Hamas says 25 out of 33 Israeli captives to be released are alive: Report
Hamas has handed over a list of 25 Israeli captives who are still alive among the 33 scheduled for release to mediators.
An unnamed Hamas official told Reuters that Israel received the list from the mediators of the Gaza ceasefire agreement. Israel has long demanded to know the fate of captives still held in the enclave.
The ceasefire’s initial phase will last six weeks, with Israeli captives being exchanged for Palestinian prisoners every Saturday. Israel will also withdraw its forces from Gaza’s population centres to areas no more than 700 metres (765 yards) inside Gaza’s demarcation with Israel.
Captive families pressure Netanyahu for ceasefire deal to hold
The latest hold-up in the deal was all centred around one Israeli, Arbel Yehud, who has been held captive by Islamic Jihad. The group hasn’t been involved in these negotiations, and it considered her a soldier from the beginning.
Yehud’s relatives say it’s an incredibly complex and worrying time, and they’re just waiting for her to be freed. She will now be released with an Israeli soldier and another unnamed person.
Of course, the family members of those being held captive have been waiting in Tel Aviv for 15 months. They’ve been protesting weekly, trying desperately to pressure Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition to strike this deal.
They did stop protesting for a couple of weeks but small demonstrations have been ongoing, blocking some streets in Tel Aviv since Saturday evening. They want to see the first phase of the truce continue and more captives released in the second and third phases.
Gaza contingency plan impossible if Israeli ban implemented: UNRWA
We have some more comments from our interview with Sam Rose, UNRWA’s director of planning.
Asked about Israel’s ban on UNRWA, which is due to come into force at the end of January, Rose said the UN agency was preparing for this “with massive trepidation”.
“Not for UNRWA but for the relief effort as a whole here, on which so much depends right now,” he told Al Jazeera from Khan Younis in southern Gaza. “Not just for the people who are suffering but for the overall ceasefire effort.”
Rose said for now, UNRWA is able to continue operations in Gaza – but it remains to be seen for how long that would be the case.
“We have thousands upon thousands of staff who continue to be able to work in Gaza – doctors, medics, health workers, sanitation labourers … but if the bill is implemented in full, we will not be able to bring our supplies in.”
Rose went on to say that it is not possible to replicate an aid effort as large as UNRWA’s in Gaza.
“We are two-thirds of the primary healthcare; we are 60 percent of the emergency shelter response right now, alongside all the food aid and other things that we bring in,” he explained.
“It simply isn’t possible to put a contingency plan like that in place – there aren’t the resources around, the capacity, there isn’t the time, and there aren’t the organisations that are mandated to do this.”
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