Relief tinged with sadness as Gaza truce enters second day
Published: 06:11 AM,Nov 25,2023 | EDITED : 10:11 AM,Nov 25,2023
Palestinian prisoners cheer after being released from the Israeli military facility
For the families of Palestinian detainees freed by Israel under a deal agreed with Hamas, Friday brought relief tinged with sadness at the fighting that is set to continue in Gaza after the expiry of a four-day truce.
President Joe Biden praised US diplomacy behind Friday's release of 24 hostages, saying it was the start of what he expected would be further hostage releases in the coming days.
'Beginning this morning, under a deal reached by extensive U.S. diplomacy, including numerous calls I've made from the Oval Office to leaders across the region, fighting in Gaza will halt for four days,' Biden told a news conference.
'My expectation and hope is that as we move forward, the rest of the Arab world and the region is also putting pressure on all sides to slow this down, to bring this to an end as quickly as possible.'
Thirty-nine Palestinian women and minors detained on various charges were freed under an accord brokered by Qatar that also saw the release of 13 Israeli hostages seized by Hamas.
'There is no real joy, even this little joy we feel as we wait,' said Sawsan Bkeer, the mother of 24-year-old Palestinian prisoner Marah Bkeer, jailed for eight years on knife and assault charges in 2015. Israeli police were seen raiding her Jerusalem home before her daughter was released.
'We are still afraid to feel happy and at the same time, we do not have it in us to be happy due to what is happening in Gaza,' she said. More than 100 more Palestinian prisoners are due to be released over the coming four days and more may be freed if the truce is extended.
In Beitunia, a city near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, a large crowd, mostly of young men, greeted freed prisoners by cheering, honking car horns, and marching in the street carrying Palestinian flags. Some in the crowd also carried the flag of the Hamas that rules blockaded Gaza and chanted in support of Abu Ubaida, the spokesperson of the group's armed wing.
'I can't express how I feel. Thank God,' said 17-year-old Laith Othman, who was detained earlier this year on suspicion of throwing an incendiary device and released on Friday. 'The situation inside (prison) is complicated,' he said as he was carried along the street on someone's shoulders.
President Joe Biden praised US diplomacy behind Friday's release of 24 hostages, saying it was the start of what he expected would be further hostage releases in the coming days.
'Beginning this morning, under a deal reached by extensive U.S. diplomacy, including numerous calls I've made from the Oval Office to leaders across the region, fighting in Gaza will halt for four days,' Biden told a news conference.
'My expectation and hope is that as we move forward, the rest of the Arab world and the region is also putting pressure on all sides to slow this down, to bring this to an end as quickly as possible.'
Thirty-nine Palestinian women and minors detained on various charges were freed under an accord brokered by Qatar that also saw the release of 13 Israeli hostages seized by Hamas.
'There is no real joy, even this little joy we feel as we wait,' said Sawsan Bkeer, the mother of 24-year-old Palestinian prisoner Marah Bkeer, jailed for eight years on knife and assault charges in 2015. Israeli police were seen raiding her Jerusalem home before her daughter was released.
'We are still afraid to feel happy and at the same time, we do not have it in us to be happy due to what is happening in Gaza,' she said. More than 100 more Palestinian prisoners are due to be released over the coming four days and more may be freed if the truce is extended.
In Beitunia, a city near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, a large crowd, mostly of young men, greeted freed prisoners by cheering, honking car horns, and marching in the street carrying Palestinian flags. Some in the crowd also carried the flag of the Hamas that rules blockaded Gaza and chanted in support of Abu Ubaida, the spokesperson of the group's armed wing.
'I can't express how I feel. Thank God,' said 17-year-old Laith Othman, who was detained earlier this year on suspicion of throwing an incendiary device and released on Friday. 'The situation inside (prison) is complicated,' he said as he was carried along the street on someone's shoulders.