Four Israeli women must be released on Saturday during the next exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners, Hamas announced Tuesday, January 21, on the third day of a fragile ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. US President Donald Trump expressed doubts about the strength of the truce, whose entry into force on Sunday for six weeks marked the start of a still uncertain process aimed at putting an end to 15 months of war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement.
Information to remember:
⇒ Israeli army chief of staff resigns
⇒ Hamas prepares to release four Israeli hostages in Gaza
⇒ Donald Trump on respecting the truce: “I am not confident”
Israeli army chief of staff resigns
The chief of staff of the Israeli army, General Herzi Halevi, presented his resignation this Tuesday, explaining it by his “responsibility” in “the failure of October 7”, in reference to the attack unprecedented by Hamas in Israel on this day in 2023, according to his letter, sent by the army to AFP.
“Recognizing my responsibility for the failure of the army on October 7, and at a time when the army is recording significant successes on all fronts and a new hostage release agreement is underway, I ask end my duties on March 6, 2025”, declares Herzi Halevi, in this letter.
Herzi Halevi, 57, holding this position since December 2022, clarified that “for 40 years, (his) mission to protect the State of Israel has been the mission of (his) life”. But “on the morning of October 7, the army under my leadership failed in its mission to protect Israeli citizens,” he said. “My responsibility for this terrible failure accompanies me every day and will accompany me all my life,” added General Halevi.
Herzi Halevi joined the Israeli army in 1985 in a paratrooper unit before being promoted to the “Sayeret Matkal”, the army’s elite unit, of which he was the leader for years.
Hamas prepares to release four Israeli hostages in Gaza
After the release of three Israeli hostages and 90 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, Hamas must release four Israeli women held in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, during the second exchange provided for by the truce agreement, Taher al- announced to AFP Nanny, a senior leader of the movement. According to the Israeli army, “three or four kidnapped women” will be released each week.
Of 251 people kidnapped during Hamas’ bloody attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which sparked the war, 91 are still held hostage in Gaza, 34 of whom died according to the Israeli army. Details of this agreement have not been officially released. But these series of prisoner exchanges are supposed to take place at more or less regular intervals over six weeks, and concern a total of 33 Israeli hostages and around 1,900 Palestinian prisoners.
Donald Trump on respecting the truce: “I am not confident”
“It’s not our war, it’s theirs. But I’m not confident,” Donald Trump responded this Monday to a journalist who asked him if he thought the guns would fall silent for a long time in the gang. Gaza. Qatar, which led the negotiations with the United States and Egypt, said on the other hand it was “confident” on Tuesday that the agreement would be implemented. Donald Trump exerted intense pressure on Israel, an ally of the United States, to reach an agreement before his inauguration and also threatened Hamas with “hell” if the hostages were not released.
Trump lifts sanctions on Israeli settlers in the West Bank
Barely arriving at the White House on Monday, the Republican president revoked a decree from his predecessor, Joe Biden, which had made it possible to sanction Israeli settlers accused of violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. At the time, Joe Biden denounced the “intolerable” violence by Israeli settlers, a “serious threat to peace, security and stability” in the region according to him.
The Palestinian Authority denounced on Tuesday this lifting of sanctions against “extremist settlers”, saying that it would encourage the commission of more “crimes”. Faced with the rise in acts of violence committed by settlers armed, several Western countries (United States, European Union, United Kingdom and Canada in particular) took sanctions (asset freeze, travel ban) against several settlers described as “extremists”.
West Bank: Israeli military operation in Jenin, six dead according to Palestinians
The Israeli army announced on Tuesday that it had launched a military operation in the Palestinian autonomous zone of Jenin, in the West Bank, killing six Palestinians, according to the Palestinian Authority.
Security forces “launched today an extensive and large-scale military operation to eradicate terrorism in Jenin”, a stronghold of Palestinian armed groups, said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a statement published by his office. Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967.
An AFP journalist on site noted that Palestinian Authority security forces withdrew from positions they held around the camp as part of an operation launched in December to try to bring groups into line. locals engaged in armed struggle against Israel. According to him, the sounds of detonations and gunfire testified to violent fighting inside the camp.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967 and violence has exploded in this Palestinian territory since the start of the war between Israel and the Islamist movement Hamas in Gaza in October 2023.
No looting of humanitarian convoys in Gaza since truce, UN says
There has been no looting or attack on humanitarian convoys in the Gaza Strip since a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect on Sunday morning, the United Nations said on Tuesday.
“So far, in the first two days, there have been no reports of looting or attacks against humanitarian workers,” a UN Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) spokesperson said. Jens Laerke, during a regular press briefing in Geneva. “And I hope it continues like this,” he added.
In November, the UN denounced the “systematic” looting of aid during the intense war waged by Israel against the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas.