Ceasefire in Gaza war continues
The ceasefire in the Gaza war continues - and could possibly be extended further. Israel and the Islamist Hamas agreed on Thursday, shortly before the deadline expired, to extend the ceasefire by one day until Friday morning. This should lead to the release of further hostages from the Gaza Strip. According to the military, the first two, two Israeli women, were handed over to the Red Cross in the afternoon. In return, Palestinian prisoners are to be released from Israeli prisons. Mediators Egypt and Qatar tried to extend the ceasefire once again.
According to Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his office has received a list with the names of other abducted women and children who are to be released. According to media reports, up to eight more hostages were to be released on Thursday. The handover of three bodies was also being negotiated.
According to the military, two hostages in the Gaza Strip were initially handed over to the Red Cross on Thursday. They were two Israeli women, the armed forces announced. They had arrived in Israel. "More Israeli hostages are to be handed over to the Red Cross in the next few hours," it added. It was initially unclear how many more hostages would be released in the evening.
The Egyptian State Information Service (SIS) announced that "there are ongoing Egyptian-Qatari contacts to extend the ceasefire for another two days". This would allow more prisoners and hostages to be released and more humanitarian aid to reach the Gaza Strip. During his visit to Israel, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also spoke with President Izchak Herzog about efforts to secure the release of the remaining hostages in the Gaza Strip and about humanitarian aid for the civilian population.
According to the "Times of Israel", Israel suspects that around 145 hostages are still in the Gaza Strip. However, only 15 of them are believed to be women and children. It was therefore questionable how long the previous procedure, in which women and children are released in return for an extension of the ceasefire, could be continued.
Palestinian assassins kill three people in Jerusalem
Meanwhile, two Palestinian assassins opened fire on people waiting at a bus stop in Jerusalem on Thursday. Three people were killed, said a spokesman for the Israeli rescue service Magen David Adom. Other people were injured, some of them seriously. According to police reports, the attackers were shot dead by soldiers and an armed civilian. The Islamist Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack. Israel's far-right police minister Itamar Ben-Gvir then called for an end to the ceasefire. "With one hand Hamas signs a ceasefire, and with the other it sends terrorists to murder Jews in Jerusalem," the minister wrote on the platform X, formerly Twitter. "We must end the deals with the devil and immediately return to the fight with great force in order to achieve the highest goal of the war: the complete destruction of Hamas (...)."
99 hostages released since the start of the ceasefire
Since the beginning of the ceasefire last Friday, 99 hostages abducted by Hamas in the Gaza Strip have been released. In return, Israel released 210 Palestinian prisoners from the prisons. Among the released hostages are 75 Israelis - including 14 with German citizenship - and 24 foreigners. "If Hamas does not release any more mothers and children, we will resume military pressure to get ALL of them out of the country - we will not leave our fathers, brothers and sons to the Hamas monsters," wrote Israeli government spokesman Eylon Levy on X on Thursday.
The Gaza war was triggered by the worst massacre in Israel's history, committed by terrorists from the Gaza Strip on October 7 in Israel near the border. More than 1200 people were killed. Around 240 hostages were taken to Gaza, including several Germans. Israel responded with massive air strikes and a blockade of the Gaza Strip. At the end of October, its armed forces began a ground offensive. According to Hamas, almost 15,000 people were killed and more than 36,000 injured. The figures cannot currently be independently verified.
Blinken calls on Israel to take action against violent settlers
US Secretary of State Blinken called on Israel to hold violent settlers in the West Bank accountable. In a meeting with Israeli President Herzog, Blinken made it clear that the "tensions in the West Bank" must be de-escalated, the US State Department announced. To this end, "Israel must take immediate steps to hold settler extremists accountable for violence against Palestinian civilians", it continued. In a meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu, Blinken emphasized that "it is imperative to address the humanitarian and civilian protection needs in the southern Gaza Strip before military operations are conducted there", according to the US State Department. He emphasized that the US remains "committed to taking concrete steps to promote a Palestinian state".
Baerbock: Building a bridge for political process from ceasefire
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock welcomed the extension of the ceasefire in the Gaza war as "enormously important" and called for a political solution to the conflict. "It is clear that we must build a bridge from the ceasefire to a political process," said the Green politician on Thursday on the sidelines of a conference of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in the North Macedonian capital Skopje. Israel can only live in security if the Palestinians live in security - "in the same way, Palestinians can only live in security if Israel is secure," said Baerbock.
Over 1000 trucks of aid have arrived in the Gaza Strip since the ceasefire
Since the start of the ceasefire in the Gaza war, over 1000 trucks carrying aid have arrived in the sealed-off coastal strip. The Palestinian Red Crescent announced on Thursday that 1132 trucks carrying aid had entered the Gaza Strip via the Rafah border crossing by Wednesday. It was not specified which goods were involved.
Despite the ongoing ceasefire, tensions remain high in the Middle East. The recent claim of responsibility for an assault in Jerusalem by Hamas, which left three people dead and several others injured, has sparked calls for a resumption of military action from Israel's far-right Minister of Police, Itamar Ben-Gvir. Meanwhile, efforts to release more hostages, including Palestinian women and children, continue, with Israel receiving a list of potential releasees from Hamas. To date, 99 hostages have been freed since the start of the ceasefire, and talks are ongoing to extend the ceasefire further, potentially allowing for the release of more prisoners and aid to reach the Gaza Strip.
Source: www.dpa.com
