Protesters hold Palestinian flags and banners in front of Downing Street as they take part in a 'National March For Palestine' in central London on November 25, 2023, calling for a ceasefire in the conflict between Israel and Hamas. HENRY NICHOLLS / AFP
Nov 25,
2023. Posted by Balkan Periscope - Hellas
According
to the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the entry of aid into northern Gaza and
the selection criteria for the Palestinians held in Israeli prisons were the
issue.
Hamas said
on Saturday, November 25, that it was delaying the release of a second group of
Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners until Israel complies
with a truce agreement, in a bitter blow to relatives.
The
Palestinian militant group's armed wing said the issues of aid deliveries to
the northern Gaza Strip and the selection criteria for prisoner releases were
holding up the handover.
The
unforeseen setback followed an initial exchange on Friday when Hamas released
13 Israelis, all of them women and children, hours after a four-day truce took
effect in Gaza. Ten Thais and one Filipino were also unexpectedly freed.
Israel in
turn released 39 Palestinian women and children from its prisons under an
agreement that mandates exchanges at a ratio of three to one.
Israel on
Saturday denied that it had violated the truce agreement and vowed to continue
the war to eliminate Hamas when the pause in fighting ends. "We will
return immediately at the end of the ceasefire to attack Gaza," Israeli
chief of staff Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi said. "We will also do this
in order to dismantle Hamas, also to create a great deal of pressure to return
as quickly as possible and as many abductees as possible, every last one of
them," he added.
Hamas
fighters snatched around 240 captives when they broke through Gaza's
militarised border with Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 Israelis and
foreigners, according to Israeli authorities. Following the deadliest attack in
its history, Israel launched an air, artillery and naval bombardment alongside
a ground offensive to destroy Hamas, killing nearly 15,000 people, according to
the Hamas government in Gaza.
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