Wed. Nov 6th, 2024

The Israeli Prison Service announced on Saturday that it had received an additional list of the names of 42 Palestinian male and female prisoners who will be released as part of the second batch of the hostage swap deal between Israel and Hamas.

The news comes as Hamas fighters are expected to release 14 Israeli hostages in exchange for 42 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel on Saturday, according to Israeli officials. It is the second day of the cease-fire after seven weeks of a war that has killed thousands of people.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, that he is determined to bring back all the hostages, whatever the circumstances.

“We just completed the return of the first of our hostages: children, their mothers, and additional women. Each of them is an entire world. But I emphasize to you, the families, and to you, citizens of Israel, we are committed to returning all the hostages. This is one of the aims of the war, and we are committed to achieving all the aims of the war.”

U.N. emergency relief coordinator, Martin Griffiths, expressed hope Friday that “this first day of the humanitarian pause is followed by many others and that it leads to a longer-term humanitarian cease-fire — for the benefit of the people of Gaza, Israel and beyond.”

The pause has allowed the U.N. to increase its humanitarian assistance into and across Gaza. On Friday, 200 trucks were sent from Nitzana to the Rafah crossing, and 137 trucks of goods were offloaded at the reception point in Gaza by the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East.

Four tanks of fuel and four tanks of cooking gas were transferred from Egypt to U.N. humanitarian aid organizations in the southern Gaza Strip via the Rafah crossing. The fuel and cooking gas are designated for operating essential humanitarian infrastructure in the Gaza Strip.”

Thousands of Gaza residents are leaving communal shelters and makeshift encampments to discover what has become of their homes.

For many of the 2.3 million people who live in the tiny Gaza Strip, the pause in the near-constant air and artillery strikes has offered a first chance to safely move around, take stock of the devastation and seek access to the humanitarian aid pouring into Gaza.

Over the course of the cessation in fighting, Hamas is to release at least 50 hostages, and Israel 150 Palestinian prisoners, as part of an agreement struck during talks involving Israel, Palestinian militant groups, Qatar, Egypt and the United States.

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