Jessica Corbett
Israeli forces
killed at least 19 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Sunday morning during
a three-hour delay in implementing a cease-fire and hostage-release deal that
Israel's Cabinet finally approved the previous day.
Palestinians walk through the remnants of
the Jabalia refugee camp in the Gaza Strip as a cease-fire between Hamas
and Israel begins on January 19, 2025. (Photo: Karam Hassan/Anadolu via Getty Images)
After over 15
months of a U.S.-backed military assault for which Israel faces a genocide case
at the International Court of Justice, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) strikes on
Gaza were set to stop at 8:30 am local time, due to a three-phase agreement
negotiated by Egypt, Qatar, and the outgoing Biden and incoming Trump
administrations.
They did not,
with deadly results. Mahmoud Basal, a spokesperson for Gaza's Civil Defense,
said Sunday that at least 19 people were killed and over 36 were injured from
8:30 am to 11:30 am. That's on top of the tens of thousands of people the
Israeli assault and restrictions on humanitarian aid have killed since the
Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
As of midnight
Saturday, the Gaza Ministry of Health put the official death toll in the
besieged Palestinian enclave at 46,913, with another 110,750 people injured and
over 10,000 others missing in the rubble of former homes, hospitals, schools,
and mosques, though experts warn the number of deaths is likely far higher.
At 9:17 am on
Sunday, the IDF said that it was "continuing to operate and strike
terrorist targets in Gaza," adding: "A short while ago, IDF artillery
and aircraft struck a number of terrorist targets in northern and central Gaza.
The IDF remains ready in offense and defense and will not allow any harm to the
citizens of Israel."
Muhammad
Shehada, a Gazan writer, called the delay a "last-minute trick" by
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and explained on social media that
it was "under the pretext that Hamas hasn't submitted the list of three
captives it'll release today."
As Shehada
detailed:
Israel also
reneged on the arrangement needed for Hamas to be able to submit such list;
suspending surveillance drones and bombardment in the hours preceding the
cease-fire so that it becomes logistically possible for Hamas' members on the
ground and abroad to contact each other and figure out which hostages are alive
and where without compromising their whereabouts and risking being bombed or
raided by the IDF.
Hamas was forced
to submit the list under fire and spy drones, which meant Israel exploited this
to try to locate and snatch some captives last minute. Israel now succeeded in
reaching the body of the soldier Oron Shaul, whom Hamas had been holding captive
since 2014.
Ultimately,
Hamas submitted the list and the pause in fighting took effect—at least for
now—enabling displaced Palestinians to start returning to what is left of their
communities and the process of releasing captives to begin with three Israelis
and 90 Palestinians. During the deal's first 42-day phase, there are plans to
free 33 Israelis taken hostage by Palestinian militants, 737 Palestinians
imprisoned in Israel, and 1,167 Palestinians detained by Israeli forces in
Gaza.
The three
Israeli hostages—Emily Damari, Romi Gonen, and Doron Steinbrecher—were
transfered to the International Committee of the Red Cross at a square in
central Gaza City. The IDF confirmed that the Red Cross was bringing the women
to Israeli troops.
The Associated
Press on Sunday obtained from Hamas a list of the first 90 Palestinian
prisoners set to be freed. They included 15-year-old Mahmoud Aliowat;
53-year-old Dalal Khaseeb, the sister of former Hamas second-in-command Saleh
Arouri; 62-year-old Khalida Jarrar, a Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine leader; and 68-year-old Abla Abdelrasoul, the wife of detained PFLP
leader Ahmad Saadat.
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