Above photo: Displaced Palestinians walk along a road in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, as they return to their homes after the start of the truce on November 24, 2023. Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters.
The political leader of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, highlighted the efforts of several Arab countries, as well as Russia and China, behind the truce in Gaza Strip.
“We reaffirm the importance of the efforts of Arab and Islamic countries, as well as friendly states like Russia and China, to help our people fulfill their aspirations for freedom, return, and independence,” Haniyeh said on Friday, November 24, in a short video posted on social media.
The Hamas leader also thanked Egypt and Qatar for their mediation efforts in the truce agreement, underlining the Palestinian movement’s willingness to work with Cairo and Doha to “achieve a full cessation of aggression against Gaza.”
On November 24, at 7 a.m. Palestine time (5 a.m. GMT), the four-day humanitarian truce in Gaza came into effect after weeks of genocidal attacks by the Israeli occupation.
The truce agreement, reached with the mediation of Qatar and Egypt, stipulates the release of 50 Israeli women and children hostages in exchange for 150 Palestinian women and children prisoners from Israeli prisons. The truce also entails the entry of humanitarian aid, medical supplies, and fuel into the Gaza Strip.
However, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant said that, after “a brief pause,” the occupation entity’s indiscriminate bombing of Gaza will continue for at least two more months.
The internationally condemned Israeli genocidal response against Gaza, unleashed after the surprise attack that Hamas launched on October 7, has to date claimed the lives of 14,854 Palestinians, 6,150 of them children, and wounded over 36,000. In addition, at least 7,000 people, including 4,700 women and children, remain missing, buried under the rubble of their homes destroyed in airstrikes. The war also caused some 1,200 deaths and nearly 5,500 injuries in Israel.
Prisoner exchange begins
The first exchange of hostages and prisoners between Hamas and Israel took place on Friday afternoon, reported RT. The Palestinian Resistance freed 13 Israeli hostages, 10 Thai nationals and one Filipino, while the Israeli occupation freed 39 Palestinian prisoners, all of them women and children, as reported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Qatar.
Israel noted that the freed hostages are in Israeli territory and have already “undergone initial medical evaluations.” “They will continue to be accompanied by IDF soldiers on their way to Israeli hospitals, where they will be reunited with their families,” a statement announced.
The Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that the Thai hostages have already arrived in Israel through the Rafah border post and “will be transferred to the Shamir medical center,” where “they will remain under medical supervision for a period of 48 hours, without access to outsiders.”
Hamas stated on Thursday that “for every Zionist prisoner, three Palestinian prisoners, including women and children, will be released.” The releases will be carried out gradually over the course of the four days of ceasefire, with Israel promising one more day of ceasefire for the release of 10 additional hostages.