Israel-Gaza: More prisoner and hostage exchanges expected - BBC News
BBC News- 767 views
- 25 Nov 2023
Israeli authorities have said a second group of hostages are due to be freed by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian prisoners on ...
Hello.
I'm Lucy gray, and we start with the war in Gaza and the pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas, which came into effect on Friday morning, appears to be holding. That's allowed the first exchange of hostages and prisoners. Hamas released 24 people on Friday, and Israel released 39 Palestinians. More exchanges are expected in the coming days, with Hamas agreeing to release a total of 50 hostages and Israel 150 detainees. That should happen over the next three days during that negotiated pause in the fighting. There's also scope for that pause to be extended if the two sides can agree a further exchange of prisoners and hostages. However, Israel has not withdrawn its military from Gaza and has made it clear it intends to continue its operation against Hamas. Meanwhile, more aid is being allowed into Gaza. Around 150 trucks carrying medical supplies, fuel, and food entered on Friday from Egypt via the Rafeh crossing. And turning to the released Israeli hospital messages, they were first taken through Rafer from Gaza, into Egypt by road before being flown by a helicopter to Israel for medical checks. A hospital staff gave this update on their condition.
About half an hour ago, I was thrilled to be the one to receive four children, three mothers and a grandmother, to the best and most caring hands here at Schneider Children's Medical Center of Israel. Their physical condition is good and they're currently undergoing medical and emotional assessment.
Well, let's take a moment to look at what we know about these hostages, all of whom were captured during the Hamas attack on Israel on October the seventh. Qatar, which has been mediating between Israel and Hamas, says that the group of 24 is made up of 13 Israelis, 10 Thais, and one Filipino. Among the Israelis, there is one 84a five-year-old woman and four children aged two, four, six, and nine. That nine-year-old is Ohad Munder. His grandmother and mother were also released, but his grandfather remains in Gaza. Here's how one of Ohad's relatives greeted the news.
The only one who got to speak with them by now is Ohad's father, who is Karen's partner, Avi. He spoke to them. He said that they're fine, they're healthy. We feel very worried for the other families. We feel like we're one big family with all the other families of the hostages. We're waiting for all of them to come back and we're still going to work hard for everyone to come back. I'm waiting to see Ohad, and I can't wait to give him his rubik cube, which I know he really loved, and he probably missed it so much. And that's the first thing he takes everywhere he goes.
Well, let's look now at the Palestinians who were released. A total of 39 people, made up of 24 women and 15 teenage boys were released to Palestinian officials in the West Bank, not Gaza. The majority of them were being held in pretrial detention. Their freedom was greeted with celebrations among Palestinian communities. These pictures were filmed late on Friday evening. You can see the crowds waving the red, black, and white flag of Palestine, and also a large number of green flags of Hamas. And this is Sarah Al-Sawisa, one of the Palestinian women who was released from Israeli detention. Here's what she had to say to reporters after being freed.
The.
Israelis came at 10:00 in the morning and told us that there was a deal. We were suffering from difficult circumstances, and tear gas was fired at us. We were wearing head covers all the time. The situation was humiliating and included psychological torture, in addition to cutting off the electricity for the prisoners. We were suffering from the cold without the electricity, and no one helped us. Only Hamas cared. Those who felt are suffering, I thank them very much, and we love them very much.
Well, meanwhile, in Gaza, residents experienced the first day for almost seven weeks with no Israeli military action. Around 150 trucks carrying aid entered Gaza through the Rafa crossing, and they're understood to have delivered humanitarian aid, including food, medical supplies, and some fuel. The Israeli military has shown a video of its soldiers inspecting the vehicles before they're allowed to continue. Many more vehicles are queuing on the Egyptian side of the border, waiting for permission to cross into Gaza. We can show you some live pictures now of the Geyser skyline. As you can see, it is calm, more than 24 hours now since that truce started, and actually seven weeks today since that attack, the October the seventh attack inside Israel. So that's the scene there, live now at the border. We can also have a look at the crossing. This is the Rafa crossing where the trucks have been lining up to go through today. There were, as we said, around 150 trucks got in yesterday. We were talking to UNICEF a little earlier on inside that are saying that some of those trucks were going to go through to the north today. They're hoping to get 50 trucks through to the north of Gaza today.
Let's go to BBC Arabic's Cairo correspondent Abdul Basir Hassan. Hello to you. Have any trucks passed through across the border this morning? I don't know. I don't know. Is it happening yet?
Well, we have seen footage or live footage from the crossing in the Egyptian side that the trucks are already passing since early this morning to the inspection area or inspection zone between the Egyptian and the Israeli portal, south of the crossing in Rafeh. It's like a journey of a distance of 100 kilometers or 60 miles as per Egyptian estimates. It could take hours before these tracks come again to Rafeh again, then cross into Georgia from the Palestinian gate. This in the morning, in the morning as well, we have seen or watched ambulances coming from a gas strip into Egyptian site. We've learned that about 17 wounded Palestinians have already crossed from the Palestinian side to the Egyptian hospitals in Ereish or somewhere else in the country. This is as far as the are wounded and the tracks are already in the movement there. We have also got information that more fuel tracks have already passed today. Estimates are bought into seven, including three or four cooking gas for the second day. Yesterday there were seven fuel tracks, including, for the first time, fuel cooking gas for the first time. And today we have learned that more cooking gas entered the Gaza from the Egyptian side.
We have learned from our sources at the crossing that the crossing as well is getting prepared to the possible coming of more hostages like yesterday from the Gaza Strip. You knowyesterday, there were a stopover by those coming from the Strip into Israel. They stopped in a checkpoint in at Rafeh, where they got medical check before they continue their journey to the Israeli, Egyptian border at Nitsana or Kerm Shalom or Al-Uja, as they call in Egypt, before they go to the Israeli territories. However, we have learned from the Palestinian side that... Sorry. Today as well, we have learned from the crossing sources that there are expectations of the biggest shipment of trucks today. The estimates are both about 350 to cross to the inspection zone today as well, which could be a large number, especially after the Palestinian side, that their capacity can handle only 100, 150 per day. Therefore they have asked for another corridor to be added to Rafeh crossing in order to facilitate the movement of shipment which is badly needed in the strip. Meanwhile, there were calls for not just a pose or a truth from several parties, including humanitarian organizations inside the Gaza.
They have also asked for a possible or the need for a cease-fire because there are enormous needs for Palestinians there, especially they need everything. They need everything nowadays, and whatever is going to the strip is just a drop in the ocean, as they call it.