Hamas has released this Saturday Israeli military women in apparent good health who maintained hostages since October 7, 2023. And he has done so in an effective ceremony held in Gaza and broadcast live to everyone. With this triumphant scenery he has also launched the message that, at least in appearance, he maintains the reins of power in the strip, something that, as the first objective of this contest, sought to avoid the Government of Israel. The exchange of hostages for the release of Palestinian prisoners is accompanied by reproaches and mutual accusations of non -compliance that show the distrust between the parts and the fragility of the threads that support a process designed to last for months and lead to a definitive fire in a high.
The four have landed aboard a helicopter in a hospital outside Tel Aviv. Previously, they had been delivered by the Palestinian militiamen to members of the International Committee of the Red Cross (CICR), who have transferred them to the Israeli authorities already outside the strip. In this way, the agreed between the Islamic Resistance Movement – the full name of Hamas – and Israel in the terms of the high fire that entered into force in the Palestinian enclave last Sunday, is still essentially fulfilled.
For each of these military, 50 Palestinian prisoners of Israeli prisons have been taken out, some with sentences to perpetuity to which they will not allow them to meet with their families, as they will be deported to Gaza or abroad. Other dozens with less serious penalties have been released in the West Bank. The Palestinian Prison Society has announced that in the list is the considered dean of the prisoners, Mohamed al Tous, 69 and imprisoned by Israel since 1985.
In a first reaction, the Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari, has accused Hamas of breaching what is signed for not prioritizing the return of civilian women, according to video statements. Prime Minister BenjamÃn Netanyahu, has affirmed that he will not allow the return of the Gazaties displaced by the war to the north of the enclave – as planned with the arrival of the second week of truce – until the release of the release of Arbel Yehud, a civil kidnapped at the Kibutz Nir Oz that should have already been delivered, according to the Jewish state authorities. The Islamic jihad does not consider her civil and has indicated that she is alive and will be delivered in the next exchange. The Israeli part demands evidence. Despite tension and reproaches, none of the parties has broken the process.
“Zionism will not overcome”
The scenery of the delivery was developed on a stage, in a square in the city of Gaza where a legend said: “Zionism will not overcome.” And, another: “Palestine, the victory of the oppressed people against Nazi Zionism.” There he proceeded to the delivery of Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa and Naama Levy, 20, and Liri Albag, 19, between a Red Cross employee and a masked militiaman. Moments later, after arriving aboard civilians without badges, the four captives, dressed in green uniform, have been presented on that same platform. They have seen them by the hand, between smiles and making gestures of celebration to those present. Then, they have been introduced into an SUV of the Red Cross. Each one wore a bag with the Hamás armed arm badge, as the first three released last weekend did.
The closest to the hostages have followed and celebrated the releases through screens from facilities prepared by the authorities before being able to hug them, according to images of official sources. Meanwhile, the one known as Tel Aviv’s hostages, the main place of the claims of the families of those kidnapped by Hamas, has lived jubilation scenes among hundreds of present while retransmitting from Gaza the release. “His return today represents a moment of light in the dark, a moment of hope” while “serves as a painful reminder of the urgency of bringing back to the 90 hostages that are still in Gaza,” the Forum that groups the families of the kidnapped.
In the battle for story and propaganda, Israeli authorities try to avoid jubilation scenes among the Palestinians. Some families, especially in occupied Jerusalem, are even expressly prohibited from welcome ceremonies when yours are released. That is not possible when dozens of prisoners are reunited with their relatives and loved ones in the West Bank, where jubilation scenes are produced with fireworks in the sky in the midst of hugs and tears.
Aware of this, those responsible and militiamen of Hamas carry the reins of the delivery of the captives within the strip in ceremonies that prepare in detail to multiply the impact on a mass audience promoted by social networks and the media. This has happened in the releases of three civilian women on Sunday and the four soldiers this Saturday. The Islamic resistance movement raises its particular order after more than 15 months of a war in which the main objective of the prime minister of Israel, BenjamÃn Netanyahu, was to eradicate politically and militarily that movement that led the attack of October 7, 2023 in The one who were killed in Israeli territory about 1,200 people and 250 were kidnapped.
The controversy does not escape the ins and outs of the kidnapping of these four military, belonging to a group of soldiers dedicated to watching Gaza from the nearby base of Nahal Oz, one of the places attacked by Hamas that October 7. The Israeli authorities, according to the testimonies collected from some of them and their families, made a deaf ear to the alerts launched around the preparation of the great attack. The four were also companions of the Hispanoelà Maya Villalobo, 19, who died that day. She was the daughter of Eduardo Villalobo, professor of microbiology at the University of Seville, and Galit Sinvany, an Israeli researcher.
The square that has hosted the delivery to the Red Cross of the military shows the deep wounds inflicted to the strip during the intense attacks by land and by air of the occupation troops in a territory in which the official list of dead exceeds the 47,000 people, most women and children. That, not counting the thousands that local authorities estimate that they still remain without recovering from the debris.
