New Delhi: Israel and Hamas have agreed to continue the fragile Gaza ceasefire after tensions erupted between the two sides following Hamas announcement to halt prisoners’ exchange for indefinite period over Israeli violations.
Hamas has now said it will release Israeli captives held hostage in Gaza in exchange of Palestinians prisoners scheduled on Saturday.
Hamas leaders visits Cairo over deal
The move by Hamas comes following its senior leader Khalil al-Hayya’s visit to Egyptian capital Cairo for talks with mediators, according to a repot in Israeli newspaper Times of Israel. Egypt, Qatar and the US are mediating the 3-phase ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel to release Israeli captive in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held for years in Israeli jails.
While announcing to halt the release of Israeli captives, Hamas had accused Israel of obstructing aid flow and continuing to shell Palestinians killing many of them during the ceasefire period.
Mediators’ promise to remove aid hurdles
Meanwhile, as the report suggest, Hamas has said that the Egypt and Qatar has promised to work to remove impediments in arrival of much needed aid into the devasted Gaza Strip. Israel has killed at least 45,000 Palestinians in Gaza and destroyed much of its infrastructure rendering it uninhabitable following shock October 7 attack by Hamas fighters that killed around 1200 Israelis, most of them soldiers.
Trump’s threats and tensions
Initial reports suggested that Israel had obstructed flow of mobile homes and heavy equipment including earthmovers to remove rubble.
Following Hamas threat to stop hostage release, US President had threatened that “all hell will break loose” if the Palestinian resistance did not release all the Israeli captives by Saturday noon. Trump’s threats had created further tension in the Middle East with mediators and others fearing the collapse of the ceasefire and chaos in the region.
Trump’s earlier idea of ethnically cleansing Gaza Strip and relocating Palestinians to other Arab countries, has already infuriated the Arab world with the head of the countries rejecting the idea as a non-starter.
