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International mediators resolved disagreements over fragile ceasefires in Gaza and Lebanon on Sunday, after clashes involving Israeli military and civilians threatened to undermine both agreements.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced that Hamas would release three hostages to Gaza on Thursday, including Arbel Yehud, resolving the first major crisis in the Gaza ceasefire agreement, which took effect a year ago. week.
In return, Israel will allow Palestinians displaced from Gaza to return to their homes in the broken territory’s north starting Monday.
The issue of Yehud’s release had strained the U.S.-brokered truce between Israel and Hamas despite the release on Saturday of four female Israeli soldiers from Gaza, and 200 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons.
Israeli officials said Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that controls Gaza, violated the agreement when it released the soldiers before Yehud, who is the last female civilian hostage believed to be alive in Gaza.
Israel responded by delaying its withdrawal from the strategic Netzarim corridor, which bisects the north and south of Gaza, blocking hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from crossing into the northern part of the territory, as stipulated in the Agreement.
Over the weekend, masses of Palestinians gathered near the corridor, with some families sleeping outside in the winter.
The Israeli military said it fired “warning shots at several gatherings of dozens of suspects who were advancing toward the troops and posed a threat to them.”
Gaza health authorities said two people were killed and nine others injured in clashes on Sunday.
US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators were able to resolve the crisis by effectively securing the release of additional hostages on Thursday, including Yehud.
The weekly hostage release scheduled to take place next Saturday will move forward as planned, with three more Israelis expected to be freed, according to Israeli officials.
In return, several hundred Palestinian prisoners will also be released from Israeli prisons.
Hamas provided Israel with a list of hostages remaining in captivity and was expected to be released as part of the initial six-week ceasefire, detailing whether they were alive or dead.
The war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, in which the group’s fighters killed 1,200 people and took 250 hostages.
Israel responded with an offensive in Gaza that killed more than 47,000 people and fueled a humanitarian catastrophe in the territory.
US President Donald Trump urged Egypt and Jordan to take in most of Gaza’s population, saying it was time to “clean up” the territory, but his proposal was rejected by the two Arab countries.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration announced that the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon, reached last November through US mediation, would be extended until February 18.
The deal ended more than a year of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group that attacked the Jewish state in solidarity with Hamas.
Israel made clear last week that it would not meet Sunday’s two-month deadline for withdrawing its military from southern Lebanon.
Israel said Lebanese army deployments to areas canceled by its troops and Hizbollah fighters had been too slow to meet the deadline.
With Israeli forces still holding territory inside Lebanon, hundreds of residents came under Israeli fire as they attempted to return on foot to their villages.
According to Lebanon’s Health Ministry, 22 people were killed and 124 injured on Sunday.
