Gaza Strip

The Presidentof the United States has arrived in Tel Aviv for the exchange of prisoners and hostages between Israel and Hamas and has expressed his satisfaction with the peace agreement to be signed today in Egypt because "everyone is in this agreement". 

A summary, in two words, of what will be news in the Present today.

It's a 20-48 age group, all male.

More than 30 international leaders will meet this Monday, including Donald Trump, Pedro Sanchez, and Emmanuel Macron, while Israel will not participate in the meeting.

The first phase of the agreement and the ceasefire in Gaza are already in place after the withdrawal of troops to the yellow line, following the plan proposed by Donald Trump and agreed by Hamas and Israel.

Xabier Madariagak, EITBk Ekialde Hurbilean duen ordezkari bereziak, Gazaren inguruan bizi den egoeraren berri eman du. Ehunka kamioi, merkantziaz gainezka, erabat suntsituta dagoen eremu batera sartzen ari dira. Kontserbak, ura eta detergenteak dira entregatzen ari diren merkantzietako batzuk.

Everything is ready for the release of the Israeli hostages. The Israeli army will take them from Gaza to the military base in Reime and from there to hospitals.

The last time they have called for the release of Israelis abducted from the attack of 7 October 2023 is in a different context, given the validity of the ceasefire. According to the agreement with the US mediation, within 72 hours, Hamas will release 20 people abducted and alive.

According to the UNRWA agency, humanitarian aid trucks have begun to enter the Rafah Pass in the direction of the Gaza Strip.

The images illustrate the current situation in Gaza. According to the Ministry of Health, there are 7000 dead under the rubble, 3600 missing persons, but as many suspect that no one will claim them, as 2700 families are believed to have been killed.

Thousands of Gazans have already begun to leave their shelters in the south of the city and return to Gaza, while many Israelite soldiers have not yet crossed the "yellow line", as the exchange of hostages and prisoners has not yet taken place.

It appears that the US President is planning to hold a sort of summit on Gaza in Egypt, where he intends to meet European and Arab leaders at the beginning of next week.

EITB will tell firsthand everything that happens in Gaza and Israel in the early hours of the truce. Xabier Madariaga is in Gaza. He has seen many Gazatis return to their homes or to what remains, to northern Gaza, after the end of the attacks. 

Thus, Israeli troops have begun to leave Gaza, and the 72-hour deadline for Hamas to release the hostages has begun.

The winner of the Nobel Peace Prize will be announced this Friday by the Swedish Academy and the President of the United States is among the candidates. 

Once the agreement with Hamas has been ratified, the ceasefire should enter into force within a maximum of 24 hours. The agreement also stipulates that the exchange of hostages with Palestinian prisoners must take place within a maximum of 72 hours. 

The President of the United States has stated that he will travel to Egypt to sign the agreement reached.

The United Nations will manage the distribution of this aid, as they did before. The EITB correspondent in the Middle East, Mikel Ayestaran, has explained that "the situation in Gaza is extreme and the priority is to combat famine. Israel has used hunger as a weapon over the past two years."

Barbara Ruiz Balzola, head of UNRWA Euskadi, said they are waiting for Israel's permission to enter Gaza and begin distributing aid. "The situation in Gaza is apocalyptic. 50,000 children suffer from acute malnutrition."

The head of EITB International has pointed out that the details of the agreement between Hamas and Israel are not yet known, but that "an agreement involving the silencing of weapons is always good news."