Today's Edition
SHABAN BILAL (CAPITALS)
Egyptian-Qatari mediation efforts, in cooperation with the United States, have succeeded in extending the humanitarian truce in the Gaza Strip for an additional two days, during which a ceasefire will ensure the delivery of aid and prisoner exchange.
This comes after the initial four-day truce, which ended on Monday. The extended truce, starting today, includes the daily release of ten Israeli hostages from the Gaza Strip, women and children, in exchange for 30 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.
The total number of released hostages during the extended two-day truce includes 20 Israelis in exchange for 60 Palestinians.
During the two extended days of the truce, a ceasefire will continue throughout the Gaza Strip. Additional medical, food, and fuel aid will reach the Gaza Strip, while Israeli flights will be banned throughout the sector.
Experts and political analysts stressed the need to continue pressuring the Israeli side until a permanent ceasefire is reached, emphasising that the truce should not only be linked to the prisoner exchange. Instead, it should be based on stronger foundations for a permanent truce.
Dr. Amer Al-Sabaileh, a Jordanian political analyst, explained that this truce has the purpose of releasing hostages, adding that the truce is also an attempt to leverage the situation by dividing the hostages over multiple days.
He added that reaching a permanent truce depends on the mediators’ ability to build stronger foundations using mechanisms other than the hostage card, which will reach its end in a few days.
Al-Sabaileh stressed to Aletihad the need to find a stronger agreement formula that would lead to a permanent truce.
He noted that Israel’s inability to reach a decisive confrontation point with the Palestinians during the days of the war represents a loss for them, adding that this will likely result in a significant increase in its demands to agree to a permanent truce.
He predicted that a new reality would be imposed in the Gaza Strip if a permanent ceasefire agreement is reached, whether in terms of geographical positioning, civil administration, and or other issues related to Gaza’s future.
Saudi strategic analyst Brigadier Abdullah Al-Asiri believes that Israel, during the truce, is assessing the objectives they reached and studying the data, based on which it will determine its position on whether to continue military operations or agree to a ceasefire.
Al-Asiri pointed out that this truce might be the beginning of the end of the conflict, especially since strong diplomatic and political efforts by Arab and Islamic governments are pressuring Israel’s allies to stop the war, return to the negotiation table, and accept peace.
Dr. Taysir Abu Jam’a, Professor of Political Science at Palestine University, noted that the humanitarian situation in Gaza requires a larger, permanent truce.
He explained that the sector suffers from a lack of services, including water, electricity, and fuel. There are numerous victims under the rubble and in the streets, wounded needing treatment, and besieged families unable to leave, the professor added.
Abu Jam’a said that this truce is an opportunity for the residents of Gaza to receive aid and fuel, operate desalination plants, and generate electricity to improve the deteriorating humanitarian situation, stressing the need to continue pressure for until a comprehensive ceasefire is reached.
