The military wing of Hamas announced this Saturday that it will postpone the release scheduled for this Saturday of a second group of hostages held in the Gaza Strip until Israel “respects the agreement” in force since Friday.
According to the French news agency AFP, the Ezzedine al-Qassam brigades demand in a statement “the entry of humanitarian aid trucks to the north of the Gaza Strip” and respect for the “selection criteria” for the release of prisoners Palestinians.
Israeli authorities told AFP that the hostages kidnapped by the Islamist movement have not yet been handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), in charge of handing them over to Israel, and assured that “Israel has not violated the agreement.”
On Friday, the first day of a truce in the war between Israel and Hamas, a first group of 24 hostages, including 13 Israelis, were released late in the afternoon, in exchange for the release of 39 Palestinians who were being held by Israel. . while on Saturday difficulties arose in the process.
“After the handover of the second group” of hostages to the ICRC, the convoy was “stopped in Khan Younes,” in the southern Gaza Strip, “and could not leave for Rafah,” a border crossing into Egypt, he said. a Hamas-linked source told AFP.
The agreement, concluded after weeks of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Islamic movement, provides for the release of a total of 50 hostages held in Gaza and 150 Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons for several days.
In exchange, a truce is maintained in the fighting in the Gaza Strip and humanitarian aid is delivered daily.
On October 7, fighters from the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) – in power in the Gaza Strip since 2007 and classified as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union and Israel – carried out an attack on Israeli territory of dimensions unprecedented since the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, it left 1,200 dead, mostly civilians, around 5,000 injured and more than 200 hostages.
In retaliation, Israel declared a war to “eradicate” Hamas, which began with food, water, electricity and fuel cuts in the Gaza Strip and daily shelling, followed by a ground offensive surrounding Gaza City.
The war between Israel and Hamas has so far left more than 14,000 dead in the Gaza Strip, mostly civilians, and more than 30,000 injured, according to the latest report from local authorities.
According to the United Nations, the war has already displaced 1.7 million people in Gaza.
Source: TSF
