Middle-East
Hamas is set to exchange more hostages for Palestinian prisoners
Hamas was preparing to release more than a dozen hostages Saturday for several dozen Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, part of an exchange on the second day of a cease-fire that has allowed critical humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip and given civilians their first respite after seven weeks of war.
While uncertainty remained around the details of the exchange, there was optimism, too, amid the scenes of joyous families reuniting on both sides. On the first day of the four-day cease-fire, Hamas released 24 of the about 240 hostages taken during its Oct. 7 attack on Israel that triggered the war, and Israel freed 39 Palestinians from prison. Those freed in Gaza were 13 Israelis, 10 Thais and a Filipino.
Israeli-owned ship targeted in suspected Iranian attack in Indian Ocean
On Saturday, Hamas provided mediators Egypt and Qatar with a list of 14 hostages to be released, and it has been passed to Israel, according to a Egyptian official speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not permitted to talk about details of the ongoing negotiations. A second Egyptian official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the details. The head of Egypt’s government press office and the state-run Qahera news outlet said 13 hostages would be exchanged for 39 prisoners.
Under the truce agreement, Hamas will release one Israeli hostage for every three prisoners freed. Israel's Prison Service said earlier Saturday it was preparing 42 prisoners for release. It was not immediately clear how many non-Israeli captives may also be released.
Gaza cease-fire enters second day with more hostages to be exchanged and critical supplies delivered
Overall, Hamas is to release at least 50 Israeli hostages, and Israel 150 Palestinian prisoners, during the four-day truce, all woman and minors.
Israel has said the truce can be extended an extra day for every additional 10 hostages freed — something U.S. President Joe Biden said he hoped would occur.
Palestinian families rejoice over release of minors and women in wartime prisoner swap
Separately, a Qatari delegation arrived in Israel on Saturday to coordinate with parties on the ground and “ensure the deal continues to move smoothly,” according to a diplomat briefed on the visit. The diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss details with the media.
The start of the truce Friday morning brought the first quiet for 2.3 million Palestinians reeling from relentless Israeli bombardment that has killed thousands, driven three-quarters of the population from their homes and leveled residential areas. Rocket fire from Gaza militants into Israel went silent as well.
For Emad Abu Hajer, a resident of the Jabaliya refugee camp in the Gaza City area, the pause meant he could again search through the rubble of his home, which was flattened in an Israeli attack last week.
He found the bodies of a cousin and nephew, bring the death toll in the attack to 19. With his sister and two other relatives still missing, he resumed his digging Saturday.
“We want to find them and bury them in dignity,” he said.
The United Nations said the pause enabled it to scale up the delivery of food, water, and medicine to the largest volume since the resumption of aid convoys on Oct. 21. It was also able to deliver 129,000 liters (34,078 gallons) of fuel — just over 10% of the daily pre-war volume — as well as cooking gas, a first since the war began.
In the southern city of Khan Younis on Saturday, a long line of people with containers waited outside a filling station. Hossam Fayad lamented that the pause in fighting was only for four days.
“I wish it could be extended until people's conditions improved,” he said.
For the first time in over a month, aid reached northern Gaza, the focus of Israel's ground offensive. The Palestinian Red Crescent said 61 trucks carrying food, water and medical supplies headed there on Saturday, the largest aid convoy to reach the area since the start of the war.
The U.N. said it and the Palestinian Red Crescent were also able to evacuate 40 patients and family members from a hospital in Gaza City, where much of the fighting has taken place, to a hospital in Khan Younis.
The relief brought by the cease-fire has been tempered, however, for both sides. For Israelis, by the fact that not all hostages will be freed. For Palestinians, by the brevity of the pause.
FIRST HOSTAGES FREEDThe freed Israelis included nine women and four children 9 and under. They were taken to Israeli hospitals for observation and were declared to be in good condition.
At a plaza dubbed “Hostages Square” in Tel Aviv, a crowd of Israelis celebrated the good news but pressed for more. “Don’t forget the others because it’s getting harder, harder and harder. It’s heartbreaking,” said Neri Gershon, a Tel Aviv resident.
The hostages included multiple generations. Nine-year-old Ohad Munder-Zichri was freed along with his mother, Keren Munder, and grandmother, Ruti Munder, during the child's visit to his grandparents at the kibbutz where about 80 people — nearly a quarter of community residents — are believed to have been taken.
The hostages' plight has raised anger among some families that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government was not doing enough to bring them home.
Hours later, 24 Palestinian women and 15 teenage boys held in Israeli prisons in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem were freed. In the West Bank town of Beitunia, hundreds of Palestinians poured out of their homes to celebrate, honking horns and setting off fireworks.
The teenagers had been jailed for minor offenses like throwing stones. The women included several convicted of trying to stab Israeli soldiers.
“It’s a happiness tainted with sorrow because our release from prison came at the cost of the lives of martyrs and the innocence of children,” said one released Palestinian prisoner, Aseel Munir al-Titi.
According to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, an advocacy group, Israel is holding 7,200 Palestinians, including about 2,000 arrested since the start of the war.
A LONGER PEACE?The war erupted when several thousand Hamas militants stormed into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking scores of hostages, including babies, women and older adults, as well as soldiers.
Israeli leaders have said they would resume fighting eventually and not stop until Hamas, which has controlled Gaza for the past 16 years, is crushed. Israeli officials have argued that only military pressure can bring the hostages home. But the government is under pressure from hostages' families to make the release of the remaining captives the top priority.
The Israeli offensive has killed more than 13,300 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza government. Women and minors have consistently made up around two-thirds of the dead, though the latest number was not broken down. The figure does not include updated numbers from hospitals in the north, where communications have broken down.
Israeli-owned ship targeted in suspected Iranian attack in Indian Ocean
A container ship owned by an Israeli billionaire came under attack by a suspected Iranian drone in the Indian Ocean as Israel wages war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip, an American defense official said Saturday.
The attack Friday on the CMA CGM Symi comes as global shipping increasingly finds itself targeted in the weekslong war that threatens to become a wider regional conflict — even as a truce has halted fighting and Hamas exchanges hostages for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
On Day One of Gaza ceasefire, Hamas and Israel carry out first swap of hostages and prisoners
The defense official, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, said the Malta-flagged vessel was suspected to have been targeted by a triangle-shaped, bomb-carrying Shahed-136 drone while in international waters. The drone exploded, causing damage to the ship but not injuring any of its crew.
“We continue to monitor the situation closely,” the official said. The official declined to elaborate on what intelligence the U.S. military gathered to assess that Iran was behind the attack, though authorities suspect Tehran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard carried out the assault.
Israeli official says talks continuing, hostage release won't take place before Friday
The same drones have been used by Russia in its war on Ukraine, as recently as in a barrage launched Saturday that Kyiv described as Moscow's biggest drone attack since the war began.
Al-Mayadeen, a pan-Arab satellite channel that is politically allied with the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, reported that an Israeli ship had been targeted in the Indian Ocean. The channel cited anonymous sources for the report, which Iranian media later cited.
Israel-Hamas pause in fighting to start Thursday morning, Egyptian state media say
CMA CGM, a major shipper based in Marseille, France, referred questions to the Symi's owner, Singapore-based Eastern Pacific Shipping. That company is ultimately controlled by Israeli billionaire Idan Ofer.
A statement issued on behalf of Eastern Pacific acknowledged the company being “aware of claims that a container ship under the company’s management was targeted in a possible security incident overnight on Friday.”
“The vessel in question is currently sailing as planned,” the statement said. "All crew are safe and well.”
The company through representatives declined to answer any questions. The Israeli military referred questions to the Israeli Foreign Ministry, which did not respond.
In November 2022, the Liberian-flagged oil tanker Pacific Zircon, also associated with Eastern Pacific, sustained damage in a suspected Iranian attack off Oman.
In recent days, the Symi’s crew had been behaving as though they believed the ship faced a threat.
The ship had its Automatic Identification System tracker switched off since Tuesday when it left Dubai's Jebel Ali port, according to data from MarineTraffic.com analyzed by the AP. Ships are supposed to keep their AIS active for safety reasons, but crews will turn them off if it appears they might be targeted. It had done the same earlier when traveling through the Red Sea past Yemen, home to the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels.
“The attack is likely to have been targeted, due to the vessel’s Israeli affiliation through Eastern Pacific Shipping,” the private intelligence firm Ambrey told the AP. “The vessel’s AIS transmissions were off days prior to the event, indicating this alone does not prevent an attack.”
Iran's mission to the United Nations didn't respond to a request for comment. However, Tehran and Israel have been engaged in a yearslong shadow war in the wider Middle East, with some drone attacks targeting Israeli-associated vessels traveling around the region.
In the Israel-Hamas war, which began with the militants' Oct. 7 attack, the Houthis seized a vehicle transport ship in the Red Sea off Yemen.
On Saturday, the British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, which provides warnings to sailors in the Middle East, said “an entity declaring itself to be the Yemeni authorities” had ordered at least one ship away from a location off Hodeida, Yemen, in the Red Sea.
“Vessels in the vicinity are advised to exercise caution and report any suspicious activity,” it warned.
Iranian-backed militias in Iraq also have launched attacks on American troops in both Iraq and Syria during the war. However, Iran itself has yet to be linked directly to an attack.
“Iran has been wary of intervening in the ongoing Middle East crisis and is likely to avoid any action that might escalate the conflict,” the Eurasia Group, a geopolitical risk firm, said in an analysis. “Small-scale attacks on U.S. forces and Israel by Iran’s allies throughout the region suggest Tehran is willing to turn up the heat in a limited fashion, but unless the attacks cause U.S. casualties or significant damage, a major U.S. response is unlikely.”
Gaza cease-fire enters second day with more hostages to be exchanged and critical supplies delivered
Hamas was expected to swap more of its hostages Saturday for prisoners held by Israel on the second day of a cease-fire that has allowed critical humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip and given civilians their first respite after seven weeks of war.
On the first day of the four-day cease-fire, Hamas released 24 of the about 240 hostages taken during its Oct. 7 attack on Israel that triggered the war, and Israel freed 39 Palestinians from prison. Those freed from captivity in Gaza were 13 Israelis, 10 Thai nationals and a citizen of the Philippines.
During the four days, Hamas is to release at least 50 Israeli hostages, and Israel 150 Palestinian prisoners.
Israel has said the truce can be extended an extra day for every additional 10 hostages freed — something United States President Joe Biden said he hoped would come to pass.
Read: Hamas frees 24 hostages in exchange for 39 Palestinian prisoners as part of cease-fire swap
The start of the truce Friday morning brought the first quiet for 2.3 million Palestinians reeling and desperate from relentless Israeli bombardment that has killed thousands, driven three-quarters of the population from their homes and leveled residential areas. Rocket fire from Gaza militants into Israel went silent as well.
For Emad Abu Hajer, a resident of the Jabalia refugee camp in the Gaza City area, the pause Friday meant he could again dig through the rubble of his home, which was flattened in an Israeli attack last week.
He found the bodies of a cousin and nephew, bring the death toll in the attack to 19. With his sister and two other relatives still missing, he resumed his digging Saturday.
“We want to find them and bury them in dignity,” he said.
The United Nations said the pause enabled it to scale up the delivery of food, water, and medicine to the largest volume since the resumption of humanitarian aid convoys on Oct. 21. It was also able to deliver 129,000 liters (34,078 gallons) of fuel — just over 10% of the daily pre-war volume — as well as cooking gas, a first time since the war began.
In the southern city of Khan Younis on Saturday, a long line of people with gas cans and other containers waited outside a filling station hoping to get some of the newly delivered fuel.
As he waited for fuel, Hossam Fayad lamented that the pause in fighting was only for four days.
“I wish it could be extended until people's conditions improved,” he said.
For the first time in over a month, aid reached northern Gaza, the focus of Israel's ground offensive. A U.N. convoy delivered flour to two facilities sheltering people displaced by fighting.
Read: Hamas reveals details of first cease-fire, swap deal since Gaza conflict
The U.N. said it and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society were also able to evacuate 40 patients and family members from a hospital in Gaza City, where much of the fighting has taken place, to a hospital in Khan Younis.
The relief brought by the cease-fire has been tempered, however, for both sides — among Israelis by the fact that not all hostages will be freed and among Palestinians by the brevity of the pause. The short truce leaves Gaza mired in humanitarian crisis and under the threat that fighting could soon resume.
Amal Abu Awada, a 40-year-old widow who fled a Gaza City-area camp for Khan Younis with her three children earlier in November, ventured out Friday to a U.N. facility looking for food and water, but said there was none available.
“We went back empty handed,” she said. “But at least there are no bombs, and we can try again.”
Israel has vowed to resume its massive offensive once the truce ends. That has clouded hopes that the deal could eventually help wind down the conflict, which has fueled a surge of violence in the occupied West Bank and stirred fears of a wider conflagration across the Middle East.
FIRST HOSTAGES FREEDAfter nightfall Friday, a line of ambulances emerged from Gaza through the Rafah Crossing into Egypt carrying the freed hostages. The freed Israelis included nine women and four children 9 and under.
The released hostages were taken to three Israeli hospitals for observation. The Schneider Children’s Medical Center said it was treating eight Israelis — four children and four women — and that all appeared to be in good physical condition. The center said they were also receiving psychological treatment, adding that “these are sensitive moments” for the families.
Read:Palestinian families rejoice over release of minors and women in wartime prisoner swap
At a plaza dubbed “Hostages Square” in Tel Aviv, a crowd of Israelis celebrated at the news.
The hostages included multiple generations. Nine-year-old Ohad Munder-Zichri was freed along with his mother, Keren Munder, and grandmother, Ruti Munder. The fourth-grader was abducted during a holiday visit to his grandparents at the kibbutz where about 80 people — nearly a quarter of all residents of the small community — are believed to have been taken from.
The plight of the hostages has raised anger among some families that the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was not doing enough to bring them home.
Hours later, 24 Palestinian women and 15 teenage boys held in Israeli prisons in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem were freed. In the West Bank town of Beitunia, hundreds of Palestinians poured out of their homes to celebrate, honking horns and setting off fireworks that lit up the night sky.
The teenagers had been jailed for minor offenses like throwing stones. The women included several convicted of trying to stab Israeli soldiers, and others who had been arrested at checkpoints in the West Bank.
According to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, an advocacy group, Israel is currently holding 7,200 Palestinians, including about 2,000 arrested since the start of the war.
A LONGER PEACE?The war erupted when several thousand Hamas militants stormed into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking scores of hostages, including babies, women and older adults, as well as soldiers.
Majed al-Ansari, a spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry of Qatar, said the hope is that momentum from the deal will lead to an end to the violence. Qatar served as a mediator along with the U.S. and Egypt.
Read: Israeli troops battle militants across north Gaza, which has been without power or water for weeks
But hours before it came into effect, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told troops that their respite would be short and that the war would resume with intensity for at least two more months.
Netanyahu has also vowed to continue the war to destroy Hamas’ military capabilities, end its 16-year rule in Gaza and return all the hostages.
The Israeli offensive has killed more than 13,300 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza government. Women and minors have consistently made up around two-thirds of the dead, though the latest number was not broken down. The figure does not include updated numbers from hospitals in the north, where communications have broken down.
The ministry says some 6,000 people have been reported missing, feared buried under rubble. The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and militants in its death tolls.
Israel says it has killed thousands of Hamas fighters, without presenting evidence for its count.
Palestinian families rejoice over release of minors and women in wartime prisoner swap
Over three dozen Palestinian prisoners returned home to a hero's welcome in the occupied West Bank on Friday following their release from Israeli prisons as part of a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas.
The procession of freed prisoners, some accused of minor offenses and others convicted in attacks, at a checkpoint outside of Jerusalem stoked massive crowds of Palestinians into a chanting, clapping, hand-waving, screaming frenzy.
Fifteen dazed young men, all in stained grey prison sweatsuits and looking gaunt with exhaustion, glided through the streets on the shoulders of their teary-eyed fathers as fireworks turned the night sky to blazing color and patriotic Palestinian pop music blared.
On Day One of Gaza cease-fire, Hamas and Israel carry out first swap of hostages and prisoners
Some of those released were draped in Palestinian flags, others in the green flags of Hamas. They flashed victory signs as they crowd-surfed.
"I have no words, I have no words," said newly released 17-year-old Jamal Brahma, searching for something to say to the hordes of jostling journalists and thousands of chanting Palestinians, many in national dress. "Thank God."
Tears fell down his father Khalil Brahma's cheeks as he brought his son down from his shoulders and looked him in the eye for the first time in seven months. Israeli forces had arrested Jamal at his home in the Palestinian city of Jericho last spring and detained him without charge or trial.
"I just want to be his father again," he said.
The release of the Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails came just hours after two dozen hostages, including 13 Israelis, were released from captivity in Gaza in the initial exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners during the four-day cease-fire that started Friday.
Under the deal, Hamas is to release at least 50 hostages, and Israel 150 Palestinian prisoners, over the four days. Israel said the truce can be extended an extra day for every additional 10 hostages freed.
Families of hostages not slated for release from Gaza during current truce face enduring nightmare
Although the atmosphere was festive in the town of Beitunia near Israel's hulking Ofer Prison in the West Bank, people were on edge.
The Israeli government has ordered police to shut down celebrations over the release. Israeli security forces at one point unleashed tear gas canisters on the crowds, sending young men, old women and small children sprinting away as they wept and screamed in pain.
"The army is trying to take this moment away from us but they can't," Mays Foqaha said as she tumbled into the arms of her newly released 18-year-old friend, Nour al-Taher from Nablus, who was arrested during a protest in September at the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. "This is our day of victory."
The Palestinian detainees freed Friday included 24 women, some of whom had been sentenced to years-long prison terms over attempted stabbings and other attacks on Israeli security forces. Others had been accused of incitement on social media.
There were also the 15 male teenagers, most of them charged with stone-throwing and "supporting terrorism," a broadly defined accusation that underscores Israel's long-running crackdown on young Palestinian men as violence surges in the occupied territory.
For families on both sides of the conflict, news of the exchange — perhaps the first hopeful moment in 49 days of war — stirred a bittersweet jumble of joy and anguish.
Hamas frees 24 hostages in exchange for 39 Palestinian prisoners as part of cease-fire swap
"As a Palestinian, my heart is broken for my brothers in Gaza, so I can't really celebrate," said Abdulqader Khatib, a U.N. worker whose 17-year-old son, Iyas, was placed last year in "administrative detention," without charges or trial and based on secret evidence. "But I am a father. And deep inside, I am very happy."
Israel is now holding an all-time high of 2,200 Palestinians in administrative detention, according to the Palestinian Prisoners' Club, an advocacy group, in a controversial policy that Israel defends as a counter-terrorism measure.
Since Oct. 7, when Hamas took roughly 240 Israeli and foreign citizens hostage and killed 1,200 Israelis in its unprecedented rampage through southern Israel, Palestinians have wondered about the fate of their own prisoners.
Israel has a history of agreeing to lopsided exchanges. In 2011, Hamas got Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to release more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for a single captive Israeli soldier, Gilad Schalit.
A prisoner release touches Palestinian society to its core. Almost every Palestinian has a relative in jail – or has been there himself. Human rights groups estimate that over 750,000 Palestinians have passed through Israeli prisons since Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem in 1967.
Whereas Israel views them as terrorists, Palestinians refer to them by the Arabic word for prisoners of war, and devote a good chunk of public funds to supporting them and their families. Israel and the U.S. have condemned the grants to prisoner families as an incentive for violence.
"These kinds of prisoner exchanges are often the only hope families have to see their sons or fathers released before many years go by," said Amira Khader, international advocacy officer at Addameer, a group supporting Palestinian prisoners. "It's what they live for, it's like a miracle from God."
Since the Hamas attack, Israel has escalated a months-long West Bank crackdown on Palestinians suspected of ties to Hamas and other militant groups. Many prisoners are convicted by military courts, which prosecute Palestinians with a conviction rate of more than 99%. Rights groups say Palestinians are often denied due process and forced into confessions.
There are now 7,200 Palestinians in Israeli prison, said Qadura Fares, the director of the Palestinian Prisoners' Club, with over 2,000 arrested since Oct. 7 alone.
On Friday in Beitunia, a lanky and pimpled 16-year-old, Aban Hammad, stood unmoving, looking shaken by the tumult of tears, hugs and pro-Hamas chants around him. It was his first glimpse of the world after a year in prison for throwing stones in the northern town of Qalqilya. He was freed even though he had eight months of his sentence left to serve.
He turned toward his father, wrapping him into a hug. "Look, I'm almost bigger than you now," he said.
Hamas frees 24 hostages in exchange for 39 Palestinian prisoners as part of cease-fire swap
Hamas on Friday released 24 hostages who had been held captive in Gaza for weeks, and Israel freed 39 Palestinians from prison in the first stage of a swap under a four-day cease-fire deal.
The freed hostages included 13 Israelis, 10 people from Thailand and one from the Philippines, according to Qatar.
The agreement opened the way for sorely needed aid to flow into Gaza for beleaguered residents. It was also a moment of hope for families in Israel and elsewhere worried about loved ones taken captive during Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, which triggered the war.
With the truce’s start Friday morning, Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians saw quiet for the first time after seven weeks of relentless Israeli bombardment, which has killed thousands, driven three-quarters of the population from their homes and flattened vast swaths of residential areas. Rocket fire from Gaza militants into Israel went silent as well.
The freed Israeli hostages included eight women — six of them in their 70s and 80s — and three children. Their release was followed in the evening by the freeing of the Palestinian prisoners — 24 women, including some convicted of attempted murder for attacks on Israeli forces, and 15 teenagers jailed for offenses like throwing stones.
But joy at the deal has been tempered — among Israelis by the fact that not all hostages will be freed and among Palestinians by the briefness of the pause. The short truce will leave Gaza mired in humanitarian crisis and under the threat that fighting could soon resume.
Israel says the cease-fire could be extended if more hostages are released, but it has vowed to resume its massive offensive once the truce ends. That has clouded hopes that the deal could eventually help wind down the conflict, which has fueled a surge of violence in the occupied West Bank and stirred fears of a wider conflagration across the Middle East.
FIRST HOSTAGES FREEDAfter nightfall Friday, a line of ambulances emerged from Gaza through the Rafah Crossing in Egypt, carrying the freed hostages, according to live footage on Egypt’s state-run Al-Qahera TV. Israel’s Channel 13 showed an older woman exiting an ambulance alongside young girl, then walking slowly into a building. An Egyptian medical team held another older woman’s arms as she walked.
At a plaza dubbed “Hostages Square” in Tel Aviv, a crowd of Israelis cheered as news of the release was announced. The Israeli military later confirmed that the hostages had returned to Israel and were undergoing medical checks before being moved to hospitals to be reunited with their families.
The Foreign Ministry of Qatar, which played a key role mediating with Hamas in the long negotiations over the deal, said 13 Israelis, 10 Thai and one Filipino were freed. The Thai prime minister earlier said in a tweet that 12 Thai nationals were freed. There was no immediate explanation for the discrepancy.
The plight of around 240 people taken captive during Hamas’ attack has been wrenching in Israel, raising anger among some families that the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was not doing enough to bring them home.
Under the deal, at least 50 are to be released, though it is not clear if the Thai and Filipino captives would be included in that count. Israeli is to free 150 Palestinian prisoners. Israel said the four-day truce can be extended an extra day for every additional 10 hostages freed.
“I’m excited for the families that are going to hug their loved ones,” Shelli Shem Tov, the mother of 21-year-old Omer Shem Tov, told Israeli’s Channel 12 at the square. “I’m jealous, and I’m sad, mostly sad that Omer is not coming home yet.”
Read: Hamas reveals details of first cease-fire, swap deal since Gaza conflict
In the West Bank, thousands gathered near the Israeli military’s Ofer Prison, awaiting the release of Palestinian prisoners, some waving Palestinian flags in celebration. Police fired tear gas to disperse the crowd.
According to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, an advocacy group, Israel is currently holding 7,200 Palestinians, including about 2,000 arrested since the start of the war. Israel holds many for months without charge in administrative detention. Most of those who are tried are put before military courts that almost never acquit defendants and often don’t follow due process, human rights groups say.
CEASE-FIREPalestinians say a longer cease-fire is needed to recover from the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. But Friday’s halt in fighting brought the uprooted population a moment to catch their breath after weeks of fleeing bombardment across the tiny coastal enclave and trying to find increasingly scarce food, water and other basic supplies.
After the truce began Friday morning, an increased flow of aid promised under the deal began. Four trucks of fuel and four trucks of cooking gas entered from Egypt, as well as 200 trucks of relief supplies, Israel said.
Since the war began, Israel barred all imports into Gaza, except for a trickle of supplies from Egypt.
Its ban on fuel, which it said could be diverted to Hamas, caused a territory-wide blackout. Hospitals, water systems, bakeries and shelters have struggled to keep generators running. Amid food shortages, U.N. officials had warned in recent weeks of potential starvation.
During the truce, Israel agreed to allow the delivery of 130,000 liters (34,340 gallons) of fuel per day — still only a small portion of Gaza’s estimated daily needs of more than 1 million liters.
Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people are crowded into the southern portion of the territory, with more than 1 million living in U.N. schools-turned-shelters.
For those originally from the south, the calm brought a chance to visit homes they had fled and retrieve some belongings.
To the hundreds of thousands who evacuated from northern Gaza to the south, Israel issued a warning not to return. Northern Gaza has been the focus on Israel’s ground assault.
In leaflets dropped around the south, the Israeli military said it would block such attempts, saying the “the war has not ended yet.”
Still, hundreds of Palestinians could be seen walking north Friday.
Two were shot and killed by Israeli troops and another 11 were wounded. An Associated Press journalist saw the two bodies and the wounded as they arrived at a hospital.
Sofian Abu Amer, who had fled Gaza City, said he decided to risk heading north to check on his home.
“We don’t have enough clothes, food and drinks,” he said. “The situation is disastrous. It’s better for a person to die.”
Israel’s northern border with Lebanon was also quiet on Friday, a day after the militant Hezbollah group, an ally of Hamas, carried out the highest number of attacks in one day since fighting there began Oct. 8.
Hezbollah is not a party to the cease-fire agreement but was widely expected to halt its attacks.
A LONGER PEACE?The war erupted when several thousand Hamas militants stormed into southern Israel, killing at least 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking scores of hostages, including babies, women and older adults, as well as soldiers.
The hope is that “momentum” from the deal will lead to an “end to this violence,” said Majed al-Ansari, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry of Qatar, which served as a mediator along with the United States and Egypt.
But hours before it came into effect, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told troops that their respite would be short and that the war would resume with intensity for at least two more months.
Netanyahu has also vowed to continue the war to destroy Hamas’ military capabilities, end its 16-year rule in Gaza and return all the hostages.
The Israeli offensive has killed more than 13,300 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Women and minors have consistently made up around two-thirds of the dead, though the latest number was not broken down. The figure does not include updated numbers from hospitals in the north, where communications have broken down.
The ministry says some 6,000 people have been reported missing, feared buried under rubble.
The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and militants in its death tolls.
Israel says it has killed thousands of Hamas fighters, without presenting evidence for its count.
4-day truce begins in Gaza, setting stage to swap dozens of hostages for Palestinian prisoners
A temporary truce in the Israel-Hamas war took effect early Friday, setting the stage for the exchange of dozens of hostages held by militants in Gaza for Palestinians imprisoned in Israel.
The halt in fighting began at 7 a.m. local time (0500 GMT) and is to last at least four days. During the truce, Gaza’s ruling Hamas group pledged to free at least 50 of the about 240 hostages it and other militants took in their deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israel. In turn, Israel is to free three Palestinian prisoners for each released hostage. The releases are to take place in stages over the next four days.
The truce deal was reached in weeks of intense indirect negotiations, with Qatar, the United States and Egypt serving as mediators. If it holds, it would mark the first significant break in fighting since Israel declared war on Hamas seven weeks ago.
About 1,200 people were killed by Hamas attackers in Israel on Oct. 7. Israel responded with a massive air and ground offensive that has devastated large swaths of Gaza and killed at least 13,300 Palestinians.
Hamas reveals details of first cease-fire, swap deal since Gaza conflict
Israel and the Gaza-ruling Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) confirmed Wednesday a cease-fire agreement in the conflict-ridden Gaza Strip for four days, to allow for more aid delivery to Gaza as well as the exchange of Israeli hostages held by the armed Palestinian faction and Palestinian prisoners jailed in Israel.
The humanitarian pause, mediated by joint Qatari, Egyptian and U.S. efforts, would enable the release of 50 hostages held in Gaza, mainly children and women and most are foreign nationals, in exchange for about 150 female and teenage Palestinians jailed in Israel, the Israeli presidency and a top Hamas official revealed separately.
Hamas politburo member Moussa Abu Marzouk told Al Jazeera on Wednesday that the cease-fire in Gaza will begin at 10:00 a.m. local time (0800 GMT) on Thursday.
Read: Israel-Hamas pause in fighting to start Thursday morning, Egyptian state media say
The hostages will be released in smaller groups over a span of four days, during which "there will be a pause in the fighting," said the statement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office, adding that the release of every additional 10 hostages will result in one additional day in the pause.
A Hamas source told Xinhua that Hamas and Israel were still finalizing on Wednesday night their respective swap list that would be handed to each other.
According to the source, the two sides would pause fighting simultaneously when the time comes, and Hamas would send the first batch of hostages to Red Cross personnel. The latter would then transfer them onward to Israel after the Israeli side confirmed their identities, after which the Israeli side would release a batch of Palestinian prisoners to their residences in the West Bank.
Under the agreement, more truckloads of humanitarian aid, medicine, and fuel will be allowed to enter Gaza through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt. Israel would also pause aerial surveillance on Gaza for six hours starting 10 a.m. local time daily.
Had the cease-fire and swap deal been commenced, it would be the first step to suspend hostilities between the two sides since the start of the conflict.
Israeli newspaper Times of Israel reported earlier in the day that the cease-fire might extend for 10 days to allow for the release of up to 300 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for 100 Israeli hostages from Gaza.
Read: Israeli airstrike on south Lebanon kills 2 journalists of a pan-Arab TV station, official says
Responding to the list circulated among Israeli media, Thaer Shriteh, spokesman for the Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners Affairs Authority of the Palestine Liberation Organization, said the list includes prisoners with lengthy sentences and those who have spent years in Israeli prisons.
Palestinian sources familiar with the affairs told Xinhua that the published list includes 221 names from the West Bank, 74 from Jerusalem, and five from Gaza, and among them 47 were affiliated with Hamas.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the PLO leadership welcomed the humanitarian cease-fire deal and appreciated the Qatari and Egyptian efforts in this regard, Hussein Al-Sheikh, secretary-general of the PLO Executive Committee said in a statement on Wednesday.
He added, "We renew the call for a comprehensive halt to the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people, the entry of humanitarian aid, and the implementation of a political solution based on international legitimacy leading to ending the occupation and achieving freedom, independence, and sovereignty for the Palestinian people."
Read: With the world's eyes on Gaza, attacks are on the rise in the West Bank, which faces its own war
Israel has been carrying out attacks on Gaza over the past weeks to retaliate against the Hamas surprise attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, during which Hamas militants killed about 1,200 people and took more than 200 hostages.
A total of 14,532 Palestinians have died, more than 35,000 others were injured since the start of the current Israel-Hamas conflict, the Hamas-run government media office said Wednesday.
Israel-Hamas pause in fighting to start Thursday morning, Egyptian state media say
A cease-fire agreement between the Hamas militant group and Israel has 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 is to free over a four-day period at least 50 of the roughly 240 hostages taken in its Oct. 7 attack on Israel, and Israel is to release some Palestinian prisoners in exchange. Egyptian state media say the truce will begin Thursday morning. Egypt helped mediate the cease-fire agreement, which would bring the first respite to war-weary Palestinians in Gaza, where more than 11,000 people have been killed, according to health authorities.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said before the Cabinet voted early Wednesday to back the agreement that the war would continue even if a deal was reached. Some 1,200 people have been killed in Israel, mostly during the initial incursion by Hamas.
Here’s what's happening in the war:
EGYPTIAN MEDIA SAY TRUCE WILL BEGIN THURSDAY MORNING
CAIRO — Egypt’s state-run Qahera TV says the Israel-Hamas truce will take effect at 10 a.m. local time (0800 GMT) Thursday.
Egypt helped mediate the four-day cease-fire, which will facilitate the release of dozens of hostages captured by Hamas during its Oct. 7 attack into southern Israel. The deal will also see the release of dozens of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel and the entry of more humanitarian aid into Gaza.
Israeli media also reported that the truce would begin Thursday at 10 a.m.
WHO DOCUMENTS 178 ATTACKS ON HEATHCARE FACILITIES
CAIRO — The World Health Organization has documented 178 attacks on healthcare facilities that killed 553 people, including 22 healthcare workers, since the war started on Oct. 7, the agency’s regional director said Wednesday.
Ahmed Al-Mandhari said in an online briefing that about 800 people, including 48 healthcare workers, were injured in the attacks, which damaged 24 hospitals and 32 ambulances.
The war has forced the shutdown of 27 out of 36 hospitals and 47 out of 72 primary health care clinics across Gaza, he said. The facilities stopping providing services mainly because of a lack of fuel and attacks, he said.
“Hospitals must be allowed to replenish the resources they need to continue functioning,” he said. “We cannot keep providing drops of aid in an ocean of needs.”
WHO STAFF MEMBER, FAMILY ARE KILLED IN STRIKE
CAIRO — The World Health Organization says one of its local staff members in Gaza was killed along with her family when a strike hit the home where they were sheltering.
It said Dima Abdullatif Mohammed Alhaj, 29, was killed Tuesday along with her husband, their 6-month-old son and her two brothers.
The U.N. health agency said in a statement late Tuesday that over 50 people were reportedly killed in the strike. It was not immediately possible to confirm the report or to determine who carried out the strike.
Israel has launched airstrikes across Gaza in the war triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel. Palestinian militants have fired rockets at Israel, some of which have fallen short.
Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, WHO’s representative for the Palestinian territories, said Alhaj “was a wonderful person with a radiant smile, cheerful, positive, respectful. She was a true team player.”
Alhaj, who had worked as a patient administrator with WHO since 2019, was among hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who fled from northern Gaza to shelter in the south. She had left her home in Gaza City and was staying with relatives.
WHO said her death “is another example of the senseless loss in this conflict."
POPE BEGS FOR PEACE AND AN END TO ‘TERRORISM’
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis has met separately with Israeli and Palestinian delegations and begged for peace and an end to what he called terrorism and “passions that are killing everyone.”
In encounters arranged before the Israeli-Hamas hostage deal was announced, Francis met Wednesday with relatives of hostages held in Gaza following Hamas’ Oct. 7 raid in southern Israel. And he met separately with a delegation of Palestinians with relatives who are prisoners in Israel.
Speaking at the end of his weekly general audience, Francis said he heard from both how much they are suffering and the toll that the war was taking. In the audience were people holding Palestinian flags and scarves as well as small posters showing apparent bodies in a ditch and the word “Genocide” written underneath.
Francis said: “Here we’ve gone beyond war. This isn’t war, this is terrorism. Please, let us go forward for peace. Pray for peace, pray a lot for peace.”
He also asked for God to help both Israeli and Palestinian people “resolve problems and not go forward with passions that are killing everyone in the end.”
Francis has spoken out repeatedly for an end to the war.
ISRAEL PUBLISHES LIST OF PALESTINIAN PRISONERS WHO COULD BE RELEASED UNDER HOSTAGE DEAL
TEL AVIV, Israel -- Israel’s Justice Ministry has published a list of 300 Palestinian detainees and prisoners who could potentially be released in a hostage deal.
Most of those on the list published Wednesday are teenagers arrested over the past year for relatively minor offenses, including throwing rocks or alleged incitement. None was convicted of murder, though some served sentences for attempted murder.
The youngest detainee on the list is 14, and it also includes around 40 women. The detainees are to be released to their homes in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.
According to the truce-for-hostages deal announced Wednesday, 50 hostages will be released over four days, likely starting Thursday, during which fighting will pause.
After that, every additional 10 hostages released will result in one additional day in the pause and the release of additional Palestinian prisoners.
Israel is expected to release 150 Palestinian prisoners in the first four days, though the Ministry of Justice published the list of 300 in case the deal is extended. Under Israeli law, the public has 24 hours to object to any release.
EVACUATION OF PATIENTS TRAPPED IN SHIFA HOSPITAL BEGINS
CAIRO — The evacuation of patients trapped in Shifa Hospital in Gaza City has begun, the Palestinian Red Crecent says.
The charity said 14 ambulances arrived at the hospital on Wednesday, and the evacuation has been coordinated with the United Nations and Doctors without Borders medical group.
Ashraf al-Qidra, the spokesperson for Gaza’s Health Ministry, has said there were over 250 patients at the facility, which was besieged by the Israeli military earlier this month. Over 400 displaced people sheltering in the facility have also been trapped there, he said.
Israel has accused Hamas of using the hospital, the largest in Gaza, to conduct militant operations. Hamas and health officials have denied the allegation.
Over the weekend, the World Health Organization coordinated the evacuation of 31 premature babies from Shifa Hospital to southern Gaza. Of them, 28 babies were later transferred to Egypt.
EU OFFICIAL SAYS HALT IN FIGHTING MUST BE USED TO FLOOD GAZA WITH AID
BRUSSELS — The European Union’s crisis management chief has welcomed the Israeli hostage release agreement and says the halt in fighting that is part of the deal must be used to flood Gaza with desperately needed aid.
“We hope that the agreement on a pause of hostilities that has just been reached will allow for a substantial surge in humanitarian aid delivery into and within Gaza,” Crisis Management Commissioner Janez Lenarcic said Wednesday.
“We certainly hope that this will not be a one-off,” he told EU lawmakers in Strasbourg, France, and called for “urgent and extended humanitarian pauses throughout Gaza.”
The 27-nation EU is the world’s biggest aid donor to the Palestinians. Lenarcic said 15 EU aid cargo flights have been sent, with most of that aid already in Gaza, and that more is on the way.
The bloc insists that more trucks must be allowed through the Rafah crossing point with Egypt and other corridors opened.
Lenarcic said getting into Gaza is “extremely challenging” and that fewer than 50 trucks a day make it through, a number which he described as “woefully inadequate.” He welcomed Israel’s decision to allow some fuel in, but said it only covers about one third of Gaza’s basic needs.
BRITAIN URGES BOTH SIDES TO ENSURE HOSTAGE AGREEMENT IS ‘DELIVERED IN FULL’
LONDON — The British government has welcomed an agreement to release some of the Israeli hostages held in Gaza and urged all parties to ensure it is “delivered in full.”
Foreign Secretary David Cameron said the agreement was “a crucial step towards providing relief to the families of the hostages and addressing the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.”
“This pause provides an important opportunity to ensure much greater volumes of food, fuel and other life-saving aid can reach Gaza on a sustained basis,” he said. “The U.K. will continue to work with all partners in the region to secure the release of all hostages, restore security and reach a long-term political solution which enables both Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace.”
CHINA SAYS IT HOPES TRUCE AGREEMENT WILL EASE TENSIONS
BEIJING — The Chinese government says it welcomes the four-day truce reached between Israel and Hamas.
“We welcome the provisional truce reached by the parties concerned and hope it will help to alleviate the humanitarian crisis, de-escalate the conflict and ease tensions,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a daily briefing in Beijing on Wednesday.
China has been calling for a cease-fire and refrained from criticizing the initial Hamas attack on Israel that started the latest conflict. A delegation of foreign ministers from Arab nations and Indonesia held talks with China’s foreign minister this week as they started a tour to press their case for a cease-fire with the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council.
RUSSIA SAYS TRUCE IS A STEP TOWARD ENDING HOSTILITIES
MOSCOW — The Kremlin on Wednesday hailed a deal between Israel and Hamas for a halt to the war and the release of hostages as step toward ending the hostilities.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the announcement of the deal was “the first good news from Gaza in a long time.”
Speaking in a conference call with reporters, he noted that Russia along with most other countries had called for a truce and humanitarian pauses, adding that “only on the basis of such pauses future attempts to find a lasting settlement to the problem could be made.”
FRANCE HOPEFUL ITS NATIONALS WILL BE AMONG THE FIRST RELEASED UNDER DEAL
PARIS — France’s foreign minister says she’s hopeful that French nationals will be among the first hostages released as part of a truce deal between Israel and Hamas.
“We hope that French nationals are among them and even, if possible, among the first group that will be released,” the minister, Catherine Colonna, said Wednesday on France Inter radio. “We are working for that.”
France counts eight people missing, some of them confirmed as hostages, from the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas militants that ignited their latest and deadliest war. France also counts 40 killed in the attack. Colonna said that not all the hostages taken on Oct. 7 were captured by Hamas. But she said that in the course of negotiations, the militant group has said that “it could assemble together all of the hostages.”
French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday welcomed the truce agreement.
In a message on X, formerly Twitter, Macron said “we are working tirelessly to ensure that all hostages are released.” He also hoped the truce will “enable aid to be brought in” and help the Gaza people.
TURKEY SAYS IT HOPES TRUCE WILL LEAD TO A LASTING PEACE
ANKARA, Turkey -- Turkey, a vocal critic of Israel’s actions in Gaza, welcomed the four-day truce as a “positive development to prevent more bloodshed.”
A Foreign Ministry statement released Wednesday said Turkey expects full compliance with the agreement.
“We hope that the humanitarian pause will help permanently end the current conflict as soon as possible and initiate a process towards a just and lasting peace based on a two-state solution,” it said.
US STRIKES BACK AT IRAN-BACKED MILITANTS IN IRAQ
BAGHDAD — The United States military said Wednesday that it has carried out strikes against Iran-backed groups in Iraq that have launched attacks on U.S. forces.
The U.S. Central Command said in a statement Wednesday that its forces had “conducted discrete, precision strikes against two facilities in Iraq … in direct response to the attacks against U.S. and Coalition forces by Iran and Iran-backed groups,” including one on Tuesday involving the use of close-range ballistic missiles.
Two officials with Iranian-backed militias in Iraq said the strikes hit three locations in the area of Jurf al-Sakhar south of Baghdad, killing eight members of the Kataeb Hezbollah militant group. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Iranian-backed militants have launched dozens of attacks on bases and facilities housing U.S. personnel in Iraq and Syria since Oct. 17. While most of the more than five dozen attacks have been ineffective, at least 60 U.S. personnel have reported minor injuries. The militant groups have said the strikes are in retaliation for U.S. support of Israel in the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
Qassim Abdul-Zahra reported from Baghdad.
ISRAELI MILITARY RELEASES VIDEO SHOWING HOUSE-TO-HOUSE SEARCHES
JERUSALEM — The Israeli military released a video Wednesday that appeared to show its personnel engaged in house-to-house search operations.
Soldiers with laser pointers on their weapons filed into homes and patrolled narrow, debris-strewn alleyways, some next to the Gaza seafront. The patrols were supported by demolition teams, airstrikes and naval strikes.
SOLDIERS DEPLOYED FOR A POSSIBLE EVACUATION OF GERMAN CITIZENS RETURN HOME
BERLIN — The German government is bringing home most of the soldiers that were deployed to the eastern Mediterranean for a possible evacuation of German citizens from Lebanon.
About 1,000 German soldiers are to leave the island of Cyprus starting Wednesday, according to German news agency dpa. A small team of about 200 as well as material and equipment will remain behind. The decision was made following an assessment of the current conflict in the Middle East.
“The Bundeswehr generally keeps its resources available for evacuation operations in such a way that it can react flexibly to crisis situations worldwide,” the German defense ministry and foreign office said in a joint statement. The forces brought back to Germany will be kept on call at short notice to “be able to react quickly in the event of a worsening situation,” it said.
The special forces would have been deployed to evacuate German citizens from Lebanon in case the war spread there.
PROTESTERS INTERRUPT MEETING WITH SWEDEN'S PRIME MINISTER
ROME — Pro-Palestinian protesters interrupted a townhall meeting with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson on Tuesday, booing and heckling him when he addressed the Israel-Hamas conflict.
The protesters chanted “Shame on you” and accused Kristersson of supporting genocide after he said Sweden condemns Hamas and supports Israel’s right to self-defense. Police removed some of them from the venue in Gothenburg, Sweden’s second biggest city.
Kristersson criticized the protesters in a Facebook post after the event.
“When we met tonight with a few hundred Gothenburgers the meeting was disrupted by a screaming and shouting group of people who refused to respect everyone else who had come to ask questions,” he wrote. “These political saboteurs appeared to have come to our question-and-answer session only to shout out their anger over Sweden and the EU’s political position about the conflict in the Middle East -– they were particularly disappointed over the condemnation of the terror organization Hamas.”
Kristersson’s center-right government has strongly sided with Israel in the Gaza conflict, condemning Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel and supporting Israel’s right to self-defense. Pro-Palestinian groups and the left-leaning opposition have accused the government of ignoring the plight of Palestinian civilians.
Israeli troops battle militants across north Gaza, which has been without power or water for weeks
Israeli troops battled Palestinian militants in an urban refugee camp and outside a nearby hospital Tuesday as the army expanded operations across northern Gaza, where residents have been without electricity or reliable access to water, food and other basics for weeks.
The front line of the war, now in its seventh week, shifted to the Jabaliya refugee camp, a dense warren of concrete buildings near Gaza City that houses families displaced in the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation. Israel has bombarded the area for weeks, and the military said Hamas fighters have regrouped there and in other eastern districts after being pushed out of much of Gaza City.
Fighting has also intensified outside the nearby Indonesian Hospital, where Palestinian health officials said a strike killed 12 people Monday. They said Tuesday that hundreds of patients and displaced people are trapped inside with dwindling supplies after some 200 were evacuated the day before.
Read: Israeli airstrike on south Lebanon kills 2 journalists of a pan-Arab TV station, official says
Senior Hamas officials, meanwhile, said they were close to reaching a deal through international mediators to release some of the estimated 240 people taken hostage by the group in its Oct. 7 attack into Israel that triggered the war. The talks have repeatedly stalled and past predictions of a breakthrough proved premature.
In southern Lebanon, an Israeli strike killed two journalists with Al-Mayadeen TV, according to the Pan-Arab network and Lebanese officials. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which has repeatedly traded fire with the Hezbollah militant group since the outbreak of the war.
DIRE CONDITIONS IN NORTH AND SOUTHThe war has exacted a heavy toll on Palestinian civilians, particularly those who remain in the north after Israel repeatedly called on people to flee south.
It's unclear how many stayed behind, but the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees estimates that some 160,000 people are still in its shelters there, even though it is no longer able to provide services. Some 1.7 million Palestinians, about three-fourths of Gaza's population, have fled their homes, many packing into U.N.-run schools and other facilities across the territory's south.
Read: Israel signals wider operations in southern Gaza as search of hospital has yet to reveal Hamas base
As shelters have overflowed, people have been forced to sleep on the streets outside, even as winter rains have pelted the coastal enclave in recent days. There are shortages of food, water and fuel for generators across all of Gaza, which has had no central electricity for over a month.
Israel continues to strike what it says are militant targets throughout Gaza, including in the southern evacuation zone, often killing women and children, and officials have indicated it may soon expand its operations in the south.
FIGHTING IN JABALIYA AND AROUND HOSPITALSIsrael's military said forces are “preparing the battlefield” in the area of Jabaliya, saying they struck three tunnel shafts where fighters were hiding and destroyed rocket launchers. Footage released by the military showed Israeli soldiers patrolling on foot as gunfire echoed around them.
Residents said there had been heavy fighting as Israeli forces tried to advance under the cover of airstrikes. “The (Israeli) occupation is trying to besiege the camp,” said Hamza Abu Mansour, a university student. “They are facing stiff resistance.”
It was not possible to independently confirm details of the fighting.
In the face of airstrikes and advancing Israeli troops, tens of thousands of Palestinians in the north had sheltered in hospitals, but those have steadily been emptied as the fighting reached their gates, and most are no longer operational.
The hospital situation in Gaza is "catastrophic,” Michael Ryan, a senior World Health Organization official, said Monday. In the north, “it is the worst you can imagine.”
Munir al-Boursh, a senior Health Ministry official who said he was inside the Indonesian Hospital, told Al-Jazeera television by phone that Israeli forces had besieged it, forcing health workers to bury 50 bodies in the courtyard. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
Palestinian officials said an Israeli shell struck the hospital on Monday, killing 12 people. Israel denied shelling the hospital, but said its troops returned fire on militants who targeted them from inside.
Up to 600 wounded people and some 2,000 displaced Palestinians remain stranded at the hospital, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.
A similar standoff played out in recent days at Shifa Hospital, Gaza's largest, where over 250 patients and medical workers are stranded after the evacuation of 31 premature babies.
Israel has provided evidence in recent days of a militant presence at Shifa. But it has yet to substantiate its claims that Hamas had a major command center beneath the facility, allegations denied by Hamas and hospital staff.
Read: Hundreds trapped inside Gaza’s biggest hospital
RISING TOLLMore than 12,700 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry in the West Bank. Officials there say another 4,000 are missing. Their counts do not differentiate between civilians and combatants. Israel says it has killed thousands of militants.
The ministry bases its count on information gathered by its counterpart in Hamas-ruled Gaza, which has been unable to fully update casualty figures for more than 10 days because of the breakdown in services and communications in the north.
About 1,200 people have been killed on the Israeli side, mainly civilians during the Oct. 7 attack. The military says 68 Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza ground operations.
TALKS ON HOSTAGESIsrael, the United States and Qatar, which mediates with Hamas, have negotiated for weeks over a hostage release that would be paired with a temporary cease-fire and the entry of more aid.
Izzat Rishq, a senior Hamas official, said Tuesday that an agreement could be reached “in the coming hours," in which Hamas would release captives and Israel would release Palestinian prisoners. Hamas' leader-in-exile, Ismail Haniyeh, also said they were close to a deal.
Israel's war Cabinet met with representatives of the hostages’ families Monday evening. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told families the government considers the release of hostages and the defeat of Hamas to be equally important, according to a relative who attended.
Udi Goren, whose cousin Tal Chaimi is in captivity in Gaza, said that was “incredibly disappointing," as Israel has said it could take months to dismantle the militant group.
Israeli airstrike on south Lebanon kills 2 journalists of a pan-Arab TV station, official says
An Israeli strike on southern Lebanon killed Tuesday two journalists reporting for the Beirut-based Al-Mayadeen TV on the violence along the border with Israel, according to the Lebanese information minister and their TV station.
The strike also killed a Lebanese civilian, said the station.
The Pan-Arab Al-Mayadeen TV — politically allied with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah — identified the journalists as correspondent Farah Omar and cameraman Rabih Maamari saying they were “martyred by treacherous Israeli targeting,” adding it was an airstrike.
Read: Israel battles Hamas near another Gaza hospital sheltering thousands
“It was direct targeting. It was not a coincidence,” said Ghassan bin Jiddo, director of the TV channel, holding back his tears in a live broadcast. They join "the martyrs of Gaza,” he said
Bin Jiddo said a man from the village, whom he identified as Hussein Akil, was also killed.
Last week, the Israeli government blocked Al-Mayadeen TV news channel from broadcasting in Israel.
Lebanese Information Minister Ziad Makary called the strike on the journalists “outrageous.”
Read: With the world's eyes on Gaza, attacks are on the rise in the West Bank, which faces its own war
The Israeli military said it was looking into the matter.
Local media reported several Israeli strikes on South Lebanon Tuesday.
Lebanese State-run National News Agency said Israel’s military struck the outskirts of the villages of Teir Harfa and Majdal Zoun in South Lebanon. It also reported that another strike on a home in the border village of Kfar Kila killed a woman, Laiqa Serhan, 80, and wounded her granddaughter who was taken to hospital for treatment.
Israeli shelling on southern Lebanon on Oct. 14, killed Reuters videojournalist Issam Abduallah and wounded other journalists from France’s international news agency, Agence France-Presse, and Qatar’s Al-Jazeera TV.
Read: Israel signals wider operations in southern Gaza as search of hospital has yet to reveal Hamas base
The Lebanon-Israel border has been witnessing daily exchange of fire between members of the militant Hezbollah group and Israeli troops. The clashes began a day after the Palestinian militant Hamas group carried out a deadly attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people and taking more than 240 hostages.
Israel has since carried out a wide-scale military campaign in the Gaza Strip killing more than 12,700 people.