© Reuters. Hostages launched as a part of a deal between Israel and Palestinian Islamist group Hamas arrive by helicopter at Schneider Kids’s Medical Heart in Petah Tikva, Israel, November 24, 2023. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
By Bassam Masoud and James Mackenzie
GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Israel has acquired an inventory of hostages to be free of Gaza on Saturday by Palestinian militant group Hamas, officers stated, following the discharge of 24 hostages the day prior to this, the primary of a deliberate four-day truce.
Israeli safety officers had been reviewing the checklist, the workplace of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated in an announcement, after his authorities’s vow to work for the discharge of all hostages taken by Hamas in an assault on Israel on Oct. 7.
The pause within the preventing was the primary such break, with each side saying hostilities would resume as quickly because the truce ends. U.S. President Joe Biden expressed hope the pause may very well be prolonged, nevertheless.
The launched hostages, together with Israeli girls and youngsters and Thai farm staff, had been transferred from Gaza and handed to Egyptian authorities on the Rafah border crossing, together with eight employees of the Worldwide Committee of the Pink Cross in a four-car convoy, the organisation stated.
They had been then taken to Israel for medical checks and re-unions with family members.
Qatar, which acted as mediator for the truce deal, stated 13 Israelis had been launched, some with twin nationality, in addition to 10 Thais and a Philippine nationwide – farm staff employed in southern Israel after they had been seized.
Thirty-nine Palestinian girls and youngsters detainees had been launched from Israeli jails. The freed Israeli hostages included 4 youngsters accompanied by 4 relations, and 5 aged girls.
Biden stated there was an actual probability of extending the truce, including that the pause was a essential alternative to get humanitarian help into Gaza.
He declined to invest how lengthy the Israel-Hamas battle would final. Requested at a press convention what his expectations had been, he stated Israel’s objective of eliminating Hamas was legit however troublesome.
The Palestine Pink Crescent Society stated 196 vans of humanitarian help carried meals, water and medical provides via the Rafah crossing on Friday, the largest such convoy into Gaza since Hamas’ assault on Israel and Israel’s subsequent bombardment of the territory.
About 1,759 vans have entered the slender enclave since Oct. 21, it added.
MIXED EMOTIONS IN ISRAEL
The households of the hostages expressed blended feelings, fearing for these left behind.
“I’m excited for the families who today are going to hug their loved ones,” Shelly Shem Tov, the mom of Omer Shem Tov, 21, stated in an interview with Israel’s Channel 12, though he was not amongst these launched on Friday.
“I am jealous. And I am sad. Mostly sad that Omer is still not coming home.”
Israeli tallies present Hamas fighters killed 1,200 folks within the October assault and took about 240 hostages. Since then, Israel has rained bombs on the Hamas-ruled enclave, killing about 14,000 Gazans, roughly 40% of them youngsters, Palestinian well being authorities say.
Tons of of hundreds of Gaza’s 2.3 million folks have fled their houses, together with most of these in its northern half.
After preliminary medical checks, the launched hostages had been taken to be re-united with their households. Medical authorities stated they gave the impression to be in good bodily situation and had been going through extra evaluations.
Roni Haviv, a relative of Ohad Munder, stated she was trying ahead to giving the nine-year-old his favorite toy.
“I’m waiting to see Ohad and can’t wait to give him his Rubik’s Cube, which I know he really loved and he probably missed it so much, and that’s the first thing he takes everywhere he goes,” she stated.
These launched on Friday had been exchanged for twenty-four jailed Palestinian girls and 15 youngsters. In no less than three instances, earlier than the prisoners had been launched, Israeli police raided their households’ houses in Jerusalem, witnesses stated.
Police declined to remark.
“There is no real joy, even this little joy we feel as we wait,” stated Sawsan Bkeer, the mom of 24-year-old Palestinian prisoner Marah Bkeer, jailed for eight years on knife and assault prices in 2015.
Israeli police had been seen raiding her Jerusalem house earlier than her daughter was launched.
“We are still afraid to feel happy and at the same time, we do not have it in us to be happy due to what is happening in Gaza,” she added.
A supply briefed on the talks stated the discharge of the Thai staff was unrelated to the truce talks and adopted a separate monitor mediated by Egypt and Qatar. Thailand’s authorities stated 20 of its nationals remained captive.