By SAMY MAGDY and MELANIE LIDMAN, Related Press
CAIRO (AP) — Hamas mentioned Thursday it might launch three extra Israeli hostages as deliberate, paving the way in which towards resolving a main dispute over the ceasefire within the Gaza Strip.
The group had threatened to delay the subsequent launch of captives, accusing Israel of failing to fulfill its obligations to permit in tents and shelters, amongst different alleged violations of the truce. Israel, with the help of U.S. President Donald Trump, says it is going to resume combating Hamas if the hostages are usually not freed. Hamas has been designated as a terrorist group by the USA, Canada and the European Union.
The announcement from Hamas ought to permit the ceasefire to proceed for now, even after Israel mentioned Thursday {that a} rocket had been launched from Gaza — although doubts stay about the long-term sturdiness of the truce.
Hamas mentioned it held talks in Cairo with Egyptian officers and was involved with Qatar’s prime minister about bringing into Gaza extra shelters, medical provides, gasoline and heavy gear for clearing rubble — its key demand in latest days. It mentioned in an announcement that the mediators had pledged to “take away all hurdles.”
Shortly after the announcement, Hamas spokesman Abdul Latif al-Qanou confirmed to The Related Press by telephone that three hostages might be launched on Saturday.
Egypt’s state-run Qahera TV, which is near the nation’s safety companies, reported that Egypt and Qatar had succeeded in resolving the dispute. The 2 Arab international locations have served as key mediators with Hamas and helped dealer the ceasefire, which took impact in January, greater than 15 months into the battle.
Egyptian media additionally aired footage displaying vehicles carrying short-term housing and bulldozers on the Egyptian facet of the Rafah crossing with Gaza. They reported that the vehicles have been heading to an Israeli inspection space earlier than crossing into Gaza.
With the truce holding, the Israeli army mentioned a rocket was fired from inside Gaza Thursday in what gave the impression to be the primary such incident for the reason that settlement took impact. The projectile landed throughout the territory and the army mentioned later that it had struck the rocket launcher that had fired it.
For the reason that ceasefire started, Israeli hearth has killed at the least 92 Palestinians and wounded greater than 800 others, mentioned Munir al-Bursh, director normal of the Gaza Well being Ministry. The Israeli army says it has fired on individuals who method its forces or enter sure areas in violation of the truce.
Trump has launched extra uncertainty
The truce faces a a lot larger problem within the coming weeks. The primary section is about to conclude firstly of March, and there haven’t but been substantive negotiations over the second section, wherein Hamas would launch dozens of remaining hostages in return for an finish to the battle.
Trump’s proposal to take away some 2 million Palestinians from Gaza and settle them in different international locations has thrown the truce’s future into additional doubt. The plan has been welcomed by Israel’s authorities however vehemently rejected by Palestinians and Arab international locations, which have refused to simply accept any inflow of refugees. Human rights teams say it may quantity to a battle crime below worldwide regulation.
The proposal drew recent criticism Thursday from each a U.S. ally and a foe.
In a uncommon rebuke, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan mentioned Trump’s latest actions — together with his push to expel Palestinians from Gaza — pose a menace to world peace.
“To inform the reality, I don’t discover Mr. Trump’s conduct prior to now interval and his present statements and challenges to many international locations on the planet to be proper, and I don’t see these as a optimistic growth,” Erdogan instructed an Indonesian tv anchor in an interview.
Yemen’s Houthi chief Abdul-Malik Al-Houthi threatened a “army intervention” if the plan proceeded.
“We are going to by no means stay passive within the face of such an aggressive plan towards the Palestinian individuals,” Al-Houthi mentioned in a televised speech.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right allies are already calling for a resumption of the battle after the primary section with the objective of implementing Trump’s plan and annihilating Hamas, which stays answerable for the territory after surviving one of many deadliest and most harmful army campaigns in latest historical past.
The battle started on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led terrorists stormed into Israel, killing some 1,200 individuals, primarily civilians, and abducting 251 individuals. Greater than half have been launched in offers with Hamas or different agreements, eight have been rescued and dozens of our bodies have been recovered.
The captives are among the many solely bargaining chips Hamas has left, and it could be tough to get the group to decide to additional releases if it believes the battle will resume.
Trump has given combined alerts about what he needs to see in Gaza.
He took credit score for brokering the ceasefire, which was reached days earlier than he took workplace after greater than a 12 months of negotiations below the Biden administration. However he has additionally expressed misgivings about how the settlement is unfolding and says it’s as much as Israel whether or not to renew the battle or not, whereas pledging continued U.S. army help.
Seventy-three hostages haven’t but been launched, round half of whom are believed to be lifeless. Almost all of the remaining hostages are males, together with Israeli troopers.
The battle has killed over 48,000 Palestinians, largely girls and kids, based on Gaza’s Well being Ministry, which doesn’t say what number of have been fighters. Israel says it has killed over 17,000 fighters, with out offering proof.
Israel’s offensive has obliterated massive components of Gaza. At its peak, the combating had displaced 90% of the territory’s inhabitants of two.3 million. Tons of of hundreds have returned to their houses for the reason that ceasefire took maintain, although many have discovered solely mounds of rubble and buried human stays and unexploded ordnance.
Lidman reported from Jerusalem. Related Press reporters Fatma Khaled in Cairo and Julia Frankel in Jerusalem contributed.
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