Israel is worried whether more hostages will be released today – 13 names are on a list. There are also visitors from Germany: Federal President Steinmeier and Bundestag President Bas are staying until tomorrow.
The whole of Israel is waiting to see whether it will be possible again today to free more Israeli and foreign hostages from the hands of Hamas, after the 41 hostages that have been released so far. And the big question is whether there will be further delays.
On Saturday, the terrorist group accused Israel of not complying with parts of the agreement. The release was delayed for hours. Only after Qatar and the USA got involved did the exchange of hostages and Palestinian prisoners get underway as planned.
There is great mistrust
The liberal Knesset member Haim Yellin, who himself comes from the destroyed Kibbutz Beeri, sees the delaying tactics as a perfidious game by Hamas leader Jachia Sinwar: “We don’t trust him to go a millimeter beyond his path. We are sure that he will do another He’s going to get another day of ceasefire by keeping us waiting a little longer. Today it’s midnight, tomorrow it will be 2 a.m. Then 4 a.m. – and in the end he gets another day without us even noticing have.”
It’s a perfidious game of nerves – especially for the relatives of the hostages, who were informed the day before that their loved ones might be released. A list of 13 names is already available. These are the hostages who are supposed to be released later on Sunday.
Steinmeier: “Difficult but necessary journey”
A topic that will also concern German Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Steinmeier is on a two-day visit to Israel with Bundestag President Bärbel Bas. Not an easy visit, as he emphasizes in a previously published video message.
It may be a difficult journey, but it is necessary. I’m going to an Israel that is fighting back. That fights for its existence. An Israel that is increasingly being criticized by the world public for precisely this resistance. Since its founding 75 years ago, Israel has always been threatened in a hostile neighborhood. But never has Israel been so deeply wounded as it was on October 7th. Never since the Holocaust have so many Jews been murdered in a single day. This is the turning point of October 7th.
A day that brought Israel to war. A war that is set to continue immediately after the end of the agreement between Israel and Hamas. Israeli Chief of General Staff Herzi Halevi made this clear this morning.
The previous military conflict had created the conditions for the first hostages to be released, he said. When this phase is completed, the military will return to operations with determination, Halevi said. To free more hostages to completely destroy Hamas.
Julio Segador, ARD Tel Aviv, tagesschau, November 26, 2023 2:03 p.m