JERUSALEM: Greater than 50 freed Israeli hostages urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to totally implement the Gaza ceasefire deal and safe the discharge of these nonetheless held within the Palestinian territory.
“We who’ve skilled the inferno know {that a} return to warfare is life-threatening for these nonetheless left behind,” a bunch of 56 freed hostages stated in a letter posted on the social media platform Instagram on Friday night.
“Implement the settlement in full, in a single single manoeuvre.”
Amongst these to signal the letter was Yarden Bibas, whose spouse and two younger sons died whereas held captive in Gaza.
Their plea got here as Hamas launched a video exhibiting Israeli hostage Matan Angrest alive, footage that his household stated had left them “shaken”.
Within the footage, Angrest, who turned 22 in November, additionally calls on the Israeli authorities to implement the second part of the Gaza ceasefire deal.
The primary part of the Gaza ceasefire ended on March 1 after six weeks of relative calm that included exchanges of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, although hostilities haven’t resumed.
Whereas Israel has stated it needs to increase the primary part till mid-April, Hamas has insisted on a transition to the second part, which ought to result in a everlasting finish to the warfare.
Of the 251 hostages taken by Palestinian militants in the course of the 2023 assault on Israel, 58 stay in Gaza, together with 34 the Israeli army has stated are useless.
On Saturday, a high-level Hamas delegation is anticipated to carry talks with Egyptian officers over the second part of the ceasefire, two senior Hamas officers instructed AFP the day earlier than.
“The delegation will meet with Egyptian officers on Saturday to debate the most recent developments, assess progress in implementing the ceasefire settlement and deal with issues associated to launching the second part of the deal,” one official instructed AFP.
Throughout its talks with Egyptian mediators, the Hamas delegation will demand that Israel “implement the settlement, start negotiations for the second part and open the border crossings to permit humanitarian support into the Gaza Strip,” he stated.
The Palestinian militant group needs a “complete settlement that ensures a everlasting and full ceasefire,” the opposite official stated.
He stated Hamas’s calls for for the second part embrace a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, an finish to the blockade, the reconstruction of the territory and monetary help primarily based on the selections of this week’s Arab summit in Cairo.
He additionally stated that Hamas was able to “negotiate a prisoner change to launch all Israeli prisoners together with these with American citizenship”.
