No Gaza Captives Will Be Released Before Friday, Israel Officials Say Amid Reports Of Delay In 'Ceasefire' Deal

Updated on: 23 November 2023 2:42 am

An Israeli army tank manoeuvers along Israels border with the Gaza Strip

Even as Israel and Hamas agreed to a four-day ceasefire deal in the war on Gaza, Israel's national security adviser said in a late-night announcement that the deal would not take effect before Friday, a day later than originally expected. The deal comes at a time when the devastating war on Gaza stretched over into its sixth week, killing over 11,000 Palestinians, two-thirds of them women and minors, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.

However, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, joined by the two other members of his special war cabinet, told a nationally televised news conference that the war would resume after the truce expires. Israel's goals are to destroy Hamas' military capabilities and return all 240 hostages held captive in Gaza.

"I want to be clear. The war is continuing. The war is continuing. We will continue it until we achieve all our goals," Netanyahu said, adding he had delivered the same message in a phone call to US President Joe Biden. He also said he had instructed the Mossad spy agency to hunt down Hamas' exiled leadership "wherever they are".

While the cease-fire will grant Palestinians in Gaza a brief calm, the hundreds of thousands who have fled the combat zone and headed south are not expected to be able to head back. Israeli troops are expected to remain in their positions in northern Gaza and are not withdrawing.

Further, once the cease-fire ends, airstrikes will likely resume and troops will continue their push throughout northern Gaza before their expected foray into the south at an unknown time. Gaza residents will have to brace for a resumption of hostilities.

Palestinian health officials in Gaza said Tuesday that they have lost the ability to count the dead because of the collapse of parts of the enclave's health system and the difficulty of retrieving bodies from areas overrun by Israeli tanks and troops.

The Health Ministry in Gaza, which carefully tracked casualties over the first five weeks of war, gave its most recent death toll of 11,078 on November 10. The United Nations humanitarian office, which cites the Health Ministry death toll in its regular reports, still refers to 11,078 as the last verified death toll from the war.