A ceasefire for the moment still respected. Israel and Hamas are carrying out a new exchange of prisoners this Saturday, January 25, as part of the agreement signed between the Hebrew state and the Islamist movement almost a week ago. On Sunday January 19, three Israeli hostages were already able to return to her home after months of captivity.
Information to remember
⇒ The army recovered the four Israeli hostages released by Hamas
⇒ Israel orders UNRWA to leave Jerusalem
⇒ Humanitarian materials transported in large numbers to Gaza
11:15 a.m.
Israel to release longest-held Palestinian without interruption
This Saturday, Israel will release the Palestinian it has continuously detained for the longest time: Mohammed Tous, imprisoned for nearly four decades, according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club. Aged 69 and imprisoned since 1985, this member of Fatah, the movement founded by Yasser Arafat, historic leader of the Palestinians, is on the list of detainees to be released in exchange for the four Israeli hostages released on Saturday by Hamas and Islamic Jihad , this prisoner defense NGO told AFP.
11:10 a.m.
In Tel Aviv, tears and cries of joy for the release of the hostages
A crowd gathered in “Hostage Square” in Tel Aviv exploded with joy this Saturday after the release of four Israeli soldiers detained in Gaza, according to AFP journalists on site. Waving Israeli flags, cries, tears of joy, and even portraits of the young women taken hostage brandished in the middle of hundreds of people greeted the handover in Gaza City to the International Committee of the Red Cross of the four young women, who then arrived in Israel.
10:45 a.m.
Army recovers hostages released by Hamas
The four Israeli hostages released by Hamas were handed over to the army, the latter said in a statement. “They are currently being escorted by members of the special forces […] to Israeli territory, where they will undergo a first medical examination,” she said.
10:30 a.m.
Four Israeli hostages handed over to the ICRC
Four Israeli women, held in Gaza since the terrorist attack of October 7, 2023 on Hebrew soil, were released this Saturday. They are Daniella Gilboa, Karina Ariev, Liri Albag and Naama Levy, who had been imprisoned for 477 days by Hamas. At the time of their kidnapping, these women, aged 19 to 20, were carrying out their military service and were assigned to surveillance of the Gaza Strip. At the time of their release, they were first exhibited on a podium set up for the occasion by Hamas, then handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Dozens of fighters from the Islamist movement and hundreds of residents attended the operation.
However, the number of Palestinian detainees released by Israel has not been officially communicated. According to Palestinian sources cited by AFP, there should be 200 of them. The Israeli prison services specified that some would be brought back to the Gaza Strip, others to the occupied West Bank. This exchange operation is part of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, the first phase of which should last six weeks, and allow the release of 33 Israeli hostages in exchange for around 1,900 Palestinian prisoners.
9:00 a.m.
Israel orders UNRWA to leave Jerusalem
If the ceasefire has been generally respected in recent days by both parties, a certain number of tensions are a reminder of the fragility of this agreement. In Jerusalem, Israel has also asked the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) to leave the city by January 30. “In accordance with applicable Israeli law […]”, UNRWA must cease its operations in Jerusalem and evacuate all buildings it uses in the city, no later than January 30,” Israeli Ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, justified in a letter addressed to the secretary general of the international body.
A law was actually passed this fall in the Israeli Parliament to force the agency to cease its activities on Israeli territory and in the city, where UNRWA has schools and health centers. Friday evening, the head of the UN structure, Philippe Lazzarini, deplored the Israeli decision on unspeakable suffering.
8:30 a.m.
Humanitarian materials sent in large numbers to Gaza
Another UN agency, the World Health Organization (WHO), continues to accelerate humanitarian aid provided to Gazans in the landlocked Palestinian territory. Fuel, medicines and medical equipment are distributed in particular, thanks to the opening to humanitarian trucks to the Gaza Strip. According to WHO Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, this configuration makes it possible to provide “50,000 patients with maternity care, treatment for trauma, malnutrition and non-communicable diseases, and to improve infection prevention in health establishments.
However, “conditions in Gaza remain difficult and operations are complex” to deliver all of these deliveries, notes the official. The truce also made it possible to provide 70,000 liters of fuel to the region in a few days – enough to supply “the 20 partially functional health centers and hospitals and ambulances in the Gaza Strip”, according to Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.