Israel and Hamas settle dispute over continuation of Gaza deal
Tel Aviv. According to Islamists and Israeli media, Israel and Hamas have found a solution to the dispute over the continuation of the Gaza agreement. The planned release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons, which Israel suspended a few days ago, should take place at the same time as the handover of further bodies of Israeli hostages, Hamas announced. It did not specify a date. There was no official confirmation from Israel for this at the moment. However, Israeli media quoted officials as saying that the exchange of bodies for Palestinian prisoners would take place on Wednesday via neighboring Egypt.
Israel announced on Sunday night that the release of Palestinian prisoners, as stipulated in the ceasefire agreement with Hamas, would be suspended for the time being. Before it could continue, the Palestinian terrorist organization must promise to refrain from the humiliating ceremonies when releasing Israeli hostages. This affects 602 Palestinian prisoners who were actually supposed to be released on Saturday in exchange for six Israeli hostages.
The continuation of the talks on the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza war had come to a standstill because of the dispute. Hamas said it did not want to continue negotiations until the prisoners were released. The four bodies that are now to be handed over were originally supposed to be handed over to Israel next Thursday as part of the first phase of the agreement.
On Wednesday, a mother and her two young sons, who were killed while being held hostage by Hamas and who all had German citizenship, are to be buried in Israel. The Bibas family's ceremony is to remain private. However, the family has called for people to take part in a funeral procession beforehand to accompany the three on their final journey, as the hostages' relatives' forum announced. According to reports, thousands of people are expected to attend the funeral march in the morning.
After a forensic examination of the bodies, the Israeli army announced that the two little boys, Kfir and Ariel, were brutally murdered by their kidnappers in November 2023. According to Hamas, however, they were killed in an Israeli airstrike. Kfir was still a baby at the time of his kidnapping and death, and his brother Ariel was four years old.
The children and their mother became symbols of the horror of the October 7, 2023 massacre in southern Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed and 250 others were taken hostage to the Gaza Strip. The unprecedented act of terror sparked the Gaza War, in which tens of thousands of Palestinians were killed.
Meanwhile, Israeli opposition leader Jair Lapid says he has presented a plan for the future of the Gaza Strip in the USA. Neighbouring Egypt should take over administration of the area for 15 years, Lapid announced on Platform X. During this time, the politician wants the moderate Palestinian Authority of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to implement significant reforms in the West Bank and then regain control of the Gaza Strip. The Islamist Hamas seized power in the coastal region in 2007 and forcibly expelled the Palestinian Authority from there.
Israel's government, which has not yet presented a plan for the future of the Gaza Strip, initially did not comment on Lapid's proposal. It had previously only shown great sympathy for US President Donald Trump's vague plan to "relocate" all Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to other Arab states and to transform the devastated coastal area under US control into an economically prosperous "Riviera of the Middle East".
There was also no official statement from Egypt on Lapid's proposal. According to the opposition politician, the Arab country should have its foreign debt forgiven in return.
In the evening, Israel's army reported an attack on members of the Hamas-allied Hezbollah militia in eastern Lebanon. They were working in a strategic weapons depot, which was a "blatant violation of the ceasefire agreements between Israel and Lebanon." According to the Lebanese Ministry of Health, two people were killed in the drone attack.
Israeli air strikes were also reported from Syria. According to the Israeli army, military targets were hit. "We will not allow southern Syria to become southern Lebanon," said Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz. Any attempt by Syrian government forces or terrorist organizations to establish themselves in the buffer zone will be met with shelling. Israel moved its own troops into the area between the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights and the rest of Syria.
Meanwhile, several Israeli media outlets wrote that the US special envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, would postpone his trip to the region, which was planned for Wednesday. According to reports, he wanted to pave the way for the next round of indirect talks between Israel and Hamas, among other things. His visit could therefore be rescheduled for next week. The White House did not want to comment on the reports.
RND/dpa
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