The truce between Israel and Hamas was extended on Tuesday to allow for the release of more Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners and the entry of additional aid into the Gaza Strip, where the humanitarian situation remains "catastrophic." But the ceasefire seems fragile and there are fears that the war could resume at any moment.
On Tuesday, during the fifth consecutive day without fighting, Hamas announced that it would release 30 Israeli hostages in exchange for <> Palestinian prisoners, a source close to the Palestinian Islamist movement told AFP, adding that "foreign workers" held captive in Gaza would also be released.
But the release of hostages Hamas captured after the savage Oct. 7 attack in Israel is starting to get complicated: Sources in the terror group admitted that many of the captives were handed over to other, smaller extremist groups, such as Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and are now no longer in the Gaza Strip.
According to the BBC, Hamas sources said they lost contact with some of the hostages - of the 240 who were taken in total - and the chances of freeing them are therefore largely unknown.
Israeli media claim that the Israeli government has already received a list with the names of the ten hostages.
Both sides agreed to extend the truce until Wednesday and two more exchanges of hostages captured by the extremists are expected in exchange for Palestinians held in Israel.
But Israel has repeatedly vowed to resume the war "with full force" to destroy Hamas once it becomes clear that there are no more hostages to be released based on the terms of the current agreement.
Israeli teenager Sahar Kalderon, 16, hugs her mother after being freed by Hamas on Monday after more than a month and a half of captivity. Photo: AP
Qatar, a key mediator between Hamas and Israel, said on Tuesday it would work for a second extension of the humanitarian truce, but stressed that its success would depend on Hamas' ability to free more hostages than were taken to the Gaza Strip.
"We will certainly work intensively in the next 48 hours to reach an extension of that truce, and that would be linked to Hamas' confirmation of the possibility of releasing more hostages," Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari told a news conference.
At the same time, he said that, after having maintained contacts with the two parties to the conflict, a second extension of the agreement still does not include military hostages, since the priority is "women and children, and then civilian men".
"Hamas says it will release 20 hostages between today and tomorrow," al-Ansari said, confirming that during the four-day truce, which began on Friday, 69 hostages have been released by the Palestinian Islamist group, while Israel released 150 Palestinians.
"The priority is for children and women, then we hope to talk about civilian men ... Later we will talk about the military (hostages)," he said.
U.S. Seeks to Extend Truce Further
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is scheduled to visit the region this week for the third time since the fighting began and push for an extended truce and more hostages to be released.
The Biden administration has told Israel it must avoid "further significant displacement" of Palestinian civilians in the southern Gaza Strip if it resumes the offensive and that it must operate more precisely in that area of the besieged coastal enclave than it does in the north, according to U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity in compliance with rules set by the White House.
U.N. chief António Guterres reiterated his call for a long-term truce and the release of all hostages, reflecting broad international support for a cessation of hostilities.
Hamas and other insurgents are still holding about 160 people out of the 240 captured in their Oct. 7 assault on southern Israel, which sparked the war. This would be enough to extend the truce for another two weeks based on the deal brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the United States, but Hamas is expected to increase its demands for the release of the captive soldiers.
Destruction in the town of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip following Israeli bombardment. Photo: AFP
In any case, Israel says it is committed to resuming the war, which is already the deadliest in decades between Israelis and Palestinians. Israel blames Hamas for the large number of casualties and says the insurgents use civilians as human shields while operating in populated residential areas.
Israel has vowed to end Hamas' 16-year rule in Gaza and crush its military capacity. That would require expanding its ground offensive from northern Gaza – where entire residential areas have been reduced to rubble – to the south, where hundreds of thousands of displaced people have been crammed into overflowing United Nations shelters.
Hamas released 11 women and children on Monday in the fourth and final swap provided for in the original four-day truce agreement, which took effect on Friday. In this time, Israel has done the same with 33 Palestinian prisoners.
With Monday's protests, 51 Israeli hostages have been released since the ceasefire began, in addition to 19 of other nationalities. So far, Israel has released 150 Palestinians from its prisons. Israel said it would extend the temporary truce by one day for every 10 extra hostages released.
The Palestinian prisoners released so far were mostly teenagers accused of throwing stones and firebombs during confrontations with Israeli forces. Some were convicted by Israeli courts of attempting to carry out attacks. Palestinians often regard prisoners as heroes of resistance to the occupation. For Israel, they are guilty of acts of terrorism.
Most of the freed hostages appeared to be doing well, but an 84-year-old woman who was released Sunday is hospitalized in critical condition because she did not have access to her medication during captivity.
Israel imposed a total blockade on Gaza at the start of the war and until the ceasefire had only allowed aid to arrive in dribs and drabs, causing widespread shortages of food, water, medicine and fuel.
Source: AFP