Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has drawn criticism in Israel for not having sealed a hostage deal earlier in the war after the security failure that enabled Hamas-led militants to burst across the border and storm nearby Israeli communities.
But there has also been opposition to the current deal, which some critics in Israel have said leaves the fate of most of the hostages in the balance and Hamas still standing as Gaza’s dominant entity.
Hamas, which Israel has vowed to obliterate, retains a strong presence in Gaza despite more than 15 months of heavy bombardment from the Middle East’s most advanced military and the assassination of Hamas leader Yahya Al-Sinwar.
The truce has enabled a surge in international humanitarian aid to Gaza civilians suffering dire supply shortages.
But the fragile calm could be jeopardised if Israel prevents operations in Gaza by the UN Palestinian relief agency UNRWA after banning it from contact with Israel, UNRWA communications chief Juliette Touma told a briefing in Geneva on Friday. For now, the agency’s work in Gaza was continuing, she said.
PALESTINIAN PRISONERS INCLUDE MINORS
The Palestinian prisoners and detainees include 30 minors and some convicted members of Palestinian groups responsible for deadly attacks that have killed dozens of people in Israel.
Around 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 hostages were abducted in the Hamas attack in Israel, the deadliest single day for Jews since the Holocaust. Among the dead and abducted were dozens of Thai agricultural workers.
Israel’s military response has killed more than 47,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health ministry, and laid waste to the enclave of 2.3 million people, who face severe shortages of medicine, fuel and food.
Israel has killed several leaders of Hamas and another ally of Iran, Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement, in parallel conflicts.
