Hamas to release captives on Saturday after forcing Israel to increase aid deliveries
Dozens of caravans and bulldozers have entered the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing awaiting entry into Gaza, as Hamas has said it will abide by the ceasefire deal and release Israeli captives as scheduled.
Israeli authorities are expected to allow these vehicles through the Philadelphia corridor that runs along Egypt's boundary with Gaza and then into the Palestinian enclave via the Israeli-controlled Karem Abu Salem crossing.
The entry of aid, in particular temporary housing for displaced Palestinians, has been obstructed by Israel in controvention of last month's ceasefire agreement.
That prompted Hamas to say it would delay the release of captives until aid flows and other violations are addressed.
Though the convoys in Rafah have raised optimism that the truce agreement will hold, after Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu threatened to resume fighting, a spokesman for the Israeli prime minister said differences remain between Israel and Hamas and the aid was not yet entering Gaza.
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For the past month, Israel has blocked the entry of the homes and bulldozers, which form part of the "humanitarian protocol" in the ceasefire agreement.
This has severely hindered efforts to clear rubble, search for the missing and recover the bodies of thousands of victims still trapped beneath the debris.
Earlier this week, the Palestinian health ministry said that at least 641 bodies had been retrieved since the ceasefire began on 19 January, but thousands more are thought to be under the rubble.
Hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians have found it impossible to return to their homes in northern Gaza for the past three weeks, not only because homes were destroyed but also due to the complete devastation of infrastructure, including sewage systems, water wells and electricity networks.
The Gaza municipality, overwhelmed by thousands of requests to clear rubble blocking roads and repair vital infrastructure, has been unable to respond due to the lack of necessary vehicles and equipment.
Wednesday marked the highest number of aid trucks entering Gaza, with Israel meeting the daily quota required by the truce deal for the first time.
A total of 801 trucks entered Gaza, 231 of which headed towards the northern part of the enclave, which has endured a severe lack of access to humanitarian aid, including food and water, due to Israeli restrictions.
The lack of aid in the north and Israel's failure to meet US-set guidelines on aid distribution has previously been criticised by international aid groups in a 19-page report.
Phase two of the truce deal
After 15 months of brutal violence in which 48,200 Palestinians were killed, millions displaced and the Gaza Strip reduced to rubble, the plan for a halt to the fighting and exchange of Palestinian prisoners and detainees for Israeli captives seemed to augur some calm - and even an end to the war.
But since the inauguration of Trump as US president and his declared plan to "clean out" two million Palestinians from Gaza and "own it", alongside accusations by Hamas that Israel has failed to stick to the terms of the agreement, the ceasefire is now in doubt.
Hamas said that, in addition to Israeli attacks on Gaza since the truce began, Israel has also delayed the return of displaced Palestinians to northern Gaza and the increase of aid, which is a key commitment of the ceasefire agreement.
Meanwhile in Israel, the families of the captives still held in Gaza also fear the collapse of the deal and have accused Netanyahu of purposely sabotaging the agreement.
Israel has repeatedly violated the ceasefire agreement, hindered aid and shown little evidence that it is serious about negotiations that would end the war and free all the captives.
On Tuesday, the Palestinian health ministry said that 92 people have been killed and 822 wounded by the Israeli army since the start of the truce.
After Hamas called on Israel to keep to the terms of the deal if it wanted the next tranche of captives released on Saturday as usual, Netanyahu and Trump threatened “all hell will break loose” unless all the living captives are released instead.
The Palestinian group has said in a statement that it is committed to the agreement and does not want to see it collapse.
Mediators are seeking to ensure that Israel abides by a humanitarian protocol and resumes exchanges of Israeli captives held in Gaza for Palestinian captives held by Israel on Saturday, said Hamas spokesperson Abdul Latif al-Qanou.
Qanou added that Hamas was "eager to implement [the ceasefire] and oblige the occupation to fully implement it".
Palestinian sources told Israeli newspaper Haaretz that the two sides have already reached a deal on the second phase of the ceasefire during which three captives will be released on Saturday, while Israel increases the entry of aid into Gaza.
The aid will mostly include tents, gas and medical equipment, Haaretz reported, adding that the entry of mobile shelters will depend on their production process in neighbouring Egypt.
Meanwhile, Al Jazeera has reported that talks to continue implementing the Gaza ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas have succeeded.
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