War between Israel and Hamas: a truce officially comes into force in the Gaza Strip

This is the first sign of respite after several weeks of war. The truce between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip came into effect this Friday morning. This should be followed by the release of 13 hostages in the afternoon. The “humanitarian pause,” originally scheduled to take effect on Thursday, was delayed until 7 a.m. Friday local time (5 a.m. GMT) on the 49th day of the war between Hamas and Israel. The first release of the hostages (13 women and children) is expected around 16:00 (1400 GMT).

At dawn, when the airstrikes died down, tens of thousands of them gathered their belongings, some boxes, some plastic bags containing personal belongings, to return with their families to their villages. But as the cars, donkey carts and tuk-tuks set off, leaflets in Arabic launched from the air by the Israeli army in the southern Gaza Strip warned: “The war is not over. »

Alarm sirens on the Gaza border

“Returning to the north is prohibited and very dangerous,” the leaflets further emphasize, as the Israeli army views the northern third of the Gaza Strip as a war zone and has ordered all civilians to leave. About fifteen minutes after the truce took effect, anti-missile alarm sirens sounded in several villages on the outskirts of the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army said, without further details.

Hamas confirmed a “complete cessation of hostilities” for four days, during which 50 hostages would be released in exchange for the release of each of “three Palestinian prisoners.” An Egyptian security source said an Egyptian security delegation would be present in Jerusalem and Ramallah to ensure the “list” of released Palestinian prisoners is “complied with.”

Releases “secretly, away from the press”

Israeli security officials, accompanied by Red Cross officials and Egyptian agents, will be sent to the “Egyptian hall” at the Rafah border crossing to receive the hostages released from the Gaza Strip, who will then fly from Al-Arish airport to Israel, the source said. A Hamas source told AFP that the release of the hostages in Rafah would be carried out “in secret, away from the press.”

Israeli authorities must receive a list of hostages who will be released the following day the evening before each release. Israel has published a list of 300 Palestinians eligible for release, including 33 women and 267 youths under the age of 19. Among these detainees, 49 are Hamas members. “We have set the condition that (…) Palestinian women and child prisoners” be released “in order of seniority” in custody, said Bassem Naim, a senior Hamas leader.

According to Qatar, the truce will still allow for “a larger number of humanitarian aid and relief convoys, including fuel” than now. But this is still “not enough” to deliver needed aid to Gaza, international NGOs have stressed, calling for a real ceasefire.