First hostages released from Gaza Strip – including four Germans
Published: Friday, Nov 24th 2023, 20:40
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It is already dark when several Red Cross off-road vehicles pass through the Rafah border crossing: Almost seven weeks after the Hamas terror attacks on Israel and the start of the Gaza war, the first hostages were released on Friday as a result of an agreement. They include four Germans, as Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) confirmed in the evening.
A group of 24 people abducted from Israel were able to leave the Gaza Strip, according to a spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Geneva. Israel later confirmed the arrival of the hostages on its territory. The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu published a list of the names of the 13 Israelis released on Friday evening. According to the Foreign Office, they included 4 dual nationals who also have a German passport - a 34-year-old woman and her two daughters, aged two and four, and a 77-year-old woman. They had been abducted from the kibbutz Nir Oz.
Ten kidnapped Thais and one Filipino citizen were also released.
Among those released alive was a 76-year-old Israeli woman who had been declared dead a few days ago by the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization.
"I am immensely relieved that 24 hostages have just been released from Gaza, including four Germans, that a father, after 49 days of hell and unbelievable fear, can finally hold his two little daughters and his wife safely in his arms again," said Baerbock on the fringes of the Green Party conference in Karlsruhe. The federal government was "enormously grateful" to all those who had contributed to this. Baerbock personally thanked her Qatari counterpart, the International Committee of the Red Cross and Egypt.
In return, Israel released 39 Palestinian prisoners serving sentences that evening. According to the Palestinian Prisoners' Commission, 24 of them are women and 15 are youths. The oldest was 19 years old. The prisoners were to be released near their homes in the West Bank or East Jerusalem. Only hours earlier, a ceasefire had come into force, which also marked the start of the expansion of humanitarian aid deliveries to the Gaza Strip.
The ceasefire negotiated by Israel and Hamas is to last at least four days. According to the agreement, a total of 50 hostages are to be released during this time. An extension of the ceasefire for up to ten days is possible, as announced by the Gulf Emirate of Qatar, which is mediating in the conflict. The agreement reached between the two parties to the conflict provides for the exchange of up to 100 hostages from Israel for up to 300 Palestinian prisoners. Iran had mediated between Hamas and Thailand in the release of Thai hostages.
The latest Gaza war was triggered by the worst massacre in Israel's history, committed by terrorists from the Gaza Strip on October 7 in Israel near the border. More than 1200 people were killed. Around 240 hostages were taken to Gaza, including several Germans.
Israel responded with massive air strikes, a blockade of the Gaza Strip and launched a ground offensive at the end of October. According to Islamist Hamas, almost 15,000 people were killed in the process. More than 36,000 were injured. The figures cannot currently be independently verified.
Children in particular could be severely traumatized after being held hostage
According to the army, the Israeli hostages released by Hamas - who are said to be women and children - were initially to be housed in protected rooms in Israel. After an initial medical examination and treatment, they were to be taken to hospitals where they could also meet their families. Those released were to be taken by helicopter to various clinics.
The Israeli military called on the public and the media to be patient and sensitive. "We ask everyone to respect the privacy of the released hostages and their families." Psychologists believe that the children in particular could be severely traumatized after seven weeks of being held hostage. They also witnessed the worst violence on October 7.
Hundreds of Palestinians want to enter northern Gaza after ceasefire
According to eyewitness reports, hundreds of Palestinian internally displaced persons set off to return to their homes after the ceasefire came into force in the morning. The people wanted to check on their houses or apartments and their relatives in the city of Gaza and other parts of the northern Gaza Strip, it was reported on Friday morning. However, the Israeli military warned that it was forbidden to move from the south to the north of the coastal area.
The Israeli army had already warned before the ceasefire began that the war was not over. The northern Gaza Strip was still a "dangerous war zone" and it was forbidden to move back and forth there. Palestinians should remain in a "humanitarian zone" in the south of the coastal strip. However, it was still possible for civilians to move from the north to the south.
The fighting had continued until shortly before the ceasefire began. In the Israeli border area with the Gaza Strip, there were rocket alarms immediately before the ceasefire began and again shortly afterwards, as had been the case during previous ceasefires. The Israeli army had previously intensified its attacks in the Gaza Strip and will keep its soldiers stationed there during the ceasefire.
Increased aid deliveries for the Gaza Strip started
With the start of the ceasefire in the Gaza war, the expansion of humanitarian aid deliveries to the Gaza Strip has also begun. Since Friday morning, 137 trucks have been unloaded, reported the UN emergency aid office OCHA in the evening. The population has been supplied with food, water and medical supplies, it said. In addition, 129,000 liters of fuel and four truckloads of gas had arrived. According to OCHA, this was the largest aid convoy since 7 October, when the terrorist attack on Israel by the Islamist Palestinian organization Hamas triggered the conflict. The UN office also reported that 21 patients in critical condition had been transported from the northern Gaza Strip.
Egypt considers 200 trucks per day to be realistic, according to government circles. Before the war, around 500 trucks carrying humanitarian goods entered the area sealed off by Israel every day. Since mid-November, there have only been up to a few dozen a day.
Hundreds of thousands of people still in the north of the Gaza Strip
Whether the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) will be able to deliver aid to the north of the Gaza Strip for the first time in weeks was initially left open by the spokesperson. OCHA is constantly negotiating with all parties to the conflict about unhindered access and security guarantees, he said. Hundreds of thousands of people are said to still be living in the north of the Gaza Strip despite Israeli calls to evacuate the entire area.
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