Families of captives anxiously awaited another day for their return and more than two million people in Gaza looked for a respite in fighting as a temporary truce was delayed until at least Friday.
The deal, brokered by the United States along with Qatar and Egypt, included a four-day pause in fighting, release of 50 hostages taken by Hamas and of 150 Palestinians in Israeli prisons. Both sides agreed to release women and children. Israel had also agreed to extend the pause in fighting for one day for every 10 additional hostages Hamas released.
Officials originally said the deal would begin Thursday but announced the delay hours before the highly anticipated reprieve more than one month into the captivity of an estimated 240 hostages and heavy bombardments on the besieged Gaza Strip. Authorities did not say why the truce was postponed.
Israel authorities said 1,200 people have been killed, mostly in the Oct. 7 incursion by Hamas. More than 11,000 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip since then, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health. As of Nov. 11, the ministry said it had lost the ability to count the dead because of the collapse of large parts of the health system but said the toll has risen sharply since then. Some 2,700 people are missing and believed to be buried under rubble.
Since Oct. 7, Israeli forces killed 201 Palestinians in the West Bank, including 52 children, which is more than in any entire year since 2005, the Human Rights Watch said, citing United Nations data. Palestinians have killed 24 Israeli civilians and four security force members so far this year as of Nov. 16, the highest number in more than 15 years.
Developments:
∎ At least 53 journalists and media workers have been killed in the war, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Others have faced harassment, detainment, communication blackouts and other obstructions to reporting, the group said.
∎ The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East said this was the largest displacement of Palestinians since 1948.
Who are the hostages and prisoners awaiting release?
Three Americans were among the hostages set for release including 3-year-old Avigail Idan, whose parents were killed during the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, and two women, according to a senior Biden administration official.
Only four hostages, including two Americans, have been released so far. Israeli forces said they rescued a fifth hostage, a female soldier.
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the deal also included a provision for the International Committee of the Red Cross to visit the hostages in captivity.
One of the earliest proposals was put forward on Oct. 12, five days after the Hamas attack, and it called for releasing all women and children held by Hamas and other Palestinian militants in Gaza, in return for freeing all Palestinian women in Israeli prisons, according to Egyptian officials. The Israelis rejected that initial proposal, but it “opened the door for more talks,” one of the officials said.
Israel’s Justice Ministry published a list of 300 Palestinians eligible for release from prison, mainly teenagers arrested over the past year for relatively minor offenses such as throwing rocks.
The youngest detainee on the list is 14, and it also includes around 40 women. The detainees are to be released to their homes in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza.
Addameer, a Palestinian prisoner rights group, said there are 7,000 “political prisoners” in Israel. There are 2,070 “administrative detainees,” which are people held indefinitely without charges. At least 200 of the people in prison are children and 62 are women, according to the organization.
Contributing: Associated Press
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