Israel and Hamas celebrate third day of truce and exchange of prisoners for hostages

Israel and the Islamist group Hamas This Sunday they completed the third consecutive day of truce accompanied by a new exchange of hostages captives in Loop by Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons, within the framework of an agreement that could be extended after the four days scheduled from its entry into force last Friday.

After yesterday a series of setbacks, delays and cross accusations that threatened to break the agreement, the situation calmed down this Sunday and the pact remained firm.

Hamas today released 17 hostages: 14 Israelis and 3 Thais. Among the Israelis were nine children, four women and a man with dual Israeli-Russian citizenship, who was released as a gesture by Hamas towards Russian President Vladimir Putin. “in gratitude for the Russian stance of support for the cause Palestine”.

The hostages were first received by the Red Cross and then transferred to hospitals in Israeli territory to undergo medical examinations before being reunited with their families.

One of the medical centers, the Soroka hospital, reported that it received an 84-year-old woman who is in serious condition, after spending 51 days kidnapped in Gaza.

For its part, the Israeli prison service announced today, for the third consecutive day, the release of 39 Palestinian security prisoners, all of them minors and including a resident of the Gaza Strip. The remaining are 21 residents of Jerusalem and 17 from the occupied West Bank.

All the prisoners were released from the Ofer prison, where security forces dispersed a concentration of relatives and other Palestinians who came to receive them with gunshots and tear gas, according to information from the official Palestinian news agency, WAFA.

A spokesman for the Red Crescent emergency service reported that its paramedics provided care and transported three people with gunshot wounds – including a 15-year-old boy – to hospitals, and a journalist also suffered injuries.

In addition, he added that two minors, ages 11 and 13, were also taken to a nearby clinic due to the effect of tear gas fired by Israeli forces.

200 trucks of humanitarian aid for Gaza

In parallel, according to the agreement, COGAT, a military organization that manages civil affairs in the occupied Palestinian territory, announced this Sunday the entry of 200 trucks of humanitarian aid into the Strip through the Rafah crossing, on the border between Gaza and Egypt.

This aid, COGAT explained on the social network “to international organizations” who work in the enclave.

Netanyahu in Gaza

This Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also entered the Gaza Strip for the first time since the beginning of the war and assured that his troops will resume the offensive until “eliminate” to the Islamist group when the temporary ceasefire ends.

“We have three objectives for this war: eliminate Hamas, recover all our abductees and ensure that Gaza does not again become a threat to the State of Israel,” He indicated during a tour in the Strip, where he accessed a Hamas tunnel and met with Israeli troops deployed in the area.

Once the exchange of hostages for prisoners this Sunday was finalized, Hamas issued a statement in which it expressed its willingness to extend the agreement beyond the four days agreed upon until now.

“The Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas is attempting to extend the truce after the end of the four-day period, seriously attempting to increase the number of detainees released, as established in the humanitarian truce agreement.”the Islamist group announced on Telegram.

Shortly after, Netanyahu spoke with the president of the United States, Joe Biden, and conveyed to him that he welcomes the possibility of extending the current pact.

However, he added that after this temporary ceasefire Israel would continue to attack with force until its objectives in the war were met.

The agreement, mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the US, provides for the release of 50 Israeli hostages in exchange for 150 Palestinian prisoners in total, and could be extended if Hamas commits to handing over at least ten captives per day.

Since the exchanges began last Friday, Israel has freed 117 Palestinian women and teenagers, while Hamas has freed 58 people: 40 Israelis, 17 Thais and one Filipino.

An Egyptian security source told EFE today that both Hamas and Israel have given “a positive response” to a proposal from Egypt and Qatar to extend the truce in the Gaza Strip, and that would imply extending it for another four days with “the same conditions.”

Israel declared war on Hamas on October 7, following an attack by the Islamist group, whose militants killed around 1,200 people and kidnapped more than 240 in Israeli communities near the Gaza Strip.

Israel’s air, naval and ground forces have since counterattacked in the Palestinian enclave, where more than 14,800 people have already died, according to authorities, most of them children and women, and it is estimated that more than 7,000 people are missing under the rubble.