Israel said a four-day truce with Hamas and hostage release will not start until at least Friday, delaying a breakthrough deal to stop the incessant bombardment of Gaza.
Israel and Hamas agreed early on Wednesday to a truce in Gaza for at least four days, to let in humanitarian aid and free at least 50 hostages held by Hamas in the enclave in exchange for at least 150 Palestinians jailed in Israel.
Hamas political bureau member Mousa Abu Marzouq had said the truce was expected to start at 10am (08:00 GMT) today while mediator Qatar had expected the commencement of the “humanitarian pause” to be announced within 24 hours.
Today, Israeli National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi indicated the release of at least 50 Israeli and foreign hostages is still on track, but would not happen as expected.
“The negotiations on the release of our hostages are advancing and continuing constantly,” he said in a statement released by the prime minister’s office.
“The start of the release will take place according to the original agreement between the sides, and not before Friday,” it said.
White House spokesperson Adrienne Watson said final logistical details for the release were being worked out. “That is on track and we are hopeful that implementation will begin on Friday morning,” she added.
A Palestinian official told AFP that a delay was due to “last minute” details over which hostages would be released and how.
He said the truce had been put back as “the names of the Israeli hostages and the modalities of their release”, said the official, who has knowledge of the negotiation process but asked to remain anonymous.
Lists of those to be freed had been exchanged by both sides, he added.
Meanwhile, Qatari foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari said that implementation of the accord “continues and is going positively”. He said the truce agreement that was reached will be concluded in the coming hours.
The delay is a hammer blow to families desperate to see their loved ones return home and to two million-plus Gazans praying for an end to 47 days of intense bombardment and deprivation. More than 14,000 Gazans have been killed, around 40 per cent of them children, according to medical officials.
There was no let-up in the fighting early on Thursday, reports said.
Palestinian media said Israeli aircraft and artillery struck Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis in at least two waves and 15 people were killed. Attacks were also reported in several other parts of Gaza, including the Jabalia and Nuseirat camps.
The Israeli military said its forces carried out aerial strikes on over 300 Hamas targets over the past day.
In Israel, sirens warning of incoming rocket fire from Gaza blared in communities near the border with the enclave, the military said. There were no reports of damage or injuries.
Israel also appeared to be pushing on with its offensive in northern Gaza, with witnesses reporting strikes on Kamal Adwan hospital and nearby homes.
Medical workers treated bloodied, dust-covered survivors as other residents fled through debris-strewn streets to safety.
At Gaza’s biggest hospital, the Al-Shifa, Israeli soldiers escorted journalists to a tunnel shaft they alleged was part of a vast underground network Hamas uses for military purposes — a claim Hamas denies.
“We are not ending the war. We will continue until we are victorious,” the chief of the Israeli general staff, Lieutenant-General Herzi Halevi, told commanders in a video released by the military on Thursday.
Netanyahu made no mention of a potential delay in implementation of the agreement during a press conference late on Wednesday. Hanegbi’s statement was released about an hour after the press conference.
“We need to know they are alive, if they’re okay. It’s the minimum,” said Gilad Korngold, who said he drew just a measure of comfort from the deal between Israel and Hamas and was among those who were still awaiting word of relatives.
Seven of his family members, including his three-year-old granddaughter, were taken hostage.
“I want everybody back. But I think — and it’s a very tough decision — but I think the children and women must be (first). They are most fragile…they need to get out,” Korngold added.
In Khan Yunis, southern Gaza, displaced Palestinians remained sceptical about the Israel-Hamas deal.
“What truce are they talking about? We don’t need a truce just so aid can come in. We want to go home,” said Maysara Assabagh, who fled northern Gaza for a hospital that now shelters about 35,000 displaced people.
The US also hoped that aid would begin reaching Gaza in large volumes within the next few days, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said.
Three Americans, including three-year-old Abigail Mor Idan, were among those earmarked for release.
The 50 hostages would be released over four days at a rate of at least 10 daily, Netanyahu’s office said. The truce could be extended day by day so long as an additional 10 hostages were freed each day, it said.
Israel’s justice ministry published a list of 300 names of Palestinian prisoners who could be freed.
The truce agreement, the first in a nearly seven-week-long war, was reached after mediation by Qatar and seen by governments around the world as potentially easing the suffering of civilians in the Gaza Strip.
