Hamas calls for supporters in West Bank and beyond to rise up against Israel
Hamas has called on its supporters in the West Bank and elsewhere to rise up against Israeli forces despite earlier agreeing to a ceasefire and hostage exchange in Gaza.
On Thursday, Hamas officials signed off on a four-day ceasefire with Israel but hours later a spokesman for the terrorist group’s armed wing called for an escalation of “confrontation” outside of Gaza.
“We call for escalation of the confrontation with the occupation throughout the West Bank and all resistance fronts,” Abu Ubaida said.
It was hoped that any pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas in Gaza would also halt skirmishes between the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the militant group Hezbollah, which is based in Lebanon.
However, a spokesman for Qatar’s foreign ministry told reporters on Thursday that it mediated only between Israel and Hamas.
“We are not talking about other fronts. We talk specifically about the situation in Gaza,” Majed Al-Ansari said.
The UN, which keeps a tally of casualties in the West Bank, declared October to be the deadliest period in the territory in more than two decades, as Israeli settler violence against Palestinians intensified.
However, Palestinian attacks against the IDF have not dramatically risen in recent weeks, raising the question of how much sway Hamas holds in the occupied West Bank.
Earlier on Thursday, al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, praised the truce and hostage exchange scheduled to begin on Friday and pledged to respect it.
It said that the deal would allow 200 aid trucks to deliver food and medication, as well as four trucks with fuel to enter Gaza from Egypt.
Qatar, which helped mediate the deal, said it hoped that the agreement could bring about a permanent end of the hostilities.
Mr Al-Ansari told reporters that it was in everyone’s interests to “put an end to this war that everyone is suffering from”.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, and other officials in the country have insisted that the ceasefire will not exceed nine days and that the IDF will return to its task of wiping out Hamas in Gaza.
On Thursday, Yoav Gallant, the Israeli defence minister, told troops that he was expecting “at least two more months of fighting in Gaza”.
He said: “This will be a short respite, at the end of which fighting will continue intensely, and pressure will be made to bring back more hostages.”
Families of the hostages remain on edge, with the Qatar-brokered deal offering the first chance to see their loved ones after almost 50 days of captivity.
The agreement mentioned only children and their mothers, meaning that men and IDF soldiers will remain captive.
On Thursday, the mother of a young man abducted by Hamas from a rave festival near Gaza told the Kan public radio station that she was trying to come to terms with the fact that it will be other families, rather than hers, who will be reunited with their loved ones on Friday.
“It is very painful,” said Shelly Shem Tov, whose 21-year-old son Omer was taken to Gaza.
“And yet I am happy for those who will get their children home.”
