Hamas delays hostage release, demands aid to northern Gaza
The armed wing of Hamas said it had decided to delay Saturday's scheduled second round of hostage releases until Israel committed to allowing aid trucks to enter northern Gaza.
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Hamas' al-Qassam Brigades said the hostage releases would be delayed if Israel did not adhere to the agreed terms for the release of Palestinian prisoners.
Earlier an Israeli military spokesperson had told France's BFM television station that, barring last minute changes, 13 Israeli hostages were expected to be freed.
He said 39 Palestinian prisoners would be released in return.
Under the truce deal between Israel and Hamas, mediated by Qatar, a total of 50 hostages are to be exchanged for 150 Palestinian prisoners, some of them convicted on weapon charges and violent offences, over four days.
Hamas fighters were set to release a second group of hostages Saturday in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, officials said, as a truce largely held in the devastated Gaza Strip after seven weeks of war that killed thousands of people.
Egyptian security sources said they received the names of 14, then 13 Israeli women and children from Hamas and were waiting for more details.
Israeli prison authorities said 42 Palestinian inmates both male and female, would be freed under the terms of the agreement, which mandates exchanges at a ratio of three to one.
#BREAKING Israeli official source says Hamas to release 14 hostages Saturday pic.twitter.com/htFgrPmD7K
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) November 25, 2023
The transfers follow an initial exchange Friday, the first day of a four-day truce that largely silenced the guns on both sides.
The second day of the truce appeared to be holding.
On Friday Hamas released 24 hostages, according to Qatar and an official Israeli list. They included 13 Israelis, all of whom were women and children, including some dual citizens.
Ten Thais and one Filipino were also unexpectedly freed.
"I couldn't believe my eyes," said Kittiya Thuengsaeng in Thailand, who thought her 28-year-old boyfriend had been killed by Hamas. Then she saw a photograph of Wichai Kalapt after his release.
"I had a chat with him in the morning. He was still smiling. He told me he was safe," she said.
Seven weeks of conflict
Hamas fighters snatched around 240 captives when they broke through Gaza's militarised border with Israel on 7 October, killing about 1,200 Israelis and foreigners, according to Israeli authorities.
In response to the deadliest attack in its history, Israel launched an air, artillery and naval bombardment alongside a ground offensive to destroy Hamas, killing nearly 15,000 people, according to the Hamas government in Gaza.
A two-minute video released by Hamas showed masked militants with rifles, wearing military fatigues and the green headband of the Islamist movement's armed wing, handing hostages over to the Red Cross.
Israel in turn freed 39 Palestinian women and children from its prisons.
In a Tel Aviv suburb, people applauded and held up Israeli flags as helicopters flew in the freed captives. Elsewhere in the city, the smiling faces of freed hostages were projected onto the walls of an art museum with the message: "I'm home".
"Today we are excited about the returnees, but I want us not to forget all those who have not yet returned," Yael Adar, daughter-in-law of former hostage Yaffa Adar, 85, told Israel's Ynet news website.
About 215 hostages remain in Gaza, though in many cases it is unknown if they are dead or alive, Israeli army spokesman Doron Spielman said.
Hamas is expected to free a total of 50 hostages during the truce in exchange for 150 Palestinian prisoners, under an agreement struck after talks involving Israel, Palestinian militant groups, Qatar, Egypt and the United States.
Humanitarian convoy
The pause in fighting in Gaza opened the way to more desperately needed aid.
Trucks carrying supplies, including fuel, food and medicine, began moving into Gaza through the Rafah crossing from Egypt shortly after the truce began.
According to the Israeli defence ministry body that handles Palestinian civil affairs, 200 aid trucks in total entered in the biggest humanitarian convoy since the war began.
Israel had placed Gaza under near-total siege, leaving Gazans struggling to survive with shortages of water and other essentials.
In Rafah on Saturday many waited to fill gas canisters for cooking.
"All the people are hoping and ready for it to make their lives easier," said one resident, Ezzeddine Abu Omeira.
Prior to the war, 500 trucks crossed into Gaza daily, according to OCHA, the United Nations humanitarian agency.
In the first day of the humanitarian pause, the @UN scaled up the delivery into and across #Gaza. Hundreds of thousands were assisted with food, water, medical supplies and other essential humanitarian items.
— OCHA oPt (Palestine) (@ochaopt) November 25, 2023
Stay informed with Flash Update #49: 🔗https://t.co/KVQl393P6Q pic.twitter.com/1BI4IQLFn4
The UN estimates that 1.7 million of Gaza's 2.4 million people have been displaced by the fighting.
Thousands have now been returning to what is left of their homes.
"We are civilians," Mahmud Masood, standing in front of flattened buildings in Jabalia, northern Gaza. "Why have they destroyed our houses?"
Israel's army said early Saturday that it downed a surface-to-air missile launched from Lebanon towards an Israeli drone.
In response, the army said Israeli war planes also struck infrastructure of Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group allied with Hamas, both of which are backed by Iran.
An Israeli-owned ship suffered minor damage in a suspected attack by an Iranian drone in the Indian Ocean on Friday, a US defence official confirmed on Saturday.
(with AFP and Reuters)
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