BY EXTENDING THE CEASEFIRE, ISRAEL IS FALLING INTO A HAMAS-QATAR TRAP

Truce between Israel and Hamas is extended for two days: Relief in Gaza as deal is struck just a few hours before four-day peace expired - with additional hostages now due to be freed

Qatar and Hamas officials said the ceasefire had been extended a further two days

 

By Chris Jewers, David Averre and Perkin Amalaraj 

 

Daily Mail

Nov 27, 2023 

Israel and Hamas have agreed to extend their ceasefire deal by two days, Qatar, the US and Hamas have said - just hours before the initial agreement was due to end and suggesting that more hostages will be released from Gaza this week.

The terms of the truce agreement pausing the fighting in the Gaza Strip say it can be extended beyond its initial four-day term as long as 10 hostages are released for each extra day, with three times as many Palestinians freed in return.

Qatar's Foreign Ministry said the truce had been extended by two more days, suggesting Hamas intends to released another 20 hostages on top of the 50 hostages that were set to be released over the first four days.

A White House official and Hamas also confirmed the deal had been struck. The Hamas official said the conditions were the same as the previous four-day ceasefire, which was scheduled to end at 7am (5am GMT) on Tuesday.

The deal is understood to have gone down to a wire and seemed on the verge of unravelling. Hamas had accused Israel of failing to keep its side of the bargain and Israel was threatening to resume its lethal onslaught on the Gaza Strip.

But mediators were able to pull it back from the brink, a feat that involved the first ever public visit by Qatari officials to Israel, according to AP.

 

Israel and Hamas have agreed to extend their ceasefire deal by two days, Qatar has said, suggesting that more hostages will be released

Pictured: An Israeli tank stands in a position, while Palestinians fleeing north Gaza move southward during a temporary truce between Israel and Hamas, near Gaza City November 27

 

'The State of Qatar announces that, as part of the ongoing mediation, an agreement has been reached to extend the humanitarian truce for an additional two days in the Gaza Strip,' Qatari foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari said on X. 

A Hamas official said in a phone call with Reuters: 'An agreement has been reached with the brothers in Qatar and Egypt to extend the temporary humanitarian truce by two more days, with the same conditions as in the previous truce.'

Earlier, the Israeli government had said it had put Hamas 'on notice' that an 'option for an extension' of the truce in the Gaza Strip was open.

'We want to receive another additional 50 hostages beyond tonight on our way to bringing everyone home,' government spokesman Eylon Levy told reporters.

Hamas had earlier signalled its willingness to extend the truce, with a source telling AFP news agency on Sunday that the group had informed mediators they were open to prolonging it by 'two to four days'.

'The resistance believes it is possible to ensure the release of 20 to 40 Israeli prisoners' in that time, the source close to the movement said.

But Israeli media this afternoon reported Hamas had amended the hostage list ahead of today's exchange, cutting down the number of people it would set free. 

The government was said to be 'not happy' with the list of hostages due to be released because it is made up of children and elderly women - suggesting yet more families are to be split up because children will not be released with their parents.

The negotiations are being mediated by Qatar and Egypt, with an Egyptian security source claiming there had been disagreement on the mechanism of the extension, with Hamas seeking a four-day addition and Israel seeking a day-by-day extension.

'The mediators are making intensive efforts to secure this extension of the truce and ceasefire for several days,' the source said. 

It appears the two sides have met in the middle, agreeing a two-day extension.

Over the course of the initial truce a total 50 civilian hostages, women and children, were expected to be freed by Hamas.

In exchange, 150 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel were to be released and humanitarian aid allowed into Gaza.

During its first three days, 39 Israeli hostages were freed by the terrorist group in exchange for 117 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

As a result of parallel negotiations led by the Gulf state, 17 Thais, one Filipino and one dual Russian-Israeli national have also been released by the Palestinian group. 

In total, Hamas terrorists dragged about 240 captives from southern Israel into Gaza an unprecedented October 7 attack that Israeli officials say killed around 1,200 people, most of them civilians. In response, Israel has vowed to eliminate Hamas and unleashed an aerial bombing campaign and ground invasion of Gaza that the Hamas government says has killed nearly 15,000 people, also mostly civilians.

 

Oria Brodutch jumps onto the arms of his father, Avihai Brodutch, shortly after they were reunited in Israel on November 26

Palestinians fleeing north Gaza move southward as ambulances head towards north Gaza during a temporary truce between Israel and Hamas, near Gaza City, November 27

 

Sunday's exchange of prisoners - the third under the largely successful four-day truce - gave way to wild scenes of utter jubilation on both sides.

Captured Israeli children were scooped up in the arms of their overjoyed family members, while Palestinian men freed from Israeli jails kissed their mothers and celebrated wildly in street parades.

International mediators led by the US, Egypt and Qatar worked to extend the ceasefire that began Friday to allow for the exchange of more hostages as war weary Gazans seek more reprieve from Israeli bombs. As Monday wore on, global pressure was mounting on both parties to agree to the extension.

US President Joe Biden said the pause should continue to allow humanitarian relief into Gaza and more Israeli hostages to return home to their families.

Senior European Union and NATO officials added their voices to his call. 

NATO's secretary general Jens Stoltenberg also weighed in, ahead of a meeting of allied foreign ministers in Brussels.

'I call for an extension of the pause. This would allow for much needed relief to the people of Gaza and the release of more hostages,' he told journalists.

European Union's top diplomat Josep Borrell said the extension of the current truce in Gaza is within reach, and that it would allow international community to work on a political solution to the conflict.

He said that the Palestinian Authority needs to regain control of Gaza from Hamas, offering a 'better and viable' alternative to it.

But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was resolute in his intentions to crush Hamas, declaring his forces would resume its offensive 'with all of our might' once the truce expires, which it is now set to do Thursday, unless another deal is struck.

 

Israel's military operates in the Gaza Strip during a temporary truce between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in this handout picture released on November 27, 2023

The Israeli military has ordered Palestinians not to return to the north or approach within a kilometre (around a half-mile) of the border fence as they continue military operations

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) meets soldiers at undisclosed location in the Gaza Strip on November 26. Netanyahu told soldiers Israel's efforts would continue 'until victory'

A Palestinian prisoner hugs his mother after being released from an Israeli jail in exchange for Israeli hostages released by Hamas from the Gaza Strip, in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank on November 26, 2023

Palestinian prisoner Khalil Zama' (C) gestures after being released from an Israeli jail in exchange for Israeli hostages released by Hamas from the Gaza Strip

 

Ahead of the latest hostage release, Netanyahu donned body armour and visited the Gaza Strip, where he spoke with troops.

'At the end of the day we will return every one,' he said of the hostages, adding that 'we are continuing until the end, until victory. Nothing will stop us.' It was not clear where he went inside Gaza.

The Israeli Prime Minister had previously told Biden he would be willing to extend the truce with Hamas an extra day for every 10 hostages that are released.

But after the Qatari-brokered deal was agreed last week, Netanyahu said the goals to 'eliminate Hamas and get the hostages back' would continue unhindered irrespective of when the truce finally comes to a close. 

It comes as Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, who led the effort to broker the ceasefire, told the Financial Times that an extension of the deal hinges on Hamas' ability to locate more hostages, whom he said were being held by 'civilians and gangs'.

'If they get additional women and children, there will be an extension,' Sheikh Mohammed said. 'We don't yet have any clear information how many they can find because . . . one of the purposes [of the pause] is they [Hamas] will have time to search for the rest of the missing people.'

Most hostages freed Sunday were handed over directly to Israel, waving to a cheering crowd as they arrived at an air force base. Others left through Egypt.

Israel's army said one was airlifted to a hospital, and the director of Soroka Medical Center said Elma Avraham, 84, was in life-threatening condition as 'a result of an extended period of time when an elderly woman was not taken care of as needed.'

The youngest hostage released was Abigail Edan, a 4-year-old girl and dual Israeli-American citizen whose parents were killed in the Hamas attack that started the war on Oct. 7.

'What she endured was unthinkable,' Biden said of the first American freed under the truce. He did not know her condition and did not provide updates on other American hostages.

In all, nine children ages 17 and younger were on the list, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office. Three more Thai nationals were released.

Separately, Hamas said it released a Russian hostage 'in response to the efforts of Russian President Vladimir Putin.'

The three Thai nationals were undergoing health checks at a medical centre in Israel, bringing the total number of Thai hostages released to 17, Thailand's Foreign Ministry said. 

Fifty-eight hostages have now been released by Hamas. One was freed by Israeli forces and two were found dead inside Gaza. 

The freed hostages have mostly stayed out of the public eye. Hospitals said their physical condition has largely been good, but little is publicly known about the conditions of their captivity. 

Meanwhile, the Palestinian prisoners released by Tel-Aviv were children and young men aged 15-19, most of whom had been arrested on charges of public disorder, property damage and in some cases causing or threatening physical harm to Israeli officers by throwing stones and Molotov cocktails. 

Many Palestinians view prisoners held by Israel, including those implicated in attacks, as heroes resisting occupation.

 

Palestinian prisoner Khalil Zama' (L) hugs a relative after being released from an Israeli jail

Palestinians prisoners cheer among supporters after being released from Israeli jails in exchange for hostages released by Hamas from the Gaza Strip, in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank early on November 26, 2023

 

The ongoing ceasefire is the first significant pause in seven weeks of war, marked by the deadliest Israeli-Palestinian violence in decades. 

More than 13,300 Palestinians have been killed, roughly two-thirds of them women and minors, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants. 

The war has claimed the lives of more than 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians killed in the initial attack.

The pause has given some respite to Gaza's 2.3 million people, still reeling from relentless Israeli bombardment that has driven three-quarters of the population from their homes and levelled residential areas. 

Rocket fire from Gaza's militants into Israel also went silent.

War-weary Palestinians in northern Gaza, where the offensive has been focused, made their way through entire city blocks gutted by airstrikes to flee, but many have been turned back by Israeli troops while trying to return to check their homes.

'They open fire on anyone approaching from the south,' said Rami Hazarein, who fled Gaza City.

A Gaza doctor has accused the IDF of using white phosphorus against Gazan civilians. 

Dr. Ghassan Abu Sitta, a British-Palestinian doctor, who said he worked at Al Shifa Hospital in the centre of Gaza, today told reporters at a press conference held at the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians in London: 

'As time went, we saw the introduction of incendiary bombs where the patients would have over 40% of their total body surface are burned, with no other injuries.

'There were over 100 of these patients at [Al Shifa Hospital], and we started seeing phosphorus burns.

'I had treated white phosphorus burns in the Gaza Strip during the 2009 war, and was very familiar with the very characteristic injuries and burns that they make.'

Abu Sitta accused the IDF of deliberately targetting civilians, claiming that he and his medical team saw 'more and more... fragmentary missiles.'

'And for the first time since I was in Gaza, we started to see patients with high-velocity sniper injuries.' 

The Israeli military has ordered Palestinians not to return to the north or approach within roughly half a mile of the border fence as they continue military operations. 

The United Nations says the truce made it possible to scale up the delivery of food, water and medicine to the largest volume since the start of the war, but it calls the 160 to 200 trucks a day 'hardly enough.'

It was able to deliver fuel for the first time since the war began and to reach areas in the north for the first time in a month. 

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said 50 Egyptian aid trucks crossed through Israeli checkpoints to reach Gaza City and northern areas Sunday.

 

A Palestinian man gathers belongings amidst debris in Gaza City on November 26, 2023, on the third day of a truce between Israel and Hamas

 

Friday's ceasefire came into effect shortly after the death of Ahmed al-Ghandour, a Hamas official who was in charge of northern Gaza and a member of its top military council. 

He is the highest-ranking militant known to have been killed in the fighting. 

Both Hamas and Israel's military confirmed the death.

Al-Ghandour had survived at least three Israeli attempts on his life and was involved in a cross-border attack in 2006 in which Palestinian terrorists captured an Israeli soldier, according to the Counter Extremism Project, an advocacy group based in Washington.

Hamas said he was killed along with three other senior militants, including Ayman Siam, who Israel says was in charge of Hamas´ rocket-firing unit. 

The Israeli military mentioned both men earlier this month, saying it had targeted an underground complex where Hamas leaders were hiding.