The ceasefire in the Middle East ended after a week. The Israeli army began shelling Gaza again on Friday morning. Freelance journalist Gisela Dachs reports from Tel Aviv and provides initial assessments of the situation on site – and explains why the ceasefire was not extended again.
SRF News: What is the situation in Israel?
Gisela Dachs: Hamas’ first rocket attacks on Israel occurred early in the morning. At the moment these are still limited to the area bordering the Gaza Strip. In doing so, Hamas violated the ceasefire that had been agreed for seven days. Since then, Israel has again been attacking Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli army says the extremist Hamas did not respect the ceasefire. How do you talk about what’s going on in Israel?
First there were the morning rocket attacks, which have continued ever since. In the meantime, the Israeli home front has tightened the regulations that school operations in the greater Tel Aviv area can only take place if there are shelters there. It is therefore expected that further attacks will extend beyond the immediate border area.
In addition to the rocket fire, there was probably another main reason for the end of the ceasefire. Namely, Hamas was unable to deliver, as promised, a list for the release of at least ten women held in the Gaza Strip. There are currently 13 women still being held hostage there. According to the agreement between Israel and Hamas, all women and children should ultimately be released so that the ceasefire continues.
What does the end of the ceasefire mean for the remaining hostages?
There is currently talk that there are still 150 Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip. So far, 81 Israeli hostages have been released. There are also 24 who only have foreign citizenship. The question was why Hamas is having such a hard time with these lists – although it is unclear whether this is a pretext by Hamas or not. In any case, it claims that it does not have access to some hostages because they are in the hands of other rival organizations.
It is not known how many hostages Hamas has access to – and how many of them are still alive.
It is also assumed that many of the hostages could be dead. A third of the hostages have cancer or suffer from chronic illnesses. If they have not received care, their health will certainly not have improved. So the situation is quite unclear. It is not known how many hostages Hamas has access to – and how many of them are still alive.
So has Hamas “run out” of hostages, so to speak?
At least that’s what’s in the room. A mother with two small children, including a baby, is still missing. They were actually certain that they would be among the hostages that would be released during the ceasefire. Two days ago, Hamas announced that this family had died in an Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip.
Legend:
Antony Blinken in Tel Aviv.
Keystone/AP/Saul Loeb
The fighting in the Gaza Strip continues. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had previously made demands on the Israeli government in this case. At a media conference in Tel Aviv, Blinken called on them to better protect the civilian population in Gaza.
He did this at a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other government representatives. Specifically, Blinken demanded that Israel make plans to protect civilians. These must be done before the military operation in the Gaza Strip is resumed.
Of course this cannot be verified. Hamas has spread a lot of false news in recent days. There is also psychological warfare behind this. Now the ceasefire has come to an end. However, it cannot be ruled out that there are still immediate attempts to get the remaining 13 women out of their captivity.
The interview was conducted by Nina Gygax.