By day 49 of the Israeli offensive on Gaza, the occupation forces had killed 20,031, as reported by Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor.
Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi thanked Qatar’s Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on Sunday for leading successful mediation efforts, resulting in a truce for Gaza and facilitating the exchange of Palestinian prisoners and Israeli hostages between Hamas and Israel.
“I look forward to more cooperation that can help meet the aspirations of the Palestinian people and to establish comprehensive peace in the region,” El Sisi said on X.
The ceasefire brokered by Qatar, Egypt, and the United States between Hamas and Israel marked its third day on Sunday, with a new batch of prisoners released as outlined in the agreement.
The deal involves the release of 50 hostages, including women and children, held by Hamas in Gaza in exchange for more than 150 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons.
As part of the four-day truce agreement, the first two waves of releases took place on Friday and Saturday, with Hamas releasing 26 Israeli captives and Israel releasing a total of 78 Palestinian prisoners from its jails.
The third batch involved the release of 13 Israelis held in Gaza and 39 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, in addition to a dual Russian-Israeli citizen and three Thai captives.
The exchange on the second day was delayed after Hamas accused Israel of violating the truce agreement, which had brought the first significant pause in Israel’s relentless onslaught on the besieged Gaza Strip.
The ceasefire intends to halt violence for four days and facilitate humanitarian aid for the 2.3 million Palestinians in the besieged enclave.
The pause has given people in Gaza, still reeling from relentless Israeli bombardment that has driven three-quarters of the population from their homes, a few days of respite.
The agreement also provides room for possible extensions and further releases beyond the initial four days.
Diaa Rashwan, the head of Egypt’s State Information Service (SIS), said on Saturday that Egypt was engaged in ongoing communications with all involved parties to explore the potential extension of the truce for an additional one or two days.
He emphasized that this extension would translate to “the release of more detainees in Gaza and Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails,” as reported by Reuters.
War-weary Palestinians in northern Gaza, where Israel has focused its military campaign, returned to the streets to survey the damage.
Entire city blocks in and around Gaza City were gutted by Israel’s carpet bombing, which hollowed out buildings and left piles of rubble in every corner.
The United Nations said the truce has made it possible to deliver much-needed aid – including food, water, and medicine to the largest number of people in Gaza since the war began.
It was also able to deliver 129,000 liters (about 35,000 gallons) of fuel, just over 10 precent of daily pre-war volume, as well as cooking gas – a first since 7 October.
By day 49 of the Israeli offensive on Gaza, occupation forces had killed 20,031, including 8,176 children, as reported by Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor.
