2nd exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners delayed

New Delhi: The expected release of a second group of hostages held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel was delayed for hours Saturday as the militant group accused Israel of not complying with the deal's terms. The last-minute snag created a tense standoff on the second day of what was meant to be a four-day cease-fire.

Until Saturday afternoon, it still appeared everything was going according to plan. Aid trucks were entering Gaza, Hamas handed a list of more than a dozen hostages slated for release to mediators Qatar and Egypt, and Israel's Prison Service prepared a list of dozens of Palestinian prisoners for release.

But by nightfall, as the hostages should have emerged from Gaza, Hamas announced that it was delaying the release over what it said were Israeli truce violations. The group alleged the aid deliveries permitted by Israel fell short of what was promised, and that not enough of the aid was reaching northern Gaza the focus of Israel's ground offensive and the main combat zone. Hamas also said not enough veteran prisoners were freed in the first swap on Friday.

"This is putting the deal in danger and we have spoken mediators about that," Osama Hamdan, a senior Hamas official, said in Beirut.

While uncertainty around the details of the exchange remained, there was some optimism, too, amid scenes of joyous families reuniting on both sides. On the first day of the four-day cease-fire, Hamas released 24 of the roughly 240 hostages taken during its Oct 7 attack on Israel that triggered the war, and Israel freed 39 Palestinians from prison. Those freed in Gaza were 13 Israelis, 10 Thais and a Filipino.

Earlier Saturday, Hamas officials provided conflicting reports on whether 13 or 14 hostages were set for release. With three Palestinian prisoners to be freed for each hostage under the deal, the corresponding number of freed Palestinian prisoners was to be 39 or 42.

Overall, Hamas is to release at least 50 Israeli hostages, and Israel 150 Palestinian prisoners, during the four-day truce all woman and minors.

Israel has said the truce can be extended an extra day for every additional 10 hostages freed something US President Joe Biden said he hoped would occur.

Separately, a Qatari delegation arrived in Israel on Saturday to coordinate with parties on the ground and "ensure the deal continues to move smoothly," according to a diplomat briefed on the visit. The diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to discuss details with the media.

The start of the pause brought the first quiet for 2.3 million Palestinians reeling from relentless Israeli bombardment that has killed thousands, driven three-quarters of the population from their homes and levelled residential areas. Rocket fire from Gaza militants into Israel went silent.

War-weary Palestinians in northern Gaza, the focus of Israel's ground offensive, returned to the streets, crunching over rubble between shattered buildings and at times digging through it with bare hands. At the Indonesian hospital in Jabaliya, besieged by the Israeli military earlier this month, bodies lay in the courtyard and outside the main gate.

For Emad Abu Hajer, a resident of the Jabaliya refugee camp in the Gaza City area, the pause meant he could again search through the remains of his home, which was flattened in an Israeli attack last week.

He found the bodies of a cousin and nephew, bring the death toll in the attack to 19. With his sister and two other relatives still missing, he resumed his digging Saturday.

"We want to find them and bury them in dignity," he said.

The United Nations said the pause enabled it to scale up the delivery of food, water, and medicine to the largest volume since the resumption of aid convoys on Oct 21. It was also able to deliver 129,000 litres (34,078 gallons) of fuel just over 10% of the daily pre-war volume as well as cooking gas, a first since the war began.

In the southern city of Khan Younis on Saturday, a long line of people with containers waited outside a filling station. Hossam Fayad lamented that the pause in fighting was only for four days.

"I wish it could be extended until people's conditions improved," he said.

For the first time in over a month, aid reached northern Gaza. The Palestinian Red Crescent said 61 trucks carrying food, water and medical supplies headed there on Saturday, the largest aid convoy to reach the area yet.

The UN said it and the Palestinian Red Crescent were also able to evacuate 40 patients and family members from a hospital in Gaza City, where much of the fighting has taken place, to a hospital in Khan Younis.

The relief brought by the cease-fire has been tempered, however. For Israelis, by the fact that not all hostages will be freed. For Palestinians, by the brevity of the pause.

At least two Palestinians were injured Saturday at a tense West Bank checkpoint where Israel was to free prisoners. Israeli security forces fired tear gas and rubber bullets at Palestinians gathered at Beitunia checkpoint. It was not clear how the two were injured. (AP)