Lolwah Rashid al-Khater, Qatar’s Minister of State for International Cooperation, has expressed hope that the four-day truce between Israel and Hamas be extended.
“We hope our efforts aiming at extending the humanitarian truce will be successful. This will enable more parties to deliver more relief aid,” she said.
She noted, “There are several paths being followed, including the diplomatic one.”
“To this end … efforts are being made, and talks being held in an attempt to have the truce extended,” she added.
She also hoped that there will be an increase in the quantity of humanitarian aid being delivered into the enclave.
Sunday, November 26, 2023 marked the third day of the ongoing truce.
Egypt disclosed that it has received lists of 13 Israelis and 39 Palestinians scheduled for release later on Sunday.
The exchange was scheduled to take place across Rafah crossing.
This will be the third batch released in the four-day truce deal, Diaa Rashwan, the head of Egypt’s State Information Service (SIS), said in a statement.
“The truce is proceeding without roadblocks,” the statement said, adding that 120 aid tucks crossed from Egypt to Gaza on Sunday including two fuel trucks and two with gas for cooking.
Qatari foreign ministry spokesman, Majed Al Ansari said that the Palestinians will be released in exchange for 13 Israelis being held in Gaza, in addition to three Thais and a Russian national.
The Israelis and foreign nationals “have already been handed over to the ICRC,” said the Qatari foreign ministry spokesman.
Israel later confirmed that that13 captives have been handed over to the Red Cross, nine of them children; one of them is thought to be a dual U.S citizen.
The Palestine Red Crescent also announced that it has sent 50 trucks of aid into “Gaza and the north.”
The Palestine Red Crescent reported earlier that a Palestinian farmer was killed and another injured after they were targeted by Israeli forces in the Maghazi refugee camp in the centre of Gaza.
There was no immediate comment from Israel on the report.
As the third day of the four-day truce neared its end, people inside the Gaza Strip made efforts to get all kinds of supplies for themselves that they were denied access to due to the relentless Israeli strikes on Gaza.
The people woke in the early hours of the morning to get food and water, to fill their gas canisters, and fill their cars with petrol in order to prepare for the possibility of a resumption in the fighting with the truce ending on Monday, November 27, 2023.
Some Palestinians returned to their homes to look for what remains.
Some were seen looking under the rubble, while others went to their farmlands to harvest olives.
Pope Welcomes Truce
Also on Sunday, Pope Francis welcomed the truce between Hamas and Israel.
He prayed for more captives to be released.
“Today we thank God because there is finally a truce between Israel and Palestine and some hostages have been freed,” the Argentinian Pontiff said in a statement read by a Vatican official at the weekly Angelus prayer.
“We pray that they all may be [freed] as quickly as possible and that more humanitarian aid arrives in Gaza and that they insist on dialogue,” the 86-year-old said.
He averred, “[Dialogue] is the only way, the only path to peace.”
“Those who do not want to hold a dialogue do not want peace,” he added.
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