuel trucks and two with gas for cooking.
The aid was expected to provide welcome respite for civilians in Gaza left displaced by weeks of bombardment following Hamas’ rampage through southern Israel on October 7.
The incursions, which resulted in at least 1200 deaths in Israel and saw Hamas capture some 240 hostages, led to an Israeli aerial and ground assault on Gaza.
Israel has vowed to destroy the Hamas militants who run Gaza, bombarding the enclave and mounting a ground offensive in the north. Some 14,800 Palestinians have been killed, Gaza health authorities say, and hundreds of thousands displaced.
The armed wing of Hamas also said that since the war erupted, four of its military commanders in the Gaza Strip had been killed, including the commander of the North Gaza brigade, Ahmad Al Ghandour. It did not say when or how they had been killed.
Meanwhile, unidentified armed individuals have seized a tanker carrying a cargo of phosphoric acid in the Gulf of Aden overnight, the vessel’s managing company and a US defence official said.
The incident, involving the chemical tanker Central Park, follows the seizure of an Israeli-linked cargo ship by Yemen Houthis, allies of Iran, in the southern Red Sea. The group, which also fired ballistic missiles and armed drones at Israel, vowed to target more Israeli vessels.
Central Park, a small chemical tanker (19,998 tons), is managed by Zodiac Maritime Ltd, a London-headquartered international ship management company owned by Israel’s Ofer family. The Liberian-flagged vessel was built in 2015 and is owned by Clumvez Shipping Inc, LSEG data showed.
Reuters, AP