Israel, Hamas Complete Second Hostage-Prisoner Exchange

Facts

• Israeli authorities confirmed on Sunday morning that a second hostage-prisoner exchange had taken place the previous night after an hours-long delay raised concerns over the four-day truce's execution.¹
• A group of 17 hostages — 13 Israelis and four Thai nationals — was handed over to the Red Cross before they crossed into Israel through Egypt's Rafah border crossing.²
• In response, Israel said it had released 39 Palestinian prisoners to the West Bank, including Israa Jaabis, who was charged with attempted murder after her car exploded near an Israeli checkpoint in 2015.³
• The swap was reportedly delayed after Hamas accused Israel of violating parts of the agreement related to the selection of Palestinian prisoners being released and to the amount of aid entering Gaza.⁴
• Meanwhile, Qatar is hoping that successful hostage-prisoner exchanges will help extend the ceasefire beyond the agreed-upon four days and allow it to 'get into more serious discussions about the rest of the hostages.'⁵
• Gaza's health ministry reports that the conflict has left over 14K people in the Gaza Strip dead, while the official Israeli death toll stands at 1.2K people.⁶

Sources: ¹The New York Times, ²The Times of Israel, ³Al Jazeera, ⁴CNN (a), ⁵CNN (b) and ⁶Haaretz.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by The Guardian. The drama around the second hostage-prisoner swap has exposed the fragile nature of this short-term temporary ceasefire agreement, as neither Hamas nor Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu can afford to extend a pause in hostilities. The pro-Palestinian militant group ruling the Gaza Strip would lose leverage over Israel if all hostages were freed, and Israel's ultimate goal is to eliminate Hamas from the region.
• Narrative B, as provided by Sky News. It was anticipated that the ceasefire would not progress smoothly, especially due to the degree of animosity and lack of trust between Israel and Hamas. However, this second successful exchange boosts optimism for extending the deal beyond four days. While Hamas would like the temporary truce to become permanent, to recover from Israel's seven-week-long assault, Israel want to bring its citizens home before the war is resumed.

Predictions