GAZA STRIP: Hamas said Saturday that it was delaying the release of a second group of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners until Israel complies with a truce agreement, in a bitter blow to relatives.
The Palestinian group’s armed wing said the issues of aid deliveries to the northern Gaza Strip and the selection criteria for prisoner releases were holding up the handover.
The unforeseen setback followed an initial exchange on Friday when Hamas released 13 Israelis, all of them women and children, hours after a four-day truce took effect in Gaza.
Ten Thais and one Filipino were also unexpectedly freed.
Israel in turn released 39 Palestinian women and children from its prisons under an agreement that mandates exchanges at a ratio of three to one.
Israel on Saturday denied that it had violated the truce agreement and vowed to continue the war to eliminate Hamas when the pause in fighting ends.
Israel reviews list of hostages set to be freed by Hamas on Saturday
“We will return immediately at the end of the ceasefire to attack Gaza,” Israeli chief of staff Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi said.
“We will also do this in order to dismantle Hamas, also to create a great deal of pressure to return as quickly as possible and as many abductees as possible, every last one of them,” he added.
Hamas fighters snatched around 240 captives when they broke through Gaza’s militarised border with Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 Israelis and foreigners, according to Israeli authorities.
Following the deadliest attack in its history, Israel launched an air, artillery and naval bombardment alongside a ground offensive to destroy Hamas, killing nearly 15,000 people, according to the Hamas government in Gaza.
‘Finally home’
A video released by Hamas showed masked with rifles, wearing military fatigues and the green headband of the movement’s armed wing, handing hostages over to the Red Cross on Friday.
In a Tel Aviv suburb, people applauded and held up Israeli flags as helicopters flew in the freed captives.
At Israel’s Wolfson Medical Center, which received five elderly women hostages, Dr Shoshi Goldner said “there was no one in the room that could hold his feelings and stop crying”.
“You are finally home in a safe place,” Goldner said.
“Today we are excited about the returnees, but I want us not to forget all those who have not yet returned,” Yael Adar, daughter-in-law of former hostage Yaffa Adar, 85, told Israel’s Ynet news website.
Hamas is expected to free a total of 50 hostages during the truce in exchange for 150 Palestinian prisoners, under an agreement brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the United States.
Thailand says Hamas still holds 20 of its nationals after freeing 10
Egypt said that it had received positive feedback from both sides about the idea of extending the truce for a day or two and releasing more hostages and prisoners.
“It’s only a start, but so far it’s gone well,” US President Joe Biden told reporters, adding “the chances are real” for extending the truce.
Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi called for “a permanent ceasefire and a complete end to this aggression.”
Roongarun Wichanguen, sister of 33-year-old Thai hostage Vetoon Phoome, expressed joy and disbelief that he is coming home. She thought he had been killed by Hamas.
On a video call, “his face was very happy, and he seemed okay,” she said, adding he told her he “was taken care of very well. It looks like he just stayed in a house, not the tunnel.”
Palestinians celebrate
In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, fireworks exploded and crowds filled the streets. The freed prisoners waved Palestinian and Hamas flags.
“I was just waiting for the day I would be released from prison so I could hug my mother like this,” said Rawan Abu Matar, who served eight years for attempting to stab an Israeli soldier.
Mixed emotions as first group of Israeli hostages return from Gaza
In Israel, authorities asked the media to let the newly freed hostages reunite with loved ones in privacy.
Among those released was Hannah Katzir, 76, who according to her family uses a walking frame and needs medication.
Mothers and their children were also freed, including Doron Katz-Asher, 34, and her two young daughters.
In an emotional reunion at an Israeli hospital, nine-year-old Ohad ran to hug his father after he was released along with his mother and grandmother.
More aid
The pause in fighting in Gaza opened the way for more aid to Gazans struggling to survive with shortages of water and other essentials. Israel had placed Gaza under near-total siege.
Trucks carrying supplies including fuel, food and medicines began moving into Gaza through the Rafah crossing from Egypt on Friday, and more entered on Saturday.
In Rafah, many waited to fill gas canisters for cooking. “All the people are hoping and ready for it to make their lives easier,” said one resident, Ezzeddine Abu Omeira.
The UN estimates that 1.7 million of Gaza’s 2.4 million people have been displaced by the fighting.
Since the truce, thousands have been returning to what is left of their homes.
“We are civilians,” said Mahmud Masood, standing in front of flattened buildings in Jabalia, northern Gaza. “Why have they destroyed our houses?”
A woman sat on top of a mound of debris with her head in her hands, crying.
In southern Gaza, AFPTV drone images showed people walking or riding in donkey carts along paths cleared through piles of rubble.
Despite warnings from Israel not to return to northern Gaza, some tried to do so.
The Hamas-run health ministry said seven people were wounded on Saturday when Israeli soldiers opened fire to discourage people from making the journey.
The Israeli army said early Saturday that it downed a surface-to-air missile launched from Lebanon towards an Israeli drone. In response, the army said Israeli warplanes also struck infrastructure of Hezbollah, the Lebanese group allied with Hamas, both of which are backed by Iran.
But after weeks of intensifying cross-border fire, Hezbollah has not claimed any attacks on Israel since the truce came into effect.