Hamas and Israel unblock ceasefire agreement and negotiate second phase

BarcelonaIsrael and Hamas have unblocked the ceasefire agreement in Gaza, which has been in place since last Saturday was blocked by Israel's refusal to release the 600 Palestinian prisoners The Israeli government did not hand over the Palestinians, saying the handover ceremonies for Israeli hostages were degrading, and Hamas considered this a violation of the agreement and said it would not release any more hostages. The Palestinians will be released between Wednesday and Thursday, and Hamas will hand over the bodies of four more hostages. The solution saves the first phase of the truce, which ends this Saturday.

A visit is now planned by Donald Trump's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, who has argued that negotiations for the second phase should continue. Witkoff has also spoken of a summit of real estate developers to discuss the future of Gaza, and the US president has since published A macabre video generated by artificial intelligence where he is seen sunbathing with Netanyahu on a beach in the Strip. Russia, which is negotiating a ceasefire in Ukraine with the United States without Europe or the Ukrainians, has positioned itself against Trump's plans: Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who met with the Emir of Qatar in Doha, has called it a "ticking time bomb."

It all comes as the funeral is being held in Israel for the Bibas family, who died in captivity in Gaza. Shiri Bibas (32) and her sons Ariel (4) and Kfrir (9) were buried a week after Hamas handed over their bodies within the ceasefire agreement. The Palestinian militia reported in November 2023 that the three had died in an Israeli bombing, along with their captors. The Israeli army denies this. The ceremony was private, but thousands of people accompanied the family to the southern Israeli city where mother and children were buried next to their maternal grandparents, killed in the October 7 attack on Kibbutz Nir Oz. The father, who survived captivity and was released by Hamas under the agreement, expressed his gratitude for the support he received.

The bodies of the four hostages will be released on Wednesday at the Kerem Shalom crossing without any ceremony. According to the Israeli press, they are four men aged between 50 and 86. In exchange, 620 Palestinian prisoners will be released, including 400 detained in Gaza in the current Israeli offensive and 50 Palestinians serving life sentences in Israeli prisons.

Several Palestinian and international organisations have warned of the situation of many civilian prisoners, such as 162 health professionals from the Strip who were imprisoned after the Israeli army raided hospitals and, according to the NGO Healthcare Workers Watch (HWW), remain in custody. Among them is Dr Husham Abu Safiya, director of the Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza, who was the last to leave the centre under Israeli siege. An Israeli television channel showed images a few days ago of him in Ofer prison, visibly weakened. The detention of medical personnel is illegal under international law and exacerbates the humanitarian crisis in the Strip. The situation in Gaza remains desperate for the population, following the systematic destruction of all life-supporting infrastructure: at least six babies have died of cold in the past two weeks and the prefabricated houses promised in the ceasefire agreement have still not arrived.