The foreign ministers of Jordan, Qatar, Palestine, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Egypt said on November 29: “We want a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.” Bloomberg reported that according to an informed source: negotiators, including Qatar and the United States, insisted on extending the truce in Gaza for another two days. Talks are still ongoing with Qatar to extend it. Hamas has embraced this demand while Israel takes its time. He has already let Hamas and related groups know that he is not interested in receiving the bodies of his deceased. And it does not intend to release the Hamas “big names” detained in prison.
And they won’t want it, especially now that a released prisoner was among the perpetrators of the attack in Jerusalem which led to the death of three people and twelve injuries of varying degrees. These are the brothers Murad and Ibrahim Al-Nimr, aged 38 and 30, the former, before being released as part of the exchange, was serving a 10-year sentence for affiliation with Hamas.
The Al-Qassam Brigades claimed responsibility for the ambush at the bus station in the Ramot neighborhood in Jerusalem: “The operation is a warning message directed against the violations committed by Ben Gvir and his gang against the male and female prisoners in the occupation prisons”. We read in the press release. The Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades also commented on the terrorist attack in Ramot by stating: “This operation is part of the responsibility to respond to the crimes of the occupation that kills children and women in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank, and desecrating the Al Aqsa Mosque and holy sites, and a warning message directed against the violations practiced by Ben Gvir and his gang against male and female prisoners in occupation prisons.”
Let us remember that Jerusalem and the West Bank are not part of the truce agreement which is inherent only to Gaza. A second ambush against the Israelis occurred in Tammoun, West Bank which led to the wounding of two Israeli soldiers near the village of Atuf, in the north of the Jordan Valley by Karem Khaled Bani Odeh. This attack was also claimed by the social networks of al Quds Brigades.
The Arab police instead arrested a settler who wanted to enter al Aqsa with a knife hidden in his clothing.
The machine for the liberation of the hostages seized on October 7th, however, continues, the sixth group of Israeli hostages included 5 children and 7 women, and was duly delivered by the Qassam and Quds on November 29th around 6:00 pm Italian time in exchange for 30 Palestinians, and as Israel Hayom explained, a seventh exchange is awaited: “A senior Israeli security official: “After having implemented the sixth batch of the agreement on prisoners today (November 29th ed.), Hamas will send a another list for tomorrow’s batch of prisoners, and this means that the ceasefire will continue for at least another day.” The list arrived at 06.43 Italian time, 15 minutes before the set deadline, eight Israelis released. The Israeli government spokesman said 102 hostages had been released, including 78 Israelis in Gaza. The 10,000 agricultural workers among the first to be released from the brigades have all returned to Thailand. There are still at least 140 hostages inside Gaza. For whom the equation 10 hostages per day for a one-day truce applies. Benjamin Netanyahu, commenting on the operation in Jerusalem: “We will eliminate all Hamas saboteurs in Gaza, in Jerusalem, in the West Bank and everywhere, and we will increase the distribution of weapons.”
Israel simultaneously carries out its arrest campaign: 30 Palestinians taken from the city of Biddu, north-west of Jerusalem. The Prisoners’ Affairs Authority reported that between the 29th and 30th morning, the Israelis arrested at least 40 Palestinians from the West Bank, including two girls. The arrest operations were concentrated in the governorates of Hebron, Bethlehem and Jerusalem, and the rest of the arrests were spread across the governorates of Jericho, Qalqilya and Tubas. Clashes and deaths were recorded in all areas. The number of detainees has reached 3,365 since October 7.
The festive atmosphere in the Palestinian streets is about to come to an end, Hamas declared: “The efforts to extend the truce have not yet matured.” “The resistance prepared for every eventuality after the end of the truce.” Hamas leader Osama Hamdan said: “We will not talk about exchanging our Israeli military prisoners before stopping Israeli aggression and lifting the siege of Gaza.” Hamas is ready to exchange all civilians in exchange for days of truce. Aware that as soon as the exchanges are finished Israel will attack. For this reason Hamas has prepared “trapped” houses, ambushes and mined tunnels.
The Al-Qassam Brigades ask their operational forces to remain in high combat readiness in the final hours of the truce in anticipation of further fighting if this is not renewed, and to remain in that state unless a declaration is issued official confirming the extension of the truce.
It is not known whether the captive Israeli soldiers will return home: the deputy secretary general of Islamic Jihad, Muhammad al-Hindi, told Al-Mayadeen: “The large number of officers and soldiers captured by the resistance has a different price from that current and will force the occupation into a major swap deal.”
Tension remains very high in Jerusalem and in the West Bank where the camps are regularly attacked by Israel in search of Hamas affiliates, yesterday it was the turn of Tulkarem.
On November 29 in Gaza, Israeli ships fired towards Deir al-Balah beach, in the center of the Gaza Strip. IDF fired heavily in Al-Nasr neighborhood and on the outskirts of Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in Gaza.
Antonio Albanese e Graziella Giangiulio
