A British citizen whose father is being held hostage by Hamas said: “We are holding our breath” as the first prisoners were released as a four-day ceasefire between Israel and Hamas began at 7am on Friday.
For now, the temporary ceasefire appears to be holding, with 12 Thai hostages reported to have been released shortly after 16:00 local time (1400 GMT), with 13 female hostages expected to follow soon after. children.
Before publication, the Israeli Air Force released images of dolls, colorful carpets and personal care kits lined up in areas where a helicopter would pick them up.
Sharon Lifshitz, 52, from London, said: I She was hoping for “signs of life” from her 83-year-old father, Oded, who was captured along with his mother on October 7. Her mother was one of four people freed by Hamas after the massacre in southern Israel.
A total of 50 women and children under the age of 19 are expected to be returned from Israeli prisons within four days in exchange for 150 Palestinians.
The 50 include three U.S. citizens, including a girl who will turn 4 on Friday, a U.S. official said.
Sky News reports that the British are not expected to be released on Friday.
The Red Cross will reportedly hand over the abductees to the Israelis before an initial medical examination is carried out at the Rafah border crossing.
If any of the released hostages require urgent medical attention, they will be flown to Soroka Hospital in Beersheba. Otherwise, they will be flown by helicopter to one of the five hospitals responsible for their treatment, where they will be treated in an isolated complex.
Ms Lifshitz, an artist with a British husband and son, said that while the family was eagerly awaiting the hostages’ release, there would be “no end” to the ordeal until all of the more than 200 kidnapped hostages were freed.
“This is not the end, not everyone will be released.”
Describing the sensitivity of the moment, she said: “We have to be very strong, stick together and remain as calm as possible in the most dire of circumstances.”
She continued: “It’s about dealing with it like an adult, staying calm and letting it play out.” . Forward.”
In exchange, 39 Palestinian prisoners will be released today from Israeli prisons as part of a ceasefire, a Palestinian official said.
The group will include 24 women and 15 teenagers from the Israeli-occupied West Bank or Jerusalem, Commissioner for Palestinian Prisoners Affairs Kadura Fares told Reuters.
According to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Association, Israel currently holds 7,200 prisoners, including 88 women and 250 children aged 17 or younger.
Israel has compiled a list of 300 Palestinian prisoners who could be released. Most of them came from the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem and were detained for incidents such as attempted knife attacks, throwing stones at Israeli soldiers, making explosives, damaging property and contacting enemy organizations. Many were held under administrative arrest without trial.
A World Health Organization spokesman said on Friday it was working to evacuate hospitals in northern Gaza as quickly as possible after the ceasefire began, raising fears for the safety of those still remaining at al-Shifa hospital.
Al-Shifa, the largest hospital in the besieged enclave, was stormed by Israeli forces last week, claiming it was located there as the “beating heart” of Hamas’ military operations. Hamas has denied the accusations.
“We are extremely concerned for the safety of the approximately 100 patients and health workers remaining in Al Shifa,” WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier said.
On Friday, Israeli soldiers were photographed leaving the Gaza Strip with smiles and arms raised, while an air raid siren sounded in Israel at 7:15 a.m. local time, warning of a possible incoming rocket from the Gaza Strip targeting villages, Reuters reported. near the Gaza Strip.
Mohammed Ghalayni, a British-Palestinian who chose to remain in the Gaza Strip even though most of his family fled the country, was involved in Israel’s heaviest bombing campaign since the conflict with the Palestinians began decades ago, he said. I realizing the ceasefire was a bittersweet moment.
The 44-year-old former British official described how “wonderful” it was to “just wake up on a beautiful sunny morning… to hear the birds singing without the background of drones, bombing, machine gun fire or rockets” and to “go outside and make it clear that there was no risk of attack.” .
But at the same time, Mr. Galaini said that “all the souls for whom it is too late mourn.”
He said he spent the first day of the ceasefire visiting friends.
“I just saw scenes of destruction in every city I passed through… I saw new graves that weren’t marked, they just had stones on them, concrete blocks to mark a headstone, some had sticks on them… it was terrible, consequences .”
An hour after the ceasefire began, trucks carrying humanitarian aid were seen entering the Gaza Strip through the Rafah border crossing. According to Hamas, 200 aid trucks will deliver “humanitarian aid and medical supplies” to “all areas of the Gaza Strip” over the next four days.
Meanwhile, 10 ambulances, coordinated and controlled by the United Nations, began their journey to Al Ahly Baptist Hospital in Gaza City to help evacuate patients, the Palestinian Red Crescent said.
The ceasefire, which was due to take effect on Thursday morning but was delayed by Israel, is the first pause in seven weeks of fighting that has wreaked havoc in the Palestinian enclave.
The Israeli offensive has killed between 13,000 and 14,000 people, including thousands of children, according to Palestinian officials.
At least 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed and more than 240 taken hostage in Hamas attacks on October 7.
Qatar’s chief ceasefire negotiator, Foreign Minister Mohammed al-Khulayfi, said there would be “no attacks” as part of the agreement.
He said Qatar hoped it would be “the starting signal for a broader agreement and a permanent ceasefire.”
But on Thursday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said during a visit to the naval base: “This will be a short delay, at the end of which the fighting will continue fiercely and we will seek to recover more hostages.” At least two more months of fighting are expected.”
Source: I News
I am Michael Melvin, an experienced news writer with a passion for uncovering stories and bringing them to the public. I have been working in the news industry for over five years now, and my work has been published on multiple websites. As an author at 24 News Reporters, I cover world section of current events stories that are both informative and captivating to read.