Implementation of the agreements between Israel and Hamas was originally expected to begin on Thursday. But then Israel’s security advisor Tzachi Hanegbi announced that negotiations were continuing.
“Contacts for the release of our hostages are making progress and are ongoing,” Hanegbi said. The release will begin “according to the original agreement of both sides and not before Friday.” Another Israeli government representative said that the ceasefire would not come into force on Thursday either.
After lengthy negotiations, Israel and Hamas reached an agreement that provides for a four-day ceasefire and the release of an initial 50 of the hostages kidnapped by the Islamists, mainly women and children. In return, 150 Palestinian prisoners – women and prisoners under the age of 19 – will be released from Israeli prisons.
A representative of the Palestinian side close to the negotiations told the AFP news agency that the delay was due to “last-minute discussions” about the names of the Israeli hostages and the “modalities of their handover” to a third party. The Qatari Foreign Ministry said the talks were continuing and were “positive.” The timing of the ceasefire will be announced “in the coming hours.”
According to Israeli sources, the ceasefire, initially scheduled to last four days, could be extended. For every ten additional hostages released, fighting would stop for another day. This could result in the release of up to 100 Israeli hostages and 300 Palestinian prisoners.
Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi called the ceasefire agreement a “victory” for the Palestinian side. Israel has achieved “none of its goals” in the Gaza Strip. Raisi met senior representatives of Hamas and the militant Palestinian group Islamic Jihad in the Lebanese capital Beirut on Wednesday.
Israel continued its attacks in the Gaza Strip on Thursday night. The Palestinian news agency Wafa spoke of “dozens” of deaths in various parts of the Palestinian territory. The militant Islamist organization Islamic Jihad, which is involved in the fighting, reported clashes in the center of the city of Gaza in the north of the approximately 360 square kilometer coastal strip.
Shelling was also reported in the southern Gaza town of Khan Yunis, where huge columns of black smoke rose and bomb explosions were heard. An AFP journalist reported that the impacts, several kilometers away, also shook houses in the town of Rafah on the border with Egypt. There was initially no information from the Israeli army.
In the city of Gaza, the head of Al-Shifa Hospital, Mohammed Abu Salmiya, was arrested by Israeli soldiers, according to a doctor. The Israeli military has been on the site of the hospital for around a week, under which Hamas said it had set up a military operations center in a tunnel complex.
The war between Israel and Hamas has now been going on for almost seven weeks. On October 7th, hundreds of fighters from Hamas, which the USA and the EU have classified as a terrorist organization, entered Israel and committed atrocities there, mainly against civilians, including numerous women and children. According to the Israeli government, around 1,200 people were killed and around 240 people were taken hostage to the Gaza Strip.
In response, Israel began massive air and ground attacks on targets in the Gaza Strip. According to Hamas figures, which cannot be independently verified, more than 14,000 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip since then, including 5,800 children.
The conflict is also causing tensions on the Israeli-Lebanese border, where there are repeated mutual attacks between Israeli troops and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah. The Shiite militia said five of its fighters, including the son of a lawmaker, were killed in an attack on the southern Lebanese town of Beit Jahun on Wednesday.
The Israeli military said it had struck a number of Hezbollah targets and bases of shelling from Lebanon into Israel, including a Hezbollah “terror cell” and infrastructure.
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