The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas announced on Wednesday, July 9 that it had agreed to release 10 Israeli hostages, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed his optimism on an agreement on a truce in Gaza.
After 21 months of a devastating war, the Israeli army continued its bombings in the Gaza de Gaza Strip, besieged and devastated, which killed 22 Palestinians, including six children according to the local civil defense.
The war was caused by an unprecedented attack in Hamas on October 7, 2023 in Israel, after having left more than 1,400 mostly civilians according to the Israeli army, to which the latter represents for launching an important offensive in Gaza that made tens of thousands of deaths and caused a humanitarian disaster.
251 eliminated people
“Although negotiations are still difficult due to the intransigence of the occupation (Israel, note of the editor), we continue working seriously with mediators (Qatar, United States, Egypt) to overcome obstacles,” said Hamas, allusion to indirect discussions in Doha with Israel.
“To achieve efforts, the movement has demonstrated the necessary flexibility and agreed to free ten prisoners,” he added in a statement.
Of 251 people kidnapped during the October 7 attack, 49 are still retained in Gaza, 27 of which were declared dead by the Israeli army.
According to Hamas’s press release, “the essential questions are always subject to negotiation, in the first place, the delivery of help (in Gaza), the withdrawal of the occupation of the territory and the guarantees for a high permanent fire.”
This Tuesday, Donald Trump’s special envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, said with the hope of an agreement “at the end of the week” on a 60 -day truce and a hostage release, but the Qatar said the discussions “took time”.
The draft agreement provides, according to him, the return of 10 hostages and living bodies of another nine.
Source: BFM TV
