Israel and Hamas complete second day of swaps
AL BIREH, West Bank (AP) — Hamas on Saturday released 17 hostages, including 13 Israelis, from captivity in the Gaza Strip, while Israel freed 39 Palestinians in the latest stage of a four-day cease-fire .
The late-night exchange was held up for several hours after Hamas accused Israel of violating the agreement. The delay underscored the fragility of the cease-fire, which has halted a war that has shocked and shaken Israel, caused widespread destruction across the Gaza Strip, and threatened to unleash wider fighting across the region.
The war erupted on Oct. 7, when Hamas in Gaza burst across the border into southern Israel, that left at least 1,200 people dead and abducting some 240 others, including, women, children and older people. Israel immediately declared war, carrying out weeks of airstrikes and bombings that have killed over 13,300 Palestinians dead. Roughly two-thirds of those killed in Gaza have been women and children.
The cease-fire is the first extended break in fighting since the war began. Overall, Hamas is to release at least 50 Israelis, and Israel 150 Palestinian hostages. All are women and children.
Israel has said the truce can be extended by an extra day for every additional 10 hostages freed, but has vowed to quickly resume its bombings and complete its goals of returning all hostages and destroying Hamas’ military and governing capabilities.
The start of the pause brought quiet for 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza, who are reeling from relentless Israeli bombardment that has killed thousands, driven three-quarters of the population from their homes and leveled residential areas . Rocket fire from Gaza militants into Israel also went silent.
War-weary Palestinians in northern Gaza, where bombings have been targeted, returned to the streets, crunching over rubble between shattered buildings and at times digging through it with bare hands.
At the Indonesian hospital in Jabaliya, besieged by the Israeli military earlier this month, bodies lay in the courtyard and outside the main gate.
For Emad Abu Hajer, a resident of the Jabaliya refugee camp in the Gaza City area, the pause meant he could again search through the remains of his home, which was flattened in an Israeli attack last week.
He found the bodies of a cousin and nephew, bringing the death toll in the attack to 19. His sister and two other relatives are still missing.
“We want to find them and bury them in dignity,” he said.
The United Nations said the pause enabled it to scale up the delivery of food , water, and medicine to the largest volume since the resumption of aid convoys on Oct. 21. It was also able to deliver 129,000 liters (about 35,000 gallons) of fuel — just over 10% of the daily pre-war volume — as well as cooking gas, a first since the war began.
The last-minute delay created a tense standoff on the second day of what’s meant to be a four-day cease-fire . By nightfall, when hostages had been expected to emerge from Gaza, Hamas alleged that aid deliveries permitted by Israel fell short of what was promised and that not enough was reaching hard-hit northern Gaza. Hamas also said not enough longtime hostages were freed in the first swap on Friday.
Some of the Palestinians were released in east Jerusalem, while the bulk returned home to a hero’s welcome in the occupied West Bank.
In Jerusalem, Israeli troops evicted journalists who gathered outside the home of Israa Jaabis, who had been imprisoned since 2015 after being convicted of carrying out a bombing attack that wounded an Israeli police officer, and left Jaabis with severe burns on her face and hands.
Jaabis later told reporters at her home that she is “ashamed to be happy at a time when Palestine is injured.”
According to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, an advocacy group, Israel is holding 7,200 Palestinians, including about 2,000 arrested since the start of the war.
A 16-year-old Palestinian boy was also killed by Israeli fire near the city of Ramallah. The Israeli army, which frequently conducts military raids aimed at local militant groups, did not immediately comment.
