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During the combat halt, captives are anticipated to be released every day until Monday.
According to US President Joe Biden, there’s a “real” possibility that Israel’s four-day ceasefire with Gaza may be prolonged.
“I believe there is a good chance,” he told reporters on Friday, declining to comment on the length of the conflict that began on October 7 as a result of an unexpected Hamas strike inside Israel.
Reiterating his support for Israel, Biden stated, “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 we can.”
He emphasized that Israel’s objective to “eliminate” Hamas is still “legitimate.”
He simply stated that he has urged Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, to attempt to reduce the number of civilian deaths.
Following the 1,200-person Hamas attack on Israel, Israeli shelling has killed almost 15,000 Palestinians, the majority of them women and children.
The truce, which went into effect early on Friday, calls for the release of 150 Palestinian women and children who are among the thousands of people detained in Israeli jails in exchange for the release of 50 women and children detained in Gaza over the course of four days.
On Friday, Hamas freed 24 prisoners, including 13 Israelis, in return for the release of 39 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. On Saturday afternoon, more are anticipated to be made available.
“It’s only a start, but so far it’s gone well,” stated Biden following the release of the first prisoners held by Hamas.
Although Israel has indicated it is ready to extending the truce if more prisoners are released at a rate of ten per day—something Biden said he hoped would happen—both Israel and Hamas have pledged to continue fighting.
According to Hamas, the non-civilian Israelis it is detaining will only be swapped for the thousands of Palestinians suffering in appalling conditions in Israeli jails—many of whom are being imprisoned without being charged—in return.
As part of the truce, over 200 trucks carrying humanitarian supplies also entered the besieged area on Friday; on Saturday, the first supplies to reach northern Gaza since the beginning of the conflict arrived.
However, there is still a great deal of damage in both the north and the south of the Gaza Strip, and the UN reported on Friday that Israel greatly increased its strikes in Gaza prior to the truce being in place.
SOURCE:-ALJAZEERA
