In less than 50 days, Israel’s violent shelling of Gaza has claimed the lives of around 15,000 people, 10,000 of them being women and children. This makes it the worst conflict to ever affect the besieged Palestinian territory.
Global demonstrations have been sparked by the destruction of Gaza and the increasing number of deaths, placing the long-standing problem front and center in international affairs.

The most awaited humanitarian halt was welcomed on November 24, and both the sides have agreed on releasing captives from both sides. Hamas had held almost 250 people as hostages in Gaza and Israel has thousands of Palestinians held in their prisons.

In recent days, there have been intensive negotiations between Qatar, the United States, and Egypt to establish and extend the truce in Gaza and establish the captive-prisoner exchange.

The Gulf state is also home to a Hamas office, which it claims is a political institution that will remain operational for as long as it promotes peace.
Late on Monday evening, Qatar declared that more prisoner swaps will take place during the two extra days of the original four-day truce. On Wednesday night, following one more exchange, the truce is scheduled to come to an end.

The heads of the Israeli and US intelligence services, however, were in Qatar—a major Hamas mediator—to talk about prolonging the ceasefire and freeing further prisoners.

Israel-Hamas Truce: How many hostages have been Freed?

12 hostages were freed on Tuesday by Hamas and the militant organization Palestinian Islamic Jihad. With the start of the truce on Friday, 86 prisoners had been released in total.

Ten Israeli women, three year old twin sisters and two Thai nationals were among the rescued captives.
The most recent group of freed hostages consists of seven children and mother. Bringing the total number of hostages freed to 86 out of the roughly 240 individuals detained in the Gaza Strip following Hamas’s strikes on Israel on October 7.

Subsequently, Israel released thirty Palestinian inmates, increasing the total count of freed prisoners 180.
The identities of fifteen children—twelve from Jerusalem and three from the occupied West Bank—and fifteen women—ten from the West Bank and five from Jerusalem—were listed among the freed Palestinians.

The Israeli military’s X account released a video as the ceasefire draws to an end in which spokesperson Daniel Hagari called Hamas a “cruel, terrorist organization” and accused it of torturing the detainees.

We will get our hostages back. pic.twitter.com/vtYetMD7aH

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) November 29, 2023

Additionally, he declared that Israel will liberate the Hamas prisoners “through continued combat or during the ceasefire.”
According to the Israel jail Service later on 33 prisoners had been released from the West Bank’s Ofer jail and a Jerusalem detention facility. However, the agency did not provide the genders or ages of the inmates.

A bus transporting the recently freed Palestinian detainees had reached Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, by the evening, according to a report from the Reuters news agency.

Pictures showed individuals in the Palestinian city preparing to welcome them; some had Hamas green flags in their hands and had balaclavas over their faces.

Israel-Hamas Truce: How much aid has entered Gaza?

Aid organizations are cautioning that the war-torn Gaza Strip is on the verge of a catastrophic humanitarian crisis as the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas enters its sixth day.

The ceasefire was mediated to allow the release of Israeli prisoners in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, and as part of the deal, more humanitarian aid has been allowed into the Palestinian enclave that has been under near-total siege.

However, despite the fact that aid has been able to enter the enclave through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt owing to the efforts of United Nations agencies and organizations like the Palestine Red Crescent Society, the temporary increase has not been enough to meet the urgent needs of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents, nearly 80 percent of whom are currently displaced.

From the southern town of Khan Younis, Al Jazeera reported on Tuesday that since Friday, at least 750 vehicles had entered the Rafah border into Gaza. That comes to about 150 trucks a day.

More than 54,000 pounds, or 24,500 kilograms, of humanitarian material for Palestinians in Gaza is reportedly airlifted by the US.

Deliveries, according to international NGO ActionAid, were mainly restricted to the south, where 1.8 million people are currently without a home. Renewing the pauses won’t even come close to improving the circumstances faced by the numerous women in Gaza’s overcrowded shelters who are supporting their families and trying to feed more mouths, according to the NGO.

While some supplies made it to the northern part of Gaza, the majority of the relief, according to the UN agency OCHA, was concentrated south of Wadi Gaza.

Aid has reportedly reached severely damaged northern districts, according to OCHA. Despite intense air raids on houses, schools, and hospitals, many people have stayed behind, especially vulnerable populations like the elderly, injured, and crippled. However, it recognized that the majority of aid had only made it to the southern part of Gaza.

There are still dangers in the north, including the possibility of disease breakouts and dehydration.

Israeli forces have severely curtailed fuel deliveries to the north. The only hospital in the area remaining in functioning, Kamal Adwan Hospital, has been severely lacking in supplies.

The UN World Food Programme’s Cindy McCain declared the entire enclave to be “on the brink of famine” on Sunday. This has the potential to spread. And that brings illness and just about everything else you can think of,” she told the US network CBS.

Destroyed City Gaza

Yahya al-Sarraj, the mayor of Gaza City, claims that fuel entry is being obstructed by Israeli forces and that the help that does enter “is not enough either in quantity or quality.”

They worry that if there is no fuel to run pump stations, water pumps, and generators, a “environmental disaster” will occur.

Storm and waste water are combined here. If this overflows, it will inundate a large region and enter homes, posing a serious threat to public health, according to Al-Sarraj.
“We experience intense anger and sadness as we travel through Gaza. We are now realizing the extent of the devastation done to the city’s infrastructure, including its major public squares, libraries, and cultural centers,” he stated.

“Two serious attacks on the major municipality’s headquarters severely damaged one building’s three levels and destroyed thousands of papers with significant historical importance. The extent of the damage in the city is astounding.

Roughly 60% of the apartments and residential buildings [have been demolished]. There are currently thousands of homeless persons. They may reside at the homes of their relatives, in shelters or schools. Right now, these apartments are unfit for habitation. Numerous water wells were damaged by Israeli soldiers.

Intensive talks to extend the Israel-Hamas truce

As the truce inches to a possible end, residents fear the bombing will resume.
Along with the US, Qatar and Egypt have assisted in mediating the ceasefire. The leaders of the US Central Intelligence Agency and Israel’s Mossad met in Qatar on Tuesday to talk about extending the ceasefire.
Congresswoman Rashida Talb, a Palestinian American, wrote a message on X demanding the release of all detainees and captives.

My statement calling for the release of all hostages and Palestinian political prisoners. pic.twitter.com/VtHYFiZpit

— Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (@RepRashida) November 29, 2023

A high-level UN Security Council meeting on “the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question” will be chaired by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Wednesday.

Regarding the October 7 attack, US President Joe Biden wrote on X that Hamas was motivated by dread of “Israelis and Palestinians living side by side in peace.”

UN Secretary-General António Guterres’s spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric, stated that more talks are necessary in order to elevate the Gaza truce to a complete humanitarian ceasefire. He claimed that “this aid barely registers against the huge needs” of Gaza.