Israel-Hamas War Live: Palestinians look for survivors after an Israeli strike on the Gaza Strip in Rafah. (AP)Israel-Hamas War Highlights (November 24): Twenty-four hostages, including 13 Israeli captives, held in Gaza were released by Hamas Friday evening as part of a temporary truce and hostage swap deal agreed under Qatari and Egyptian mediation. Israel, on its part, released a total of 39 women and children detained in the country’s jails, Qatar’s foreign ministry said.
Meanwhile, humanitarian aid supplies entered Gaza ahead of hostage release as a four-day ceasefire between Israel and Hamas began today, Reuters reported. Israel and Hamas agreed early on Wednesday (November 22) to a ceasefire in Gaza for at least four days, to let in humanitarian aid and free at least 50 hostages held by militants in the enclave in exchange for at least 150 Palestinians jailed in Israel.
Meanwhile, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant has said that a truce underway with Hamas in Gaza was a “short pause”, after which Israel would resume operating with full military force. Gallant made the remarks to his Italian counterpart who was on a visit to Tel Aviv, according to his office.
Melissa Barrera attends the world premiere of "Scream VI" in New York on March 6, 2023, left, and Susan Sarandon attends a special screening of "Maybe I Do" in New York on Jan. 17, 2023. (Photos by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Qatar's foreign ministry spokesperson has also confirmed the release of 39 women and children detained in Israeli prisons as per the truce deal between Hamas and Israel.
The Hamas has released 24 hostages, including 13 Israeli citizens, 10 Thais and a Filipino, Qatar's foreign ministry spokesperson said. The official also confirmed that the Red Cross has received 24 civilians detained in the Gaza Strip.
Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, said on Friday in a recording that the group is committed to the truce and hostage swap deal as long as Israel is committed as well, Reuters reported.
Egypt is preparing to receive a number of Israeli hostages that will be released by Palestinian militant group Hamas as part of a truce and hostage swap deal agreed with Israel under Qatari and Egyptian mediation, Egypt's State Information Service (SIS) said in a statement on Friday.
"Egypt's mediation efforts have yielded the release of 12 Thai hostages and 13 Israelis, including women and children, held by Hamas," the government media office said.
A future Palestinian state could be demilitarised and have a temporary international security presence to provide guarantees to both it and to Israel, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on Friday.
"We said that we are ready for this state to be demilitarised, and there can also be guarantees of forces, whether NATO forces, United Nations forces, or Arab or American forces, until we achieve security for both states, the nascent Palestinian state and the Israeli state," Sisi said during a joint news conference in Cairo with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo.
A political resolution which requires a Palestinian state based on the June 4, 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital, has remained out of reach, Sisi added. (Reuters)
A World Health Organization spokesperson said on Friday that it was working on further evacuations from northern Gaza hospitals as soon as possible as a truce gets underway, voicing fears for the safety of those remaining in Al Shifa Hospital, Reuters reported.
"We're extremely concerned about the safety of the estimated 100 patients and health workers remaining at Al Shifa," said WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier.
He declined to react to comments from the Gaza health ministry saying it was suspending cooperation with the global health agency amid reports that Israel is holding medical staff for questioning.
The first Israeli women and children to go free from Gaza on Friday under a truce with their Hamas captors will be flown home under military guard, with measures meant to reduce the duress and attend to any immediate medical complications.
Ahead of the 4 p.m. (1400 GMT) release of the 13 hostages, who have not been identified, Israel's air force published images of dolls, colourful throw-rugs and personal hygiene kits set up at locations scheduled to receive them by helicopter.
European security officials are seeing a growing risk of attacks by Islamists radicalised by the Israel-Hamas war, with the biggest threat likely to come from "lone wolf" assailants who are hard to track.
More than 10 intelligence and police officials in five European countries including Britain, Germany and France told Reuters they are increasing surveillance of Islamist militants.
This will put a further burden on resources already stretched by dealing with perceived threats from Russia, China and Iran, in what London police chief Mark Rowley calls "one of the most challenging convergence of threats I have ever seen." (Reuters)
A four-day ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas has begun today. On Thursday (November 23), Qatar said that increased aid for Palestinians will start to enter “as soon as possible,” once the truce is in place. According to Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari, the first group of 13 women and children held by Hamas would be freed Friday afternoon. However, he did not say how many Palestinian prisoners would be freed, but officials have said three would be freed for every hostage, news agency AP reported.
The spokesman of Hamas' armed-wing called on Thursday for the escalation of the confrontation with Israel on all resistance fronts.
"We call for escalation of the confrontation with the occupation throughout the West Bank and all resistance fronts" the spokesman for the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, Abu Ubaida, said in a video speech aired by Al Jazeera TV. (Reuters)
Jewish groups have criticised Pope Francis and demanded clarifications over his comments that they saw as accusing both Hamas and Israel of "terrorism", Reuters reported.
Francis made the comments on Wednesday after meeting separately with Jewish relatives of hostages held by Hamas and with Palestinians with family in Gaza.
Later that day at his general audience in St. Peter's Square, he spoke of the meetings, saying he felt the pain of both sides. "This is what wars do. But here we have gone beyond wars. This is not war. This is terrorism," he said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the United Nations on Thursday of being slow to attend to the spiralling humanitarian crisis in Gaza, saying its relief workers had not entered a designated "safe zone" for Palestinian refugees, Reuters reported.
"I have yet to see the effort that I would like to see on the part of the UN and international agencies," Netanyahu told the visiting Spanish and Belgian prime ministers, according to a Hebrew-language transcript of the meeting issued by his office.
Hundreds of police officers searched the properties of Hamas members and followers in Germany on Thursday morning following a formal ban on any activity by or in support of the militant group, AP reported.
The German government implemented the ban on November 2 and dissolved Samidoun, a group that was behind a celebration in Berlin of Hamas' October 7 attack on Israel.
Germany's domestic intelligence service estimates that Hamas has around 450 members in the country. Their activities range from expressions of sympathy and propaganda activities to financing and fundraising activities to strengthen the organization abroad.
A Manhattan-based lobbying group cut its ties with Stuart Seldowitz, a former US state department official, on Tuesday after a video emerged showing him hurling racist and Islamophobic rant at a food card vendor in New York went viral on social media.
In a post on X, Gotham Government Relations said it has “ended all affiliation with Stuart Seldowitz, an individual who hasn’t contributed to our work in years. The video of his actions is vile, racist, and beneath the dignity of the standards we practice at our firm.” His page has also been removed from the firm’s website.
In the video, Seldowitz, who served as a national security official in the Barack Obama era, was seen berating the vendor with Islamophobic comments in New York City, calling the man a “terrorist”. Talking to the vendor, Seldovitz tells him: “If we killed 4,000 Palestinian kids, you know what? It wasn’t enough.” Read More
he director of the Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza says it has resumed its detailed count of casualties from the Israel-Hamas war, and has documented more than 13,000 deaths.
Medhat Abbas confirmed the resumption to The Associated Press on Thursday. The Health Ministry had stopped updating its figures on Nov. 11 after the breakdown of access and communication in northern Gaza, where Israeli ground troops are battling Palestinian militants.
The latest count is based on updated figures from hospitals in the south and Nov. 11 figures from the northern hospitals. The real toll is likely higher. The Health Ministry says another 6,000 people have been reported missing, and are feared buried under the rubble. (AP)
An agreement for a four-day cease-fire in Gaza and the release of dozens of Hamas-held hostages and Palestinians imprisoned by Israel appeared to have hit a last-minute snag when a senior Israeli official said it would not take effect until Friday, a day later than originally announced.
The Persian Gulf nation of Qatar, which played a key role in mediating with Hamas, said early Thursday that a new time for the agreement to go into force would be announced “in the coming hours.” It was originally set to begin at 10 am (0800 GMT) Thursday. The US and Egypt also helped negotiate the deal. (AP)
When it was all said and done, the deal to release some of the hostages held by Hamas came down to two critical phone calls ultimately forcing each side to make a tough concession.
The Israelis were insisting that it was not enough to free just 50 of the roughly 240 hostages. They had to have more, they said. At that point, President Joe Biden had to talk Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel into accepting what was on the table and then keep working to recover the rest.
As for Hamas, according to senior administration officials, its leaders were demanding that the pause in fighting incorporated into the agreement last five days, even though the Israelis refused to agree to more than four. Biden told the emir of Qatar, who was serving as the intermediary with Hamas, that four was all they would get for now. (Read more)
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron is due to visit the Middle East today and meet with Israeli and Palestinian leaders, Britain's Foreign Office said in a statement.
Former prime minister Cameron, who was appointed to the foreign policy brief last week, met with counterparts from Arab and Islamic countries in London on Wednesday to discuss the Israel-Hamas conflict.
He has welcomed the agreement between the Israeli government and Hamas to a four-day pause in fighting, calling it a "crucial step" and urging the parties to deliver the deal in full.
Both British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Cameron's predecessor James Cleverly have visited Israel since the conflict began last month. (Reuters)
The Middle East is the land of prophets; hence, it is miraculous as well as unpredictable. Call it a ceasefire, a pause or a temporary lull in active hostility. With several global players putting their weight behind their respective allies, a temporary suspension of hostilities in the 47-day-old Israel-Gaza conflict looks more promising than ever before.
While the finer details are still being worked out, the broad picture runs like this: There will be a four-day ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza conflict to facilitate the release of 50 civilians who were taken hostage by Hamas on October 7. Most are Israeli citizens or dual nationals and would comprise only women and children. There are no suggestions of the elderly being part of this deal. The 50 hostages will be released in batches of 10 during the four-day ceasefire.
For its part, Israel would release about 150 Palestinian women and children who are in its jails. It might release more prisoners if Hamas frees additional hostages. Israel seems to have identified about 300 persons who were not accused/convicted of violent crimes. (Read more)
Palestinians inspected damage caused to homes, streets after an Israeli raid in Tulkarm. Six Palestinians were killed in the Tulkarm camp in the occupied West Bank after they were targeted in an Israeli drone strike.
The “humanitarian pause” in Gaza announced on Wednesday is not a ceasefire. Reportedly, even as the deal was being discussed by the Israeli cabinet, airstrikes continued. Yet, the four-day window for desperately needed aid, medical supplies and essentials for the thousands of civilians suffering the consequences of the conflict between Hamas and Israel, is welcome. The terms of truce, brokered by Qatar, the US and Egypt, require a cessation of violence and an exchange of 50 Israeli hostages held by Hamas in return for the release of Palestinian prisoners in Israel. The prisoner exchange adds a strategic and political component to the humanitarian window. It also brings an opportunity. (Read more)
Despite word of a temporary truce in works, there was no let-up in the fighting early on Thursday, reports said.
Palestinian media said Israeli aircraft and artillery struck Gaza's southern city of Khan Younis in at least two waves and 15 people were killed. Attacks were also reported in several other parts of Gaza, including the Jabalia and Nuseirat camps.
In Israel, sirens warning of incoming rocket fire from Gaza blared in communities near the border with the enclave, the military said. There were no reports of damage or injuries. (Reuters)
A Manhattan-based lobbying group cut its ties with Stuart Seldowitz, a former US state department official, on Tuesday after a video emerged showing him hurling a racist and Islamophobic rant at a food card vendor in New York went viral on social media.
In a post on X, Gotham Government Relations said it has “ended all affiliation with Stuart Seldowitz, an individual who hasn’t contributed to our work in years. The video of his actions is vile, racist, and beneath the dignity of the standards we practice at our firm.” His page has also been removed from the firm’s website. (Read more)
The United States military says one of its warships in the Red Sea has shot down bomb-carrying drones launched from territory controlled by Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
The military arm of Yemen’s Houthi rebels said earlier Wednesday that it launched a batch of long-range large missiles toward southern Israel, including the Red Sea city of Eilat. The Iran-backed rebel group has launched at least six aerial attacks against Israel since the conflict broke out on Oct. 7.
The Houthi are staunch foes of Israel and have vowed to continue aerial attacks and hijackings of Israeli ships. The American military’s Central Command said the USS Thomas Hudner, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, shot down the drones early Thursday morning. “The ship and crew sustained no damage or injury,” Central Command said, but did not identify what it believed the drones were targeting. (AP)
Israel’s national security adviser said late Wednesday that cease-fire talks with the Hamas militant group were still ongoing, and the hostage release will not take place before Friday. Tzachi Hanegbi gave no explanation for the delay, and it was not immediately clear when the cease-fire might begin.
The cease-fire agreement between the Hamas militant group and Israel had earlier been confirmed by both parties, along with Washington and Qatar, which helped broker the deal that would bring a temporary halt to the devastating war that is now in its seventh week.
The Israeli government said that under an outline of the deal, Hamas will free over a four-day period at least 50 of the roughly 240 hostages taken in its Oct. 7 attack on Israel, and Israel will release some Palestinian prisoners in exchange. (AP)