Minor incidents as new releases are announced following extension of ceasefire between Israel and Hamas

The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas was extended this Tuesday to allow the release of more Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, as well as the access of additional aid to the Gaza Strip, where the The humanitarian situation remains “catastrophic”.

“According to information from the Red Cross, twelve hostages – including ten Israelis and two foreigners – are on their way to Israeli territory,” the military spokesman said in a statement.

Almost simultaneously, Israel freed 15 women and 15 children held in Israeli prisons, on the fifth day of the hostage-for-prisoner exchange agreement, in parallel with a temporary ceasefire.

However, an AFP journalist in Gaza City saw the Israeli army fire three projectiles at dozens of civilians trying to gain access to the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood. The reporter found an injured person.

The military said that “several suspects approached Israeli forces” and that a tank fired “warning shots.” Palestinian movements denounced “ceasefire violations” by Israel.

In the meantime, The Israeli army, for its part, denounced the detonation of three explosive devices near its forces in the northern Gaza Strip, “contrary to the framework of the operational pause.”

The agreement negotiated by Qatar, with the support of Egypt and the United States, has been in force since Friday morning. It has so far authorized the release of 50 hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip and 150 Palestinians imprisoned in Israel.

Another 19 hostages, mostly foreign workers in Israel, were released by Hamas outside of the deal, which was originally scheduled to last four days until early Tuesday morning.

Hours before the deadline expired, the United States and Qatar announced the extension for another two days, until 0500 GMT on Thursday, to release around 20 hostages and 60 Palestinian prisoners.

“Indescribable joy”

On Monday evening, eleven Israeli hostages were released in the Gaza Strip, including six from Argentine families: a mother and her two teenage daughters and the wife of an Argentine still held captive and her three-year-old twin daughters.

Shortly after, Israel has freed 33 Palestinians from its prisons, including Mohamed Abu al Humus. who hugged his mother when he arrived home in East Jerusalem.

“I can’t describe what I feel. “It’s an indescribable joy,” he said, according to an AFP team on the scene.

In Beitunia, in the occupied West Bank, the reception of released prisoners ended with clashes with Israeli security forces, during which a young Palestinian was killed “by gunfire,” the Palestinian Health Ministry said.

The same source reported the deaths of two other Palestinians by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank.

Long-term ceasefire expected

Mediators are trying to extend the truce beyond the additional 48 hours. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to Israel and the occupied West Bank at the end of this week.

The heads of the US and Israeli intelligence agencies are meeting in Qatar’s capital Doha to discuss the “next phase” of the deal, a source familiar with the negotiations said.

Although pressured by civil society to secure the return of more hostages, both the Israeli military and government have reiterated in recent days that they will resume the fight to “eliminate” Hamas.

“We are going to release all the hostages,” Netanyahu said on Tuesday. “We will destroy this terrorist organization (Hamas) and ensure that Gaza no longer poses a threat to the State of Israel,” he added.

The government agreed to ask parliament for a “war budget” of 30.3 billion shekels (about $8 billion).

Waiting for help

In Gaza, which has since been subjected to incessant bombardment and a ground operation since October 27, 14,854 people have been killed, including 6,150 minors under the age of 18, according to the Palestinian enclave’s health ministry.

The Gaza Strip is also suffering from an all-out siege by Israel, which has caused a dramatic shortage of essential supplies.

The UN Children’s Agency (UNICEF) welcomed the arrival of several hundred truckloads of aid since November 24, thanks to the ceasefire, but warned that this is far from enough.

“It’s a good start. Certainly the right kind of aid, fuel, medicine, food,” his spokesman James Elder said by video from Gaza on Tuesday, adding that “the aid must be multiplied.”

The World Health Organization (WHO) noted a “massive increase” in certain infectious diseases.

“We are suffering because we don’t have food and water, they don’t bring us any help,” complained Fuad Hara, a Palestinian father of five, displaced by the fighting from Gaza City in the south of the territory.

More than half of the area’s homes were damaged or destroyed by the war, forcing 1.7 of the Strip’s 2.4 million residents to flee, the UN said. (JO)