The world witnessed a great sigh of relief on Oct. 13 when the first phase of U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace agreement for Gaza took effect. Hamas freed the remaining 20 living Israeli hostages, while in return, Israel released nearly 2,000 Palestinians from Israeli prisons. Hamas also turned over the bodies of 4 deceased hostages, leaving 24 to be recovered.
The United Nations said humanitarian aid is now entering Gaza, in what they called a “humanitarian scale-up,” reported Drop Site News. This included cooking gas, tents for displaced families, frozen meat, fruit, flour, and medical supplies, delivered for the first time since March. At the same time, the UN is preparing to take over deliveries of food and other supplies to Gaza, with reports that there are 170,000 tons of supplies waiting to be delivered once it is cleared by Israel. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), the phony food delivery agency responsible for killing hundreds of Palestinians searching for meals, has been temporarily shut down. UNRWA spokesman Jonathan Fowler said the organization has enough food in its warehouses for Gaza’s entire population for three months, though the role UNRWA will be allowed to play remains unclear.
Among the Palestinians freed were 250 sentenced to long or life sentences, 154 of whom were immediately deported to Egypt upon their release, while more than 1,700 had been kidnapped from Gaza during Israel’s two-year war of genocide. Not released were several high-profile leaders, including Marwan Barghouti, a popular Fatah military leader; Ahmad Sa’adat, head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine; and senior Hamas members Hassan Salama, Abdullah Barghouti (no relation), Ibrahim Hamed, and Abbas al-Sayed.
