Israel Gaza live news: Israel receives third list of hostages to be released as fragile truce holds

Dave Bull/BBC Copyright: Dave Bull/BBC Freed Palestinian prisoner Mohammad dar-Darwish Image caption: Freed Palestinian prisoner Mohammad dar-Darwish

The first thing 17-year-old Mohammad dar-Darwish did yesterday was get his hair cut.

After seven months in an Israeli jail, reclaiming his own identity was important to him.

The Palestinian teenager was freed by Israel, along with 38 other women and minors, in return for Israeli hostages held by Hamas.

Dar-Darwish was convicted by a military court of throwing Molotov cocktails at Israeli soldiers in April. He denies doing it.

As he was moved from prison on the day of his release, he says Israeli prison guards initially told him he was being taken to court.

He said he was “dizzy with happiness” when he arrived back in the West Bank, and found his father and brother in the crowd waiting to greet the prisoners.

After the 7 October attacks, Mohammad told me, guards took the blankets, cooking equipment, radios and televisions of Palestinian prisoners.

“They only gave us one portion of food between seven or eight people – we were always hungry. They couldn’t get to Gaza, so they punished us.”

Until his release, the only information about the war in Gaza came from new arrivals at the prison, he said.

He described people arriving in custody with fresh injuries: broken teeth, a badly bruised hand, and a large cut to the head that was left to heal untreated.

Israel’s prison service says all its prisoners are detained according to the provisions of the law, and that they have the right to make a complaint if they wish.

I ask Mohammad what he thinks about the Israeli hostages who were taken by Hamas, and used to buy his freedom.

Does he have sympathy for them?

“They were living in heaven, as guests of Hamas,” he replied, “while we were in prison, living each day in hell”.

hadapurpura on November 25th, 2023 at 18:58 UTC »

Copying from another post:

Hamas are just like FARC here in Colombia: commit terrorist acts, demand more and more from the government, then make a mockery of any negotiations or agreements, then try to pin that on the government.

Also, it’s worth pointing out that Hamas broke the ceasefire 15 minutes in.

jean-claude_vandamme on November 25th, 2023 at 17:40 UTC »

i think everyone saw this coming. Not sure what Gaza end game here is but they’re not helping themselves against a much stronger opponent. Imagine this is over by next summer.

Brightfox42069 on November 25th, 2023 at 17:12 UTC »

Submission statement (quoting the BBC):

Hamas's military wing, the Qassam Brigades, has accused Israel of not following the terms of the agreement for hostage releases.

It says this is one of the reasons that it has delayed the release of Israeli hostages today. The other reason relates to aid trucks in north Gaza, it says.

A senior Hamas official has told the BBC that the delay to the handover of the hostages this evening is due to Israeli violations of the humanitarian truce agreement by preventing agreed-upon aid trucks from entering northern Gaza.

He said that Israel allowed only three trucks out of 100 to reach northern Gaza. He also said that Israel violated the ceasefire agreement by flying drones over southern Gaza.

The Hamas official, speaking to the BBC, also said that Israel made significant changes to the agreed list of Palestinian prisoners to be released.

He also claimed that the Israel Defense Forces killed two Palestinians in Beit Hanoun in Gaza, in an area where Palestinians are allowed to move.

Israel has denied it has violated the truce agreement.

Curious to hear everyone’s thoughts. A detailed response from Israel doesn’t yet appear to be available, but I will add to this submission statement once I see it.

Edit/Update:

The source below (an Israeli newspaper, Haaretz) states the following from Israel:

Israeli security sources stated their confusion over why Hamas is delaying the release of the captives tonight and mentioned that "Sinwar embarrasses himself in front of the international community."

They further added that the IDF are currently awaiting government directives on how to proceed should Hamas breach the agreement.

Source

From NBC:

Israel was set to hand over prisoners today in the city of Jericho in the occupied West Bank, [the Palestinian Prisoners’ Affairs Ministry Chairman, Qaddoura] Fares said, adding that the Palestinians “refused to do so.” He said that they did not know “where the second batch of prisoners will be released.”

Final Edit/Update:

Official spokesperson for Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dr Majed Al-Ansari, says the "obstacles were overcome" and several hostages will be released tonight, following an earlier delay.

He said: "After a delay in implementing the release of prisoners from both sides, the obstacles were overcome through Qatari-Egyptian communications with both sides.

"Tonight 39 Palestinian women and children will be released in exchange for the release of 13 Israeli hostages from Gaza."

He said this will be in addition to the release of a further seven civilians, which is separate to the temporary truce agreement deal.

It seems the deal is back on pending any further development. I will update if anything changes.