Israel’s Lebanon and Gaza ceasefires appear fragile: Live updates

According to the terms of the initial stage of the contract agreed to this monthIsrael was expected to withdraw some of its forces to allow hundreds of thousands of displaced Gazans to move north. hostage and prisoner exchange on Saturday.

But the Israeli government said Hamas violated the agreement by first not returning the captured female Israeli citizens and not informing Israel of the status of the other hostages as required by the agreement.

According to the deal, Israeli citizen Arbel Yehud, who was held hostage in Gaza, was to be one of four women freed on Saturday, Israeli officials said.

All of the released hostages are soldiers who were observers at a base on the Gaza border and were abducted from there during the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas on Israel. war.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has said it will not allow Gazans to go north until “civilian Arbel Yehud is liberated,” and it is unclear when troops will be withdrawn and residents will return.

In a statement on Sunday, the Israeli government reiterated that Mr Netanyahu was “firm” in the decision. Ms. Yehud was expected to be released along with about 100 other hostages during a week-long ceasefire in November 2023.

In addition, Hamas was due to provide Israel late on Saturday with a list of the remaining 26 hostages expected to be released within the next five weeks. An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter, said Sunday afternoon that Israel had not yet received the list.

Israeli officials have said they believe many or most of the hostages scheduled to be released in the first phase of the deal are alive, but the status of some of them is unclear.

Hamas accused Israel on Sunday of violating the agreement by preventing displaced Gazans from moving north.

Hamas said in a statement that it had informed the mediators that Mrs. Yehud was alive and had given “all the necessary guarantees for her release”, and that it was following the mediators in the hope of resolving the dispute.

The ceasefire agreement was signed with the mediation of the United States, Qatar and Egypt. An Israeli official said on Sunday that Israel had not received any evidence from Hamas about Ms. Yehud’s status.

But it seems that Hamas does not like Mrs. Yehud.

Hussein al-Batsh, an official with Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a smaller militant group that sometimes rivals Hamas in Gaza, told The New York Times on Sunday that Ms. Yehud was being held by the Quds Brigades, the group’s military wing. He said that Mrs. Yehud was not released on Saturday due to what she called “technical reasons”.

Mr. al-Batsh added that high-level leaders of Islamic Jihad were involved in discussions with mediators. The group’s spokesman, Mohammed Al Haj Mousa, later said Ms Yehud would be released by next Saturday to allow displaced Gazans to return to the north as soon as possible.

However, Israel has denied that any agreement has been reached regarding Ms. Yehud’s return. An official familiar with the details said on Sunday evening that contacts with mediators were continuing and reiterated that Israel would not allow displaced Gazans to move north until the release of Mrs. Yehud was resolved.

Footage of a large crowd of displaced Palestinians waiting nearby on Sunday Netzarim CorridorThe region established by the Israeli forces that divided Gaza into two was circulating in the Palestinian media to turn north.

The Palestinian Authority’s Wafa news agency said one person was killed and several others were wounded when Israeli forces opened fire on a crowd waiting to return to the north west of Nuseirat in central Gaza.

The military said in a statement on Sunday that its troops had identified “several gatherings of dozens of suspects advancing towards and threatening troops.” The information says that the soldiers fired a warning shot at them, and the information about the losses was not touched upon.

The military again called on the residents of Gaza to follow its announcements and not to approach the troops stationed in the region. The army added that the troops had killed a person who posed a threat to them, which they identified as a member of Islamic Jihad’s rocket unit in southern Gaza.

Gada al-Kurd, 37, said he chose to stay in central Gaza on Sunday despite longing to return to his home in the north. “I won’t leave until everything is clear,” he said. “I will not risk my life – these soldiers cannot be trusted,” he said.

Ms al-Kurd, who left her home and two daughters in Gaza City in the first weeks of the war, once again wondered when she would finally see them. “Here we are just waiting, feeling stressed and anxious,” he said. “They are playing with our destiny,” he said.

Jonathan Reiss, Gabby Sobelman and Myra Noveck contributed to the report.