In exchange for Palestinian detainees captured by resistance organization Hamas, Israel was scheduled to free a second batch on Saturday. This occurred during a ceasefire that was mainly maintained in the severely damaged Gaza Strip following seven weeks of vicious Israeli airstrikes that resulted in the deaths of at least fifteen thousand people.
According to Israeli prison officials, the arrangement, which stipulates three-to-one exchanges, would see the release of 42 Palestinian prisoners, both male and female. According to an official Israeli source, 14 prisoners would be released.
The transfers come after a first-day exchange on Friday, the opening day of a four-day cease-fire that essentially stopped both sides’ weapons from firing.
The second day of the truce appeared to be holding. Only a small plume of grey smoke rose over northern Gaza, the focus of Israel’s air and ground offensive against Hamas, an AFPTV live cam showed.
The rejoice of the Palestinians when their mothers were released from israeli prisons 🧡
“The people want the Qassam Brigades,” says the released mother. pic.twitter.com/5EpURHT9ce
— Arya – آریا 🇮🇷 (@AryJeay) November 24, 2023
The largest humanitarian convoy since the start of the war consisted of 200 assistance vehicles in all, according to the Israeli Defense Ministry agency in charge of Palestinian civil affairs.
Due to Israel’s almost complete blockade of Gaza, residents are fighting to survive due to a lack of basic supplies like water.
Many people stood in line on Saturday in Rafah to fill gas canisters for cooking. “Everyone is expecting and prepared for it to simplify their lives,” Ezzeddine Abu Omeira, a resident, said.
500 trucks would enter Gaza every day before the war, the UN humanitarian agency OCHA said.
Of the 2.4 million people living in Gaza, the UN believes that 1.7 million have been displaced by the conflict. Now, thousands of people are going back to their homes that are still standing.
Mahmud Masood declared, “We are civilians,” while positioned in front of demolished structures in Jabalia, northern Gaza. “Why have they destroyed our houses?”
Early on Saturday, the Israeli army declared that it had shot down a surface-to-air missile that had been aimed at an Israeli drone and had been launched from Lebanon. The army retaliated by claiming that Israeli airplanes also targeted Hezbollah’s facilities.
A US defense source acknowledged on Saturday that an Israeli-owned ship sustained minor damage in what seemed to be a drone attack in the Indian Ocean on Friday.
Following the first of a four-day truce’s 24 captive releases the day before, Hamas earlier on Saturday provided with Israel a list of the prisoners who will be released today.
A statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office stated that Israeli security personnel were going over the list.
However, US President Joe Biden voiced hope that the suspension may be prolonged.
Along with eight employees of the International Committee of the Red Cross in a four-car convoy, the freed captives—among them Thai farm laborers—were taken from Gaza and given over to Egyptian authorities at the Rafah border crossing, according to the organization.
After that, they were flown to Israel to receive medical attention and see their relatives.
Ten Thais and a Filipino citizen, who were farm laborers employed in southern Israel at the time of their abduction, together with thirteen Israelis, some of whom had mixed nationality, have been released, according to Qatar, which served as a mediator for the truce agreement.
29 Palestinian women and children who had been detained in Israeli jails were freed; some had been imprisoned for years.
In addition to stating that there was a good probability of the truce being extended, Biden added that the break was a vital chance to bring relief into Gaza.
He refrained from estimating the duration of the conflict between Israel and Hamas. When asked about his expectations during a news conference, he stated that Israel’s objective of defeating Hamas was justifiable but challenging.
According to the Palestine Red Crescent Society, the largest humanitarian assistance convoy to enter Gaza since Israel’s siege of the region took place on Friday consisted of 196 vehicles carrying food, water, and medical supplies through the Rafah crossing.
Since October 21, around 1,759 trucks have passed through the small beleaguered enclave, it was stated.
Conversely, Palestinians celebrated the release of inmates from Israeli prisons.
According to an AFP correspondent, of the 39 detainees released by Israel on Friday, 28 were released in the occupied West Bank and the remaining 11 were transferred to east Jerusalem, which has been annexed, according to the Palestinian detainees’ Club.
AFP correspondents on the scene said that when two white coaches carried inmates out of the Ofer military camp, large crowds of Palestinians in the West Bank let off firecrackers, waved flags, and whistled.
After being released from prison and going back to her house in annexed east Jerusalem, 24-year-old Marah Bakir told AFP, “I spent the end of my childhood and my adolescence in prison, far from my parents and their hugs.”
“That’s how it is with a state that oppresses us.”
Israeli police used tear gas to break up the gathering earlier in the evening. According to the Palestinian Red Crescent, Israeli security forces shot and injured three civilians.
One of those released was Fatina Salman’s daughter Malak, who is now 23. “The police are in our house and are stopping people from coming to see us,” Salman said.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised to free every prisoner held by Hamas.
“This is one of the goals of the war, and we are committed to achieving all the goals of the war,” he stated.
The UN humanitarian organization OCHA’s spokesman, Jens Laerke, expressed optimism that the break would result in “a longer-term humanitarian ceasefire.”
Gazans have experienced severe water and other resource shortages, making survival difficult.
Thousands of civilians who had taken cover in hospitals and schools from the constant Israeli bombardment began to move in large numbers as a result of the ceasefire.
Of the 2.4 million people living in Gaza, the UN believes that 1.7 million have been displaced by the conflict.
The sound of war was replaced by the sound of sirens from ambulances and automobile horns in Khan Yunis, in southern Gaza, where a large number of Palestinians had fled.
People crowded the streets as they returned from temporary shelters, loading goods onto carts, strapping them to car tops, or slinging bags over their shoulders.
Israel’s military effort is centered on the north, but Israeli jets dropped leaflets alerting residents that the battle is not ended and that it is “very dangerous” to go back there.
Despite this, the UN humanitarian affairs organization said that several thousand Palestinians made an attempt to travel north on Friday
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