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00:00Let's speak to Palestinian journalist Shrookh Al-Aila in Darabala.
00:03Hello to you, Shrookh.
00:06This process we're seeing—let's begin with the Israeli hostages that were released
00:11earlier this Saturday.
00:13How did that unfold, and how would you contrast that to some of the images we saw earlier
00:18this week?
00:19Well, basically, today is the fourth releasing of the hostages here in the Gaza Strip since
00:25the ceasefire went into effect.
00:29Overseeing the scenes of today's releasing and comparing it with the releasing that happened
00:33in the past two days, we can see that there is, you know, a big difference in terms of
00:39the arrangement and the organizations of the scene, especially in the south.
00:42This is the first time that we witness hostages releasing in the south.
00:48We used to have them all in the north, but this time—this is the second time to find
00:55the hostages in the south, and it is quite and very obvious how it is organized and engineered
01:02in a good, suitable way that—let me say that—let me say that it is just a correction
01:10of a mistake that happened in the past two days.
01:15We have seen when they released the Arbil Yehuda and the other man in the past two days
01:25how it went—you know, it was a total mess, and it was really—let me say—a coordination
01:32between Hamas movement and the jihad movement.
01:37So maybe that is because of that sense that there was a little bit misunderstanding or
01:46communication between the two parties in terms of the organizing of the scene in the past
01:51two days.
01:52But today Hamas is ruling and controlling the scene in the south, in Khan Yunis, and
01:58we have seen how organized it is.
02:00And the hostages, they were free moving around to the stage, waving to the audience, and
02:06then heading to the vehicles of the Red Cross.
02:10And you mentioned how organized Hamas has been during these releases.
02:14That clearly a blow to the Israeli government, who had stated repeatedly that its goal was
02:20to eradicate Hamas.
02:22Well, basically, like, each time Hamas doing the releasing of the hostages, they are sending
02:32a message.
02:33For example, the releasing that happened today in the north, basically it is in the—it's
02:39quite short to the—quite close to the Ashate neighborhood, Ashate camp, and it is the camp
02:48that is just in front of the sea, the beach.
02:52And it was wiped out, you know, like a massive destruction in the area happened because of
02:58the, you know, the military invasion operations in the area by the Israeli army.
03:04But there is another message that we saw, like, all of us got embraced when we saw in
03:11the camera today that the leader of Hamas in Ashate camp was shown in the stage.
03:24And this man have been, like, before, like, Israel, like, issued that they really killed
03:30him during their operations in Gaza.
03:36And what we see today in the camera is just the opposite.
03:41And this is another message that Hamas is sending to the Israeli government, that they
03:46are, you know, there are lots of surprises.
03:48According to Hamas, they are saying that they are hiding lots of surprises to the Israeli
03:53army.
03:55Keeping in mind that in the past two days, Hamas declared, officially declared, the murder
04:02of the Mohammed David, the leader, the head of the Hamas movement here in Gaza, and other
04:09leaders.
04:10They have been killed in several locations during the genocide.
04:16And it's the first time Hamas is officially stating this in the media.
04:20And, like, Israel have, Israel already mentioned this in the media before, during the genocide,
04:28basically.
04:29But this is the first time Hamas declared it.
04:32According to Hamas, they are saying that they went to the place of the attack, and they
04:36were able to extract the bodies or what left of the bodies, decomposed bodies.
04:41And now they can declare officially that they are, they are gone.
04:47And let me say, for the, for the other scenes, like, Hamas is trying as much as it can to
04:57show that they are, you know, degrading the scene and making more obvious to the media
05:04that how they are releasing, and we are expecting more, another two more releasing in the upcoming
05:15two weeks.
05:16And—
05:17Shrouk, sorry to cut in.
05:18Sorry to cut in.
05:19I was wondering if you could give some context about the Palestinian prisoners being released
05:24in Ramallah, 183 of them being released.
05:29Can you give us a breakdown about who they are?
05:33OK.
05:34So, for the first time, the—today, we are expecting the releasing of 111 Palestinian
05:43prisoners today in Khan Yunis, in the European hospital.
05:48Those 111 prisoners have been captured during the genocide, like, whether in the ground
05:58invasion or in their way fleeing from the north to the south by the so-called the safe
06:06route, and—or, like, during the operations on hospitals.
06:12So they have been captured during the genocide, like, inside the city.
06:17They were inside the city.
06:19And according to Israel, those have been—they are not included in the 7th of October attacks.
06:27So they are from inside the cities.
06:29And it is a sign of relieving for thousands of the families.
06:32We are, like, according to the resources, that there is almost, like, plus 3,000 Palestinian
06:41prisoners have been captured from Gaza during the genocide.
06:44So, in this vase, we are expecting almost 1,000 to be released in several days, in several
06:53weeks, according to the stage we are in.
06:57And let me say, this is the first window of hope for the families of those prisoners here
07:04in Gaza.
07:05Oh, let me—
07:06Those who have—
07:07Truc, I want to step in.
07:08I'm sorry to cut you off again.
07:10This window of hope, we just heard from our correspondent in Tel Aviv, as well as our
07:15senior anchor in the occupied West Bank.
07:18They're saying there's meated joy about what's next, the current phase ongoing, but
07:21the second phase of the deal, talks expected to resume about that.
07:25That would cover more exchanges, include discussions on a more permanent end to war.
07:31In Gaza, is there optimism about that next—that second phase?
07:38Well, like, each time we go through these stages, we go through the steps of the phase
07:45of this agreement, we see—and, like, having it happening and taking an action here on
07:51the ground, it is such a sign, like, a positive sign that we are on track, and this ceasefire
07:59is going on track, and it will be holding longer.
08:03And it gives us a sense of optimism for those people here in Gaza.
08:10And like, the biggest sign here is the returning from the south to the north.
08:17Like, we have been seeing how the Israeli army forced people to flee the north to the
08:23south, and by, like, erasing this block between the two locations here in the Strip.
08:30So, it is a big sign that we are on a track and, like, getting those people, those displaced
08:36people—like, there are over 1 million people—returning to the north after 15 months of being locked
08:42down in the south.
08:44It is such a big sign that we are on track.
08:48This doesn't mean that we are expecting it to collapse at any moment.
08:53Nobody can expect it, but on the ground, at what we are seeing, having it taking action,
08:59it is a good step forward.
09:02Yes, yes.
09:03And we're running out of time, but I want to ask you one more important question.
09:06You're in central Gaza.
09:08In the south, something happened today that's quite important, as well.
09:12In Rafah, what more can you tell us about that?
09:16Well, since the military invasion in Rafah that took place for almost nine months, the
09:24Israeli army closed the Rafah-Kursi border, you know, which is the only border that connects
09:30Gaza but outside the world.
09:34And over the closing of this border, nobody was able to evacuate Gaza, unless there are
09:43some patients have been evacuated under the sponsorship of the WHO.
09:49But today is the first day of having the border opened under the administration of
09:56Egypt, America, and the BA, the Palestinian Authority.
10:05So today, 15 patients will be evacuated in Gaza to their destination in terms of the
10:13treatment journey, along with their families.
10:19And it is such a good sign and a relief that this border is officially open.
10:25And that is why I just mentioned that each day we are witnessing something on the ground
10:31that, you know, elaborate that we are somehow on the track in making this ceasefire a way
10:38longer.
10:39We are making it open, and according to the stages, it will be opening more in the future
10:44to allowing people stuck outside Gaza to return and those who are inside want to leave Gaza.
10:52What we are expecting is to happen in the future.
10:54Shrouk, thank you very much for your time and speaking to Shrouk Al-Aila, joining us
10:59from Dar al-Bala in central Gaza.