Hostages in Gaza, detainees in Israeli jails released as Israel-Hamas truce holds
4-day ceasefire underway as aid trucks, fuel allowed into besieged Gaza Strip
The latest:
- First group of hostages released by Hamas.
- 39 Palestinians released from Israeli custody, Qatar says.
- Several Thai workers have also been released from captivity inGaza.
- 4-day pause in fighting between Hamas and Israel began early Friday.
- 137 aidtrucks unloaded in Gaza with129,000 litres of fuel delivered, says UN humanitarian office.
Israel has received a list of hostages to be freed from Gaza on Saturday, officials said as the four-day truce started following the release of 24 hostages the previous day.
Israeli security officials were reviewing the list, the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement ashis governmentvows to work for the release of all hostages taken by Hamas in an attack on Israel on Oct. 7.
Hamas militants released the first group ofhostages on Friday, the International Red Cross (ICRC) said, including Israeli women and children andThaifarm workers. Meanwhile,Israel freed39 Palestinians detained in itsprisons as part of the temporary truce agreement.
Nine hours after guns fell silent for the first time in seven weeks, the Red Cross said it had begun an operation to facilitate the transfer of hostages in Gaza to Israel in return for Palestinians held in Israeli jails.
The Israeli military said the freed hostages had already been brought to Israel. The list shared by Israeli officials included four children and six seniors ranging in age from 72 to 85.
"The released hostages underwent an initial medical assessment inside Israeli territory. They will continue to be accompanied by IDF(Israeli Defence Forces)soldiers as they make their way to Israeli hospitalswhere they will be reunited with their families," the military said.
The Red Cross said it was involved in the transfer of hostages held in Gaza to Israeli authorities and ultimately their families, as well as Palestinian detainees to authorities in the West Bank.
"The deep pain that family members separated from their loved ones feel is indescribable. We are relieved that some will be reunited after long agony," said Fabrizio Carboni, the ICRC's regional director for the Near and Middle East.
The hostagesreleased on Friday were exchanged for 24 Palestinian women and 15 teenagers detained by Israel. In at least three cases, before the prisoners were released, Israeli police raided their families' homes in Jerusalem, witnesses said. Police declined to comment.
In all, 50 hostages in Gaza and 150 detainees in Israel areexpected to be freed during a four-day truce. Israel has said the ceasefire could be extended if Hamas continues to release hostages at a rate of at least 10 per day.
The ceasefire, which kicked in at 7 a.m. local time,is the first respite in 48 days of conflict that has devastated the Palestinian enclave, but both sides warned the war was far from over.
No big bombings, artillery strikes or rocket attacks were reported, although Hamas and Israel both accused each other of sporadic violations.
- What questions do you have aboutthe war between Israel and Hamas? Send an email to ask@cbc.ca.
Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said in a social media post that12 Thai workers had been released from captivity in Gaza, though Qatar's foreign ministry later said it was 10 Thai citizens and one from the Philippines. Qatar's foreign ministry said that development involving the Asian hostages was separate from the numbers agreed to in the truce between Israel and Hamas, which was mediated byQatar, Egypt and the U.S.
Fuel, aid trucks enter Gaza
According to Israeli tallies, about 240 people were taken hostage when Hamas which has beendesignated a terrorist organization by Canada and several other Western countries launched attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7. Prior to Friday, four of the hostages had been released.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyehsaid in a recording on Friday that the group is committed to the truce and hostage swap deal as long as Israel is committed as well.
Egypt said it was maintaining contact with Israel and Hamas to consolidate the truce and prevent violations.
Meanwhile, Reuters journalists saw Israeli tanks moving away from the Gaza Strip at the northern end, and aid trucks rolling in from Egypt at the southern end.
Under the agreement, desperately needed aid began to be delivered to Gaza.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society said 196 trucks of humanitarian aid carried food, water and medical supplies through the Rafah crossing on Friday. It's the biggest such convoy into Gaza since theHamasassault on Israel, and Israel's subsequent bombardment of the territory.
In a statement, the UNhumanitarian office (OCHA) said129,000 litresof fuel and four trucks carrying gas also crossed into Gaza.
Egypt has said 130,000 litres of diesel and four trucks of gas will be delivered daily to Gaza and that 200 trucks of aid would enter Gaza daily.
Israel's COGAT agency, which co-ordinates with the Palestinians on civilian affairs, said four tanks of fuel and four tanks of cooking gas were transferred from Egypt to UN humanitarian groups in southern Gaza via Rafah.
"The United Nations can confirm that, as I speak, trucks with humanitarian supplies continues to cross into Gaza through the Rafah crossing point," said Jens Laerke, spokesperson for OCHA.
Asked whether the United Nations had guarantees from Israel that it could deliver aid to the north, Laerke said: "We proceed on the basis of the hope and the expectation that we will reach people in need, where they are."
Biden says chance of truce extension
President Joe Biden praised U.S. diplomacy behind Friday's release of 24 hostages held by Hamas fighters, saying it was the start of what he expected would be further hostage releases by the Palestinian militant group in the coming days.
"Beginning this morning, under a deal reached by extensive U.S. diplomacyincluding numerous calls I've made from the Oval Office to leaders across the region, fighting in Gaza will halt for four days," Biden told a news conference.
Biden declined to speculate about how long the Israel-Hamas war would last, but said he thought the chances of an extension of the ongoing truce were "real." He also expressed hope that American nationals held by Hamas would be freed.
"I don't know how long it will take," Biden said.
"My expectation and hope is that as we move forward, the rest of the Arab world and the region is also putting pressure on all sides to slow this down, to bring this to an end as quickly as we can."
Sides say fighting will eventually resume
Israeli forces are using thefour-day truce to prepare the next phase of their operation in the Gaza Strip, Israel's chief military spokesperson said on Friday.
"During the days of the truce, the IDF will complete its preparation and readiness for the next stages of the war," Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told a regular briefing.
Israel launched its assault on Gaza after Hamas fighters burst across the border fence into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people including several Canadians.
Since then, Israel has bombarded the Hamas-ruled enclave, killing some 14,000 Gazans witharound 40 per cent of them children, according to Gaza'sHealth Ministry.
Hundreds of thousands of Gaza's 2.3 million people have fled their homes to escape the violence as conditions grew ever more desperate, with food, drinking water, fuel and other basic supplies running short.
Abu Ubaida, spokesperson for Hamas's armed wing, later stressed it was a "temporary truce."
In a video message, he called for an "escalation of the confrontation with [Israel] on all resistance fronts," including the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
The Israeli military also said fighting would resume soon.
"This will be a short pause, at the conclusion of which the war [and] fighting will continue with great might and will generate pressure for the return of more hostages," Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said in a statement.
The possibility of a resumption of fighting dismayed James Elder, a spokesperson for UNICEF in Gaza.
"We cannot, in all decent conscience, go from a four- or five-day pause into killing of children again. I mean, that seems absolutely callous," he told Reuters.
Fighting had raged in the hours leading up to the truce.
With files from Mohamed El Saife, CBC News and The Associated Press
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