Israel, Hamas trade blame for delays in reaching Gaza ceasefire deal
Israel and Hamas exchanged accusations on Wednesday, each blaming the other for delays in reaching a Gaza ceasefire deal.
The humanitarian truce between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip has been extended for two more days, Qatar said on Monday. The four-day deal was about to expire today.
Hamas has also confirmed the extention of the deal and said that the truce will continue “under the same conditions reached before”.
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According to the current truce, in exchange for one hostage released by Hamas, Israel will free three Palestinian prisoners. So far, Israel has released 117 Palestinians detained in the country in exchange for 39 Israeli Hostages.
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A fourth exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners is likely to take place later today. Israel has notified family members of the hostages that will be released today.
Under the terms of the current deal, Hamas will release another 11 hostages while Israel will free another 33 detained Palestinians.
The decision to extend the truce came after intense international pressure on both Israel and Hamas.
Both the head of Nato, Jens Stoltenberg, and EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, had called for the temporary truce to be extended.
Earlier today, Hamas had offered to extend the deal and release more hostages. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had also said that he is open to the idea but also vowed to resume Israeli military operation in Gaza with full force once the truce is over.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military said that 200 trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered Gaza earlier today. It said that 42 of them carried shelter equipment.
“As part of this aid, some 3,600 tons of tents, blankets and mattresses have been transferred to Gaza ahead of the winter. Over 2,000 trucks have entered Gaza since the start of the war, transferring water, food and medical equipment,” the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said in a post on X.
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