It was already dark when several Red Cross SUVs passed the Rafah border crossing: almost seven weeks after Hamas’ terrorist attacks on Israel and the start of the Gaza war, the first hostages were released on Friday as a result of an agreement. There are also four Germans among them, as Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) confirmed in the evening.
A group of 24 people abducted from Israel were able to leave the Gaza Strip, a spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) announced in Geneva. Israel later confirmed the arrival of the hostages on its territory. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office released a list of names of the 13 Israeli freedmen on Friday evening. According to the Foreign Office, there were four dual nationals who also have a German passport – a 34-year-old and her two daughters, aged two and four, and a 77-year-old. They had been kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz.
Ten kidnapped Thais and one Filipino citizen were also released. Among those released alive was a 76-year-old Israeli woman who was declared dead a few days ago by the terrorist organization Islamic Jihad.
“I am infinitely relieved that 24 hostages have just been released from Gaza, including four Germans, that after 49 days of hell, of incredible fear, a father can finally safely hug his two little daughters and his wife again,” said Baerbock on the sidelines of the Green Party conference in Karlsruhe. The federal government is “enormously grateful” to everyone who took part in this. Baerbock personally thanked her Qatari counterpart, the International Committee of the Red Cross and Egypt.
In return, Israel released 39 Palestinian prisoners who were serving prison sentences that evening. According to the Palestinian Prisoners Commission, they are 24 women and 15 young people. The oldest is 19 years old. The prisoners should be released near their homes in the West Bank or East Jerusalem. Just hours earlier, a ceasefire had come into effect, which also marked the start of the expansion of humanitarian aid deliveries to the Gaza Strip.
The ceasefire negotiated by Israel and Hamas is expected to last at least four days. According to the agreement, a total of 50 hostages are to be released during this time. An extension of the ceasefire to up to ten days is possible, as the Gulf Emirate of Qatar, which is mediating in the conflict, has announced. Overall, the agreement reached between both parties to the conflict provides for an exchange of up to 100 hostages from Israel for up to 300 Palestinian prisoners. Iran mediated between Hamas and Thailand in the release of Thai hostages.
The latest Gaza war was triggered by the worst massacre in Israel’s history, which terrorists from the Gaza Strip committed in Israel near the border on October 7th. More than 1,200 people were killed. Around 240 hostages were taken to Gaza, including several Germans.
Israel responded with massive air strikes, a blockade of the Gaza Strip and began a ground offensive in late October. According to the Islamist Hamas, almost 15,000 people were killed. More than 36,000 were injured. The numbers cannot currently be independently verified.
Children in particular could be severely traumatized after being held hostage
According to the army, the Israeli hostages released by Hamas – said to be women and children – were initially to be housed in protected rooms in Israel. After an initial medical examination and treatment, they should be taken to hospitals where they can also meet their families. The released people were to be taken to various clinics by helicopter.
The Israeli military called on the public and media to be patient and sensitive. “We ask everyone to respect the privacy of the released hostages and their families.” Psychologists assume that the children in particular could be severely traumatized after seven weeks of being held hostage. They also witnessed the worst violence on October 7th.
Hundreds of Palestinians want to go to northern Gaza after a ceasefire
According to eyewitness reports, after the ceasefire came into effect in the morning, hundreds of Palestinian internally displaced people set out to return to their homes. People in the city of Gaza and other parts of the northern Gaza Strip wanted to check on their houses or apartments and their relatives, it was said on Friday morning. However, the Israeli military warned that it was forbidden to move from the south to the north of the coastal area.
The Israeli army had already warned before the ceasefire began that the war was not over. The northern Gaza Strip remains a “dangerous war zone” and it is forbidden to move back and forth there. Palestinians should remain in a “humanitarian zone” in the south of the coastal strip. However, it is still possible for civilians to move from the north to the south.
The fighting continued until shortly before the ceasefire began. There were rocket alarms in the Israeli border area with the Gaza Strip immediately before the start of the ceasefire and again shortly afterwards, as had been the case during previous ceasefires. The Israeli army had previously intensified its attacks in the Gaza Strip and will keep its soldiers stationed there during the break in fighting.
Increased aid deliveries to the Gaza Strip started
With the start of the ceasefire in the Gaza war, humanitarian aid deliveries to the Gaza Strip also began to expand. The UN emergency relief office OCHA reported in the evening that 137 trucks had been unloaded since Friday morning. The population was provided with food, water and medical supplies, it said. In addition, 129,000 liters of fuel and four truckloads of gas arrived. According to OCHA, it was the largest aid convoy since October 7, when the terrorist attack on Israel by the Islamist Palestinian organization Hamas sparked the conflict. The UN office also reported that 21 patients had been removed from the northern Gaza Strip in critical condition.
Egypt considers 200 trucks per day to be realistic, government sources said. Before the war, around 500 trucks carrying humanitarian goods drove into the area sealed off by Israel every day. Since mid-November there have only been up to a few dozen a day.
There are still hundreds of thousands of people in the north of the Gaza Strip
The spokesman initially left it open whether the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Middle East (UNRWA) would be able to supply the north of the Gaza Strip with relief supplies for the first time in weeks. OCHA is constantly negotiating with all parties to the conflict for unhindered access and security guarantees, he said. Hundreds of thousands of people are said to still be in the north of the Gaza Strip despite Israeli calls to evacuate the entire area.
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