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International mediators resolved differences over fragile cease-fires in Gaza and Lebanon late Sunday, after clashes involving the Israeli military and civilians threatened to undermine both agreements.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced that Hamas would release three hostages in Gaza on Thursday, including Arbel Yehud, resolving the first major crisis of the Gaza ceasefire agreement that took effect a week ago.
In return, Israel will allow displaced Palestinians in Gaza to return to their homes in the north of the devastated territory from Monday.
The issue of Yehud’s release strained the US-brokered truce between Israel and Hamas despite the release Saturday four Israeli female soldiers from Gaza and 200 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons.
Israeli officials claimed that Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that controls Gaza, violated the agreement when it released the soldiers before Yehuda, who is the last civilian female hostage believed to be alive in Gaza.
Israel retaliated by delaying withdrawal from the strategic Netzarim Corridor, which cuts between north and south Gaza, blocking hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from returning to the northern part of the territory, as stipulated in the agreement.
Over the weekend, crowds of Palestinians gathered near the corridor, with some families sleeping outside in the winter cold.
The Israeli army said it fired “thousands of warning shots at several gatherings of dozens of suspects who were advancing towards the soldiers and posing a threat to them.”
Health authorities in Gaza said two people were killed and nine were injured in clashes on Sunday.
American, Qatari and Egyptian mediators managed to resolve the crisis by effectively securing the release of additional hostages, including Yehud, this Thursday.
A weekly hostage release scheduled for next Saturday will go ahead 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.
On Sunday, Hamas provided Israel with a list of the remaining captive hostages to be released as part of the initial six-week truce, detailing whether they were alive or dead.
The Gaza war was triggered by Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, during which the group’s fighters killed 1,200 people and took 250 hostages.
Israel responded with an offensive in Gauze which killed more than 47,000 people and triggered a humanitarian disaster in the territory.
US President Donald Trump called on Egypt and Jordan to take in majority of Gaza’s population, saying it was time to “cleanse” the territory, but his proposal was rejected by two Arab countries.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration announced that the cease-fire agreement between Israel and Lebanon, reached last November with American mediation, will be extended until February 18.
The deal ended more than a year of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group that has been attacking the Jewish state in solidarity with Hamas.
Israel it made clear last week that it would not meet a two-month deadline by Sunday to withdraw its army from southern Lebanon.
Israel argued that the deployment of the Lebanese army in areas that had been abandoned by both its troops and Hezbollah fighters was too slow to meet the deadline.
While Israeli forces still held territory inside Lebanon, hundreds of residents came under Israeli fire as they tried to return to their villages on foot.
According to the Lebanese Ministry of Health, 22 people were killed and 124 injured on Sunday.
