Israeli and Hamas officials said on Tuesday they had reached an agreement to swap the bodies of dead hostages for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, keeping a fragile truce in place for at least a few more days.
Israel postponed the release of 620 Palestinian prisoners from Saturday to protest Hamas’ mistreatment of the hostages. The Palestinian group said the delay was a “serious violation” of the ceasefire and negotiations on a second phase of the truce agreement were impossible until they were released.
The impasse threatened to break the ceasefire as the six-week first phase of the deal expires this weekend. But late Tuesday night, Hamas said agreement on the second phase of the deal was reached during a visit to Cairo by a delegation led by Khalil al-Hayya, a senior political official on the negotiating team. Palestinian prisoners will be released at the same time as the bodies of Israeli hostages are handed over. In addition, a new group of Palestinian prisoners will be released, Hamas said in a statement.
Israeli media reported that the exchange could take place as early as Wednesday. The Ynet news website specified that the Israeli bodies would be handed over to Egyptian authorities without any public ceremony.
6 babies die from cold in Gaza during fragile ceasefire
The number of babies who died of hypothermia in the Gaza Strip has reached six, according to the enclave’s authorities, with one more in critical condition in intensive care.
Thousands of refugees in the Gaza Strip are facing hypothermia due to the inability to heat their homes and shelter from the rain. Low temperatures are threatening the lives of young children, as evidenced by a sharp increase in hospital admissions. Of the eight babies admitted with hypothermia, six have died and one baby is in a critical condition in the intensive care unit of the charity Patient’s Friends Society (PFBS).
Doctors in the Palestinian enclave are expressing alarm at the rising number of hypothermia cases among children. They note that many families are unable to keep their newborns warm due to crumbling infrastructure and power cuts. PFBS Chief Medical Officer Saeed Salah had previously reported the deaths of three newborns from hypothermia and related complications, as well as eight hypothermia patients, three of whom were in critical condition.
These events highlight the tragic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, where cold weather conditions, lack of resources and destroyed infrastructure pose additional threats to vulnerable populations.
