Calm reigned on the second day of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas as the families of some freed from Hamas captivity shared photos and videos of the exciting encounters. Last night, under the Qatar-brokered agreement, the Islamists released 13 Israelis, 10 Thais and one Filipino, and at the same time 39 Palestinians, men under 18, returned to the West Bank from Israeli prisons.
And in the quiet of a Saturday during a lull in the war, there was, as on the previous day, the expectation that four o’clock in the afternoon would come, the time agreed upon for the second exchange. To the delay in the Middle East, which was more or less understood by everyone, there was added another hour of waiting, the journalists of the various television channels endured the broadcast with images of the freed people from the previous day and the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt was waiting for the vehicles with the hostages until Hamas announced that the release of the second group of hostages had been delayed “due to Israel’s failure to comply with the terms of the agreement.”
Osama Hamdan, a senior Hamas commander in Lebanon, told Al-Mayadeen, a Hezbollah-affiliated media outlet, that efforts were being made to “resolve the problems” of the delay, adding: “There were violations yesterday, and they repeat today.” However, it is not clear how much influence the Hamas leadership has abroad, as it appears that decisions have been made by the leadership inside the Gaza Strip since the start of the war.
In the evening, Hamas finally announced that, thanks to Qatar’s mediation, it had handed over eight children, five women and seven kidnapped foreigners to the Red Cross. Israel has not yet confirmed the release of this group of 20 hostages.
In a highly unusual development, a small Qatari private plane carrying a delegation of Gulf state officials landed at Tel Aviv’s Ben-Gurion Airport on Saturday. Qatar does not have diplomatic relations with Israel, so its flight arrived from Larnaca, Cyprus, where the country had reportedly made a brief stopover to avoid a direct flight from Doha to Tel Aviv. However, mediation with Hamas is key to the current hostage release agreement.
Israeli media reported that the delegation landed to discuss the current agreement as well as possible future extensions or other agreements. But Israeli authorities did not comment on the visit.
It is known that the head of Israel’s foreign intelligence agency Mossad, David Barnea, had flown to Qatar days earlier to negotiate the current agreement in which Hamas and Israel agreed to release about 50 Israeli hostages during a four-day break in the fighting came into force on Friday in exchange for the release of around 150 Palestinian prisoners over the course of four days.
Israeli analysts say that in reaching the present agreement, Qatar has perfected a careful negotiating balance, a diplomatic game that allows it to maintain good relations with Western powers while maintaining ties with radical groups and also with countries that are not close to its peers Allies are allies.
“This is what we can do that no one else can do, and that is that we use all our capabilities,” Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari told AFP last week. “We have led the entire country towards this agreement. If it doesn’t work, all hell will break loose.”
Although Egypt has traditionally acted as the main mediator between Israel and Palestinian groups in recent years, and Turkey has also repeatedly expressed its willingness and ability to mediate, this time Qatar has given the parties guarantees that it will be able to resolve the hostage crisis, Ansari explained his country’s ambassadors had met with the families of the hostages around the world.
Thousands of people took part in a demonstration on Saturday evening to commemorate 50 days since the October 7 massacre and abduction of around 240 people in the Gaza Strip at “Hostage Square” in front of the Tel Aviv Art Museum. Some of the families or people close to those abducted have settled there until their relatives return.
From Egypt, Diaa Rashwan, head of the state information service, issued a statement saying her country was holding talks with all parties to reach an agreement on extending the four-day break, which would mean “the release of more prisoners.” Gaza and Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons,” he added.
Meanwhile, in Gaza, the Unit of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT, the Israeli military organization that coordinates with the Palestinians) reported that the 200 trucks agreed in the agreement entered the Strip from Gaza with the approval of the Cabinet Contains food, water , accommodation equipment and medical supplies.
