Israel says fighting will resume “with intensity” after truce

“O What we will see in the coming days is, firstly, the release of the hostages. This truce will be brief”, stressed Yoav Gallant, during a visit to the troops of the Shayetet 13 unit of the Israeli Navy.

Israel and Hamas have reached an agreement for a four-day ceasefire, which will allow the release of 50 hostages that Islamist militias are holding inside the Gaza Strip, in exchange for the release of 150 Palestinian prisoners. In both cases, they are women and minors.

Israeli sources confirmed to the Efe agency that for every ten additional hostages that Hamas is willing to release after four days, the truce may be extended for another day, up to a maximum of ten days.

“What is required in this interval is to organize, prepare, investigate, resupply weapons and prepare to continue [a combater]”, asked Gallant to the soldiers.

“There will be a continuation, because we need to complete the victory and create momentum for the next groups of hostages, who will only return thanks to military pressure,” he added.

It is estimated that the Palestinian militias in Gaza have around 240 people hostage, around 210 in the hands of Hamas and another 30 in the hands of Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

In total, there are at least 40 children hostage in Gaza, according to Israeli authorities, who today received the list of 50 hostages to be handed over by Hamas, although this was not made public as a precaution.

“Hamas will try to use the days of the agreement to spread fear, disinformation and psychological terror. The agreement is not the end of the process, but the beginning”, highlighted, in turn, the spokesman for the Israeli Army, the Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari.

The spokesperson assured that troops will focus “on planning and completing preparations for the next stages of combat.”

The four-day truce agreed between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group will begin on Friday at 07:00 local time (05:00 in Lisbon).

On October 7, fighters from the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) — in power in the Gaza Strip since 2007 and classified as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union and Israel — carried out an attack of unprecedented dimensions on Israeli territory. since the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, causing 1,200 deaths, mostly civilians, and around 5,000 injuries.

In retaliation, Israel declared a war to “eradicate” Hamas, which began with cuts to food, water, electricity and fuel supplies in the Gaza Strip and daily bombings, followed by a ground offensive that surrounded Gaza City.

The war between Israel and Hamas, which today entered its 48th day and continues to threaten to spread throughout the Middle East region, has so far left around 15,000 dead in that poor Palestinian enclave, mostly civilians, and 33,000 injured, according to the most recent report from local authorities, and 1.7 million displaced people, according to the UN.

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