5th prisoner exchange complete with talks ongoing to extend truce another 4 days

Talks are ongoing to extend the truce in the Gaza Strip beyond its due expiration time on Wednesday night after a fifth group of prisoners were exchanged between the Palestinian factions and the Occupation on Tuesday evening.

Hostilities sparked briefly in northern Gaza on Tuesday, with both sides exchanging accusations that the other had violated the terms of the truce agreement. 

And in the West Bank, Occupation forces stormed the city of Jenin on Tuesday night. 

Fifth stage of prisoner exchange

The Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, announced on Tuesday that its shadow unit had handed over a fifth group of Israeli captives to the International Committee of the Red Cross in Gaza, in addition to two prisoners of other nationalities who were delivered outside the terms of the Hamas-Israel deal.

In turn, another 30 Palestinian nationals were released from Occupation prisons on Tuesday night after the Commission for Detainees’ Affairs published the names of those approved for release.

Since the deal entered into force on Friday, 50 Israeli prisoners and 25 people of other nationalities have been released from Gaza, while 180 Palestinian prisoners have been released from the Occupation’s prisons.

Negotiations to extend the truce

To discuss the extension of the truce in the Gaza Strip, Egyptian, Qatari, Israeli and United States officials met in Doha on Tuesday.

US, Israeli and Egyptian intelligence chiefs attended the Doha talks with Qatar’s prime minister, reports said.

A US official reportedly said in the talks that Washington would like to see the humanitarian pause extend for as long as possible, chiming with a statement from US President Joe Biden on Wednesday morning that suggests a halt to hostilities because, “to continue down the path of terror, violence, killing and war is to give Hamas what they seek.” US State Secretary Antony Blinken, bound for Israel on Wednesday, is also set to pursue another extension to the truce, the State Department has said.

Hamas has reportedly signaled to mediators that it wants another four-day extension to the truce.

Under the terms originally laid out, such an extension would require that Hamas release 10 more of the prisoners it took on October 7 for each day that the truce continues. 

Israel said on Tuesday that Hamas still had over 150 prisoners, though the Qatari Foreign Ministry has announced that it cannot attest to the number of hostages still held by Hamas. 

Civilians have been the first to be released by Hamas, Qatari Foreign Ministry Majed al-Ansari said on Monday, adding that the military detainees would come at a later stage.

As in earlier negotiations, Hamas would generally request more in exchange for the release of Israeli military figures.

Truce disturbed by clashes in northern Gaza

Clashes broke out on Tuesday between the resistance forces in Gaza and Occupation military forces, said Qassam Brigades spokesperson Abu Obaida on Tuesday.

The clashes did not disrupt the fifth exchange of prisoners later in the evening, however.

Abu Obaida said the clashes took place due to “a violation of the truce agreement in the northern Gaza Strip by the enemy.”

Reports said that Israeli tanks fired at the outskirts of the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood and the Shati refugee camp northwest of Gaza City.

The Israeli occupation military announced that it was conducting military exercises in the area on Tuesday morning to maintain the “vigilance and competency of the troops.” It clarified that, as a result, people will experience “ heightened activity by the security forces in the area.”

The resistance allegedly detonated three explosive devices in two separate sites in the northern part of Gaza and aimed gunfire toward the Occupation forces leading to minor injuries, said Daniel Hagari, an Israeli Occupation Forces spokesperson.

The Occupation has violated multiple of the truce terms since its beginning on Friday. A young man was killed on Friday at a checkpoint at the Shohada junction on Salah Eddin Road, which connects the northern and southern regions of the strip, as he was attempting to return from the south to the north. The Qassam Brigades also delayed the exchange of prisoners on Saturday night, noting that the Palestinian prisoners released from Occupation prisoners had not been selected in order of seniority, as was initially agreed, and that the delivery of aid supplies to the northern part of the strip was obstructed.

Occupying forces also killed a farmer and injured another on Sunday as they were working to harvest land in the southern part of the strip.

Health facilities struggle to meet needs with Israel blocking supplies

Even in the lull to hostilities, the casualties from Israel’s relentless seven-week offensive on the Gaza Strip continues to rise, while the threat of disease continues to rise with resources still scarce due to Israeli restrictions, said Gaza’s government and international aid organizations on Tuesday.

Conditions are still particularly severe in northern Gaza, where the Occupation’s offensive was concentrated. 800,000 people are still resident in the northern part of the strip, poorly served by still-scarce aid deliveries, said Gaza’s Government Media Office on Wednesday.

The north’s hospitals are still almost entirely incapacitated by the Israeli invasion, said Health Ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qidra.

Medics were able to resume operations at the kidney dialysis unit at the Shifa Medical Complex — Gaza’s largest health facility — on Monday, to meet patients’ urgent needs in the northern strip, Qidra said.

Qidra urgently called for more medical aid to be delivered to the north, however. The Gaza Health Ministry’s warehouses had very low stocks of medications even before the onset of Israel’s onslaught, a source working in the ministry’s warehouses told Mada Masr, pointing to chronic limits on funding.

Occupation forces have also detained and continue to hold Shifa’s head, Mohamed Abu Salmiya, as well as a number of the hospital’s medical staff, following the forced evacuation of the medical complex.

After a three-day siege on Shifa Hospital, occupation forces forcibly entered the medical complex on November 15 and detained a number of Shifa’s medical staff. Thousands of medical staff, patients and displaced people who were taking shelter inside the hospital were forcibly evacuated from the complex grounds.

While the truce was meant to facilitate the delivery of aid and fuel to Gaza’s north, Israel is still blocking fuel from leaving the south, said Health Ministry director general Munir al-Borsh, pointing to the Israeli forces stationed on Salah Eddin road, while the Palestinian Red Crescent Society also announced that Israeli occupation forces prevented the passage of the fuel truck that was scheduled to cross into the northern strip yesterday.

The World Health Organization also underlined on Tuesday that if medical supplies and aid are not delivered to Gaza soon, more people will die of infectious diseases than bombardment. “[There are] no medicines, no vaccination activities, no access to safe water and hygiene, and no food. We saw a very high number of cases of diarrhea among infants,” said WHO official Margaret Harris.

15,000 people in total have been killed by the Israeli occupation’s aggression on Gaza, the government media office said on Tuesday.

With a few patients still being allowed into Egypt, Turkey and the UAE for treatment outside the strip,  French military ship, Dixmude, arrived at Arish port on Monday with 20 French doctors on board, hosting five pediatric care beds and two operating rooms on board. Nine injured Palestinians boarded the ship for treatment on Tuesday, North Sinai Governor Major General Mohamed Abdel Fadil Shousha said.