2023-11-28 04:11:00
58 Israeli hostages, in return for 177 Palestinians imprisoned in Israel, had been released by Monday. But then the exchange stalled: According to an insider, Israel and the radical Islamic Hamas expressed concerns regarding the list of abducted people and the Palestinian prisoners who were to be released in exchange later that day. Qatari mediators were working to address concerns, it said.
According to Haaretz newspaper, Palestinian sources report that one of the points of contention concerns six detainees who were arrested before the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7, but whom Israel does not have on its list. “Negotiations continue,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Monday. On Monday night they received a list with the names of eleven hostages who should be released. In previous releases, names were exchanged at least 12 hours before release.
For a longer cease fire
The ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, initially agreed for four days, ends this morning. On Monday there were increasing calls to extend it. It should be extended to make it “sustainable and long-lasting while working towards a political solution,” said EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said an extension would allow for “urgently needed assistance to the people of Gaza and the release of more hostages.” US President Joe Biden made similar statements.
On Sunday, Netanyahu signaled his willingness to extend the ceasefire. Accordingly, the agreement with Hamas provides for the possibility of extending the pause in fighting in return for the release of ten more hostages per day.
No abuse, little food
According to their relatives, Israeli hostages were not ill-treated during their captivity by the Islamist Hamas in the Gaza Strip. “It’s very comforting to know this,” said Osnat Meiri, a cousin of released hostage Keren Munder.
However, the conditions of the hostage detention were described by everyone as harsh. The Israeli newspaper “Yedioth Achronot” wrote that people prepared their own food. “But there were also days when there was nothing to eat, and sometimes those abducted had to wait an hour and a half before they were allowed to use the toilet,” the newspaper quoted Merav Raviv, a member of the Munder family, as saying. On some days there was only pita bread (flatbread), and if that was no longer available, the detainees would only receive a small portion of rice. There were no loungers or beds; people slept on benches or chairs pushed together. The people were not always kept in underground rooms during their almost seven weeks of captivity. “They were always moved to different places,” Raviv said.
Survived under the corpse
The fate of a four-year-old American girl in particular moves the hearts of many people. The little girl had to witness the murder of both her parents before she was abducted. On October 7th, the then three-year-old was at home on the border with the Gaza Strip with her two siblings, aged ten and six, when the Hamas terrorists invaded and shot the mother in front of the three children. When her father placed himself protectively over his daughter, he was also shot. Her siblings only survived because they hid in a box, where they waited for 14 hours before being rescued, it was said.
Her little sister, who was initially thought to be dead, had crawled out from under her father’s body and ran to the neighbors. The terrorists seized her there along with the five-member neighboring family and deported them to the Gaza Strip. Last Friday the little one turned four years old in captivity. She was released on Saturday.
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