“The soldiers are coming!” A phrase of warning that is repeated these days very often in Jenin, where Israeli troops have already killed several dozen Palestinians since the Gaza war began, in different incursions. The soldiers usually come to the intricate streets of the refugee camp in search of fighters from some armed faction. The rain that fell in Jenin yesterday turned many streets in the countryside into mud, swept away by the latest army operations.
No one is seen with weapons or uniforms, but there are many Hamas posters on the walls and green or black flags of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIL), despite the fact that now the main armed group here is the Jenin Brigades, which it is a kind of league of members of various factions.
A UN car drives through a square that is now just a pile of mud piled in the center, crowned by a large poster of a fighter turned shahid, a martyr. Near the square, there is a vindictive graffiti in colors in which the Palestinian flag stands out and a building with a facade full of high-powered shots.
The United Nations, through the Palestine Refugee Agency (UNRWA), manages this camp, which is home to 20,000 people and was established after the 1948 war. Workers paid by UNRWA were working yesterday to fix the wreckage of the latest Israeli incursion, on Saturday, which left seven dead.
Meanwhile, UNRWA continued yesterday to distribute tons of humanitarian aid to Gaza, at the rate of 200 trucks per day, according to the truce agreement between Israel and Hamas that was supposed to end yesterday, but which was decided to be extended for another 48 hours. The good news was confirmed by Hamas, after Qatar, Egypt and the US leaked during the day that there were negotiations in this regard. “With the mediation of our brothers from Qatar and Egypt, we have reached an agreement to extend the ceasefire for two more days, with the same conditions as the current truce,” Hamas said in a statement.
In this way, the exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners would also take place today and tomorrow, in the same proportion as in the last four days: one Israeli kidnapped for every three released. In principle, 20 hostages and 60 prisoners would be released between the two days. The ceasefire would then reach six days, but both the mediators and the US, as well as the EU and other countries, are pressing for it to be extended longer. Last Tuesday’s agreement between Israel and Hamas included the possibility of extending the truce beyond the four days agreed upon.
Although delayed, due to differences between the parties over the identities of the hostages, yesterday the initial pact culminated when Hamas released eleven Israeli hostages: eight minors, an 18-year-old girl and two women month. All eleven have dual nationality: six Argentine, three French and two German. For its part, Israel released 33 prisoners in the West Bank: 30 teenagers and three women.
Since Friday, Hamas has released in these four days the agreed 50 Israeli hostages – all minors or women – while the Israeli Government released 150 Palestinian prisoners without blood crimes. In addition, 19 other people left captivity: 17 Thais and a Filipino – after a discreet negotiation by the Government of Thailand – and a citizen with dual nationality, Russian and Israeli, thanks to a gesture by Hamas towards the Russian president, Vladimir Putin In total, 69 hostages, mostly minors, who had been kidnapped during the October 7 terrorist attack in the border towns with the Gaza Strip. Although it is not known with certainty the number of abductees still in the hands of Hamas and the GIP, it is estimated that they would still hold 171 people captive.