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International mediators resolved differences over fragile ceasefires in Gaza and Lebanon late Sunday after clashes with the Israeli military and civilians threatened to undermine both agreements.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he would release three hostages in Gaza on Thursday, including Arbel Yehud and the first major crisis of the pre-ceasefire agreement in Gaza, which came into force a week ago.
In return, Israel will return displaced Palestinians in Gaza to their homes in the north of the shattered territory starting Monday.
The issue of Yehud’s release had strained the US ceasefire between Israel and Hamas despite the release Saturday of four female Israeli soldiers from Gaza and 200 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons.
The Israeli officials claimed Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that controls Gaza, violated the agreement when it released the soldiers before Yehud, the last civilian female hostage still believed to be alive in Gaza.
Israel retaliated by delaying its withdrawal from the strategic Netzarim corridor, which bisects northern and southern Gaza and prevents hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from returning to the northern part of the territory, as stipulated in the agreement.
At the weekend, crowds of Palestinians gathered near the corridor, with some families outside feeling cold in the winter.
The Israeli military said it had “fired warning shots at several meetings of dozens of suspects who were advancing toward the troops and posing a threat to them.”
Health authorities in Gaza said two people were killed and nine others were injured in Sunday’s clashes.
The US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators were able to resolve the crisis by effectively obtaining an additional hostage release this Thursday, including Yehud.
The weekly hostage release, scheduled to take place next Saturday, will move forward as planned. Three more Israelis are expected to be freed, Israeli officials said.
In return, several hundred Palestinian prisoners will also be released from Israeli prisons.
Hamas gave Israel a list of remaining hostages in captivity on Sunday, as part of the first 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 Gaza That has killed more than 47,000 people and fueled a humanitarian disaster in the territory.
US President Donald Trump has called on Egypt and Jordan to do so to record Most of Gaza’s population said it was time to “clean up” the area, but his proposal was rejected by the two Arab countries.
Meanwhile, Trump’s administration announced that the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon, reached through American mediation last November, will be extended until February 18.
The agreement capped more than a year of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group that attacked the Jewish state in solidarity with Hamas.
Israel Last week it became clear it would not meet Sunday’s two-month deadline to withdraw the military from southern Lebanon.
Israel has claimed that the Lebanese army’s operations in areas cleared of both its troops and Hezbollah fighters have been too slow to meet the deadline.
With Israeli forces still holding territory in Lebanon, hundreds of residents came under Israeli fire as they tried to return to their villages.
According to Lebanon’s Health Ministry, 22 people were killed and 124 injured on Sunday.
