The dirt streets of the Jenin refugee camp, in the West Bank, many of them destroyed by the passage of military bulldozers, showed last night the effects of the incursions by Israeli troops since the Gaza war began on October 7 after the Hamas terrorist attack. The last incursion occurred during the night of Saturday and the early hours of yesterday: the soldiers killed seven people, including two minors. Residents in the camp explain that only one of the deceased was a combatant, a member of the Jenin Brigades.
The war in Gaza is on pause, but in the West Bank, the low-intensity war continues. Since October 7, nearly two hundred Palestinians have died in these occupied territories, a large number of them in Jenin, in direct actions by the army, in armed clashes or assassinated by Israeli settlers.
In the Gaza Strip, which was visited yesterday by the Israeli Prime Minister, Beniamin Netanyahu, the truce today enters its fourth and final day, although everything indicates that it could be extended for another four days. This is how official sources from Qatar, Egypt and the US spoke off the record, before Hamas issued a brief statement via Telegram in which it stated that it is “trying to extend the truce once the four-day period has ended, seriously trying “increase the number of released detainees, as established in the humanitarian truce agreement.”
In the absence of the last agreed hostage exchange being fulfilled today, yesterday, the third day of the ceasefire took place as planned and without the suspense of Saturday, including the entry into the strip of another 200 trucks with humanitarian aid.
In exchange for Israel releasing 39 more Palestinian prisoners in the West Bank, another 17 kidnapped people were freed with the usual procedure: fighters from the al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, handed over the kidnapped people to an undetermined location in the West Bank. to Red Cross personnel, who took them to the Rafah pass, where they boarded a bus that took them through Egypt to Israeli territory, entering through the Kerem Shalom pass and flying by helicopter to hospitals near Tel Aviv to meet. with their families.
Of the 17 released yesterday, 14 are Israeli and three are Thai. Among the Israelis, nine are minors, including the four-year-old girl, Avigail Idan, whose parents were killed during the terrorist attack. The first kidnapped Israeli adult male was also freed – the agreement included only women and minors –, Roni Krivoi, who also has Russian nationality. In a statement, Hamas stated that he was freed in “response to the efforts of Russian President Vladimir Putin” and to thank him for his stance in the war.
Another of the freed hostages is Elma Avraham, an 84-year-old woman who was immediately transferred by helicopter to an Israeli hospital due to her delicate health condition.
In this way, Hamas had released 58 hostages until yesterday, 40 of Israeli nationality, 17 Thais and one Filipino, so it is estimated that the Islamist organization – together with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) – would still hold 182 people captive. . If the agreement with Israel, which established the release of 50 Israeli citizens in exchange for releasing 150 Palestinian prisoners, is strictly complied with today, Hamas would only have to release ten kidnapped people.
Although the number of people who would be released today was not yet known last night, the number could be higher than ten, taking into account Hamas’s gestures with the Russian citizen and the Thai workers and the Filipino, who did not appear in the agreement. with Israel, but Thailand negotiated directly with Hamas. It is estimated that Hamas and the PIJ kidnapped 25 non-Israeli day laborers, leaving seven still in captivity.
However, the most unexpected image yesterday was that of Netanyahu visiting Israeli troops in Gaza. The premier went by surprise to an undisclosed location in the strip, where he visited some of the tunnels used by Hamas. His press office released a video showing Netanyahu greeting soldiers, dressed in a bulletproof vest and military helmet.
“We will continue until the end, until victory. Nothing will stop us and we are convinced that we have the power, strength, will and determination to achieve the objectives of the war,” said the right-wing leader in Gaza. “We have three objectives in this war: eliminate Hamas, return all our kidnapped people and ensure that Gaza does not become a threat to Israel again,” added Netanyahu, who was a military man before he was a politician.
