Israel said a four-day truce and hostage release are not to start until today at the earliest, stalling a breakthrough deal with Hamas to pause the war.
Israeli national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said that the release of at least 50 Israeli and foreign hostages held by Hamas was still on track, but would not happen as expected yesterday.
“The contacts on the release of our hostages are advancing and continuing constantly,” he said in a statement.
Photo: AFP
“The start of the release will take place according to the original agreement between the sides, and not before Friday.”
A second Israeli official said that a temporary halt in fighting would also not begin yesterday.
The delay is a hammer blow to families desperate to see their loved ones return home and to 2 million-plus Gazans praying for an end to 47 days of war and deprivation.
The complex and carefully choreographed deal saw Israel and Hamas agree to a four-day truce, during which at least 50 hostages taken in the Oct. 7 attacks would be released.
For every 10 additional hostages released, there would be an extra day’s “pause” in fighting, an Israeli government document said.
Three Americans, including three-year-old Abigail Mor Idan, were among those earmarked for release.
In turn, Israel would release at least 150 Palestinian women and children and allow more humanitarian aid into the besieged coastal territory after weeks of bombardment and heavy fighting.
It was not immediately clear what caused the delay, which came after weeks of talks involving Israel, Palestinian militant groups, Qatar, Egypt and the US. Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Majed Al-Ansari said yesterday that accord’s implementation “continues and is going positively.”
“The truce agreement that was reached will be concluded in the coming hours,” he said.
The agreement has been approved by Hamas leaders and Israel — despite fierce opposition from some within Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government.
Israeli Minister for National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir described the deal as a “historic mistake” that would embolden Hamas and risk the lives of Israeli troops. About 240 hostages were taken by Hamas and other Palestinian gunmen during bloody raids into Israel on Oct. 7, with 1,200 people killed, mostly civilians, Israeli authorities said.
The attack prompted a blistering Israeli offensive into Hamas-run Gaza, which authorities there say has killed more than 14,000 people, thousands of them children.
Netanyahu has backed the truce, but vowed it would be temporary and that the campaign to destroy Hamas would continue.
“We are winning and will continue to fight until absolute victory,” he said on Wednesday, vowing to secure Israel from threats emanating from Gaza and Lebanon, home to Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants.
Tensions rose on Israel’s northern border early yesterday, after Hezbollah said five fighters, including the son of a senior lawmaker, had been killed.
Since the Israel-Hamas war began, the Israeli-Lebanese border has seen almost daily exchanges of fire, raising fears of a region-wide conflagration.
Israel’s army said on Wednesday evening it had struck a number of Hezbollah targets, including a “terrorist cell” and infrastructure.
In Washington, the White House said US President Joe Biden had spoken to Netanyahu on Wednesday and “emphasized the importance of maintaining calm along the Lebanese border as well as in the West Bank.”
The White House has pressed Israel not to escalate clashes with Hezbollah to avoid sparking a war that could drag in US and Iranian forces. Biden also spoke to the leaders of Qatar and Egypt, pushing for the truce to be “fully implemented” and to “ultimately secure the release of all hostages.”
In the Red Sea, US Central Command yesterday said the USS Thomas Hudner had “shot down multiple one-way attack drones launched from Houthi controlled areas in Yemen” — referencing another Iran-backed militia group.
Families on both sides grappled with a lack of clarity over how the releases would unfold.
“We don’t know who will get out because Hamas will release the names every evening of those who will get out the next day,” said Gilad Korngold, whose son and daughter-in-law are being held in Gaza along with their two children and other relatives.
Israel’s list of eligible Palestinian prisoners included 123 detainees under 18 and 33 women.
ANGER: A video shared online showed residents in a neighborhood confronting the national security minister, attempting to drag her toward floodwaters Argentina’s port city of Bahia Blanca has been “destroyed” after being pummeled by a year’s worth of rain in a matter of hours, killing 13 and driving hundreds from their homes, authorities said on Saturday. Two young girls — reportedly aged four and one — were missing after possibly being swept away by floodwaters in the wake of Friday’s storm. The deluge left hospital rooms underwater, turned neighborhoods into islands and cut electricity to swaths of the city. Argentine Minister of National Security Patricia Bullrich said Bahia Blanca was “destroyed.” The death toll rose to 13 on Saturday, up from 10 on Friday, authorities
Two daughters of an Argentine mountaineer who died on an icy peak 40 years ago have retrieved his backpack from the spot — finding camera film inside that allowed them a glimpse of some of his final experiences. Guillermo Vieiro was 44 when he died in 1985 — as did his climbing partner — while descending Argentina’s Tupungato lava dome, one of the highest peaks in the Americas. Last year, his backpack was spotted on a slope by mountaineer Gabriela Cavallaro, who examined it and contacted Vieiro’s daughters Guadalupe, 40, and Azul, 44. Last month, the three set out with four other guides
Local officials from Russia’s ruling party have caused controversy by presenting mothers of soldiers killed in Ukraine with gifts of meat grinders, an appliance widely used to describe Russia’s brutal tactics on the front line. The United Russia party in the northern Murmansk region posted photographs on social media showing officials smiling as they visited bereaved mothers with gifts of flowers and boxed meat grinders for International Women’s Day on Saturday, which is widely celebrated in Russia. The post included a message thanking the “dear moms” for their “strength of spirit and the love you put into bringing up your sons.” It
‘LIMITING MYSELF’: New Zealand’s foreign minister said that the omments by Phil Goff were ‘disappointing’ and made the diplomat’s position in the UK ‘untenable’ New Zealand’s most senior envoy to the UK has lost his job over remarks he made about US President Donald Trump at an event in London this week, New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters said yesterday. Phil Goff, who is New Zealand’s High Commissioner to the UK, made the comments at an event held by international affairs think tank Chatham House in London on Tuesday. Goff asked a question from the audience of the guest speaker, Finnish Minister of Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen, in which he said he had been re-reading a famous speech by former British prime minister Winston
RSS