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Israel-Hamas war LIVE: Terror group claims ten hostages will be freed today in return for 30 Palestinian prisoners as Gaza truce extends into its fifth day

 

Names of 10 Israeli hostages being released as IDF confirms Hamas is also handing over two foreign nationals

  • The Israeli Defence Force said that ten Israelis and two foreign nationals were released on Tuesday night.
  • The Israelis were named as Rimon Kirsty, 36, Gabriela Leimberg, 59, and her daughter Mia, 17.
  • Gabriela’s sister Clara Merman, 63, Ofelia Roitman, 77, Ditza Herman, 84, Tamar Metzger, 78.
  • The final three were Merav Tal, 53, Noralin Babdilla, 60, and Ada Sagi, 75, whose British son Noam has been in Israel campaigning for her release.

PICTURED: Hamas fighters accompany newly released hostages before handing them over to the Red Cross in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip

Hamas fighters accompany newly released hostages before handing them over to the Red Cross in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip on November 28, 2023. (Photo by SAID KHATIB / AFP) (Photo by SAID KHATIB/AFP via Getty Images)
Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters accompany newly released hostages before handing them over to the Red Cross in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip on November 28, 2023. Hamas handed over several hostages to the Red Cross in Gaza, an AFP journalist saw, part of an exchange under the terms of an extended truce in the Israel-Hamas war. The hostages, all women, were handed over by masked and armed Hamas fighters to Red Cross officials in Rafah, near the border with Egypt, the journalist said. (Photo by AFP) (Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images)

Breaking: Qatar says nine women and one child are being released

  • A spokesperson for Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said that those being released from Gaza today are a minor and 9 women.
  • Of those being released, he said, one holds Austrian nationality, two are from Argentina, and one is a Filipino national.

Israel to release 30 Palestinians tonight, Hamas claims

  • Hamas has shared a list of names of 30 Palestinian prisoners it says are being released tonight, which it says included 15 women and 15 children.

A statement from the group read:

Hamas announces to the sons of our struggling Palestinian people the list of male and female prisoners included in the release of today, Tuesday, the fifth day of the exchange deal.

Fifth group of hostages handed to International Red Cross, according to report

  • Hamas has handed the fifth group of hostages to the ICRC, The Wall Street Journal reports citing unnamed Egyptian officials.
  • There has been no official confirmation that the group of 10 has been transferred.

Breaking: Hostage release process underway, Israeli media reports

  • The process of releasing the fifth group of Israeli hostages is underway, Channel 13 news has reported.
  • They could be back in Israel within the hour, according to the outlet.

US warns Israel over expected offensive into southern Gaza when truce ends

US President Joe Biden has warned Israel that its expected offensive in southern Gaza must avoid the kind of mass displacement of civilians seen during the military’s pummelling of the Palestinian territory’s north, US officials said.

Israel has said it will continue its war on Hamas after an ongoing temporary truce expires, but senior US administration officials told reporters the coming offensive must be ‘maximally deconflicted’ and avoid hitting UN shelters, hospitals, power and water sites.

‘You cannot have the sort of scale of displacement that took place in the north, replicated in the south,’ one US official told journalists late Monday, speaking on condition that the briefing be reported only Tuesday.

‘It’s very important that the conduct of the Israeli campaign when it moves to the south must be done in a way that is, to a maximum extent, not designed to produce significant further displacement of persons.’

The official added: ‘From the president down we have reinforced this in a very clear way for the government of Israel.’

Israel had been ‘receptive’ to the warnings, the official said.

A Palestinian man collects his belongings southeast of the Gaza City on Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2023. on the fifth day of the temporary ceasefire between Hamas and Israel. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

The family of the youngest hostage held by Hamas have pleaded for his return as it was confirmed he was not on the list for the latest release, adding they hope the terrorists do not keep the child ‘as a trophy’.

Click the link below to read the full story…

IN PICTURES: Nova festival massacre victims remembered with memorial

Photographs of the young victims of the Nova festival massacre on October 7 have been displayed at the site of the event.

At least 260 bodies were found at the site by rescuers.

It was one of the first places to come under attack by Hamas terrorists on the day. They gunned down some revelers and kidnapped other, taking them in to Gaza.

Israelis embrace next to photos of people killed and taken captive by Hamas militants during their violent rampage through the Nova music festival in southern Israel, which are displayed at the site of the event, as Israeli DJs spun music, to commemorate the October 7, massacre, near Kibbutz Re'im, Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2023. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
DJ Skazi performs as part of a tribute to the people who were killed or kidnapped during the October 7 attack by Hamas gunmen from Gaza, at the site of the Nova festival in Re'im, southern Israel, November 28, 2023. REUTERS/Amir Cohen
A man stands near pictures of the festivalgoers, who were killed or kidnapped during the October 7 attack by Hamas gunmen from Gaza, at the site of the Nova festival during a tribute, in Re'im, southern Israel, November 28, 2023. REUTERS/Amir Cohen

Earlier, we brought you an update that said Hamas had forced a 12-year-old Israeli hostage to watch footage of the terror group’s October 7 massacre while being held hostage inside Gaza, according to his aunt.

You can read our full report by following the link below:

Jordan’s King Abdullah accuses Israel of war crimes, following Erdogan’s comments

Jordan’s King Abdullah said on Tuesday Israel’s military campaigns in Gaza and army operations in the West Bank ‘negate human values and the right of life.’

In remarks carried on state media, the monarch who again called for an end to the war, said the Israeli siege on the enclave that prevented for weeks the entry of medicine, food and fuel and cut electricity supplies, amounted to war crimes.

‘These are war crimes.. we cannot stay silent,’ the monarch said.

His comments echoed those made by Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan earlier (see update at 15:20).

The ominous moment Hamas gunmen seemingly growled ‘keep waving’ as they handed over Israeli hostages to Red Cross workers this weekend has sparked outrage among Israeli officials who slammed the Palestinian group’s ‘propaganda’.

Click the link below to read the full story…

Senior Hezbollah official expresses hope for truce to continue

A senior Hezbollah politician said on Tuesday he hoped a truce would continue and his Iran-backed group had started paying compensation to people who had suffered losses during weeks of Israeli strikes in south Lebanon.

Following the start of the Hamas-Israel war on Oct. 7, the terror group and Israel have engaged in their worst hostilities since 2006, with Hezbollah attacking Israeli positions at the border and Israel launching air and artillery strikes.

But the cross-border violence has ceased since Hamas – a Hezbollah ally – and Israel reached a temporary truce on Friday.

‘God willing, the truce will continue,’ senior Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah said after a meeting with caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati.

Israeli far-right minister calls on Netanyahu to retaliate against alleged truce breach

Itamar Ben-Gvir has called on Israel’s Prime Moinister Benjamin Netanyahu to sent soldiers back into battle and ‘crush Hamas’.

Ben-Gvir, who is Israel’s security minister, took to X (Twitter) to react to a statement from Israel’s military which said three explosive devices had been detonated near the Jewish state’s troops in the north of the Gaza Strip.

He wrote on social media:

Hamas has now tried to murder IDF soldiers in the northern Gaza Strip. I call on the Prime Minister not to ‘contain’ the explosion of explosive devices used against our soldiers and to order the IDF to return and crush Hamas with force. We must not wait until our fighters are killed. We must once again act in accordance with the goal of the war: the total destruction of Hamas.

Ben-Gvir is a far-right hardline politician who leads Israel’s Otzma Yehudit party, which has widely been described as extremist and ultranationalist.

It has six seats in the Knesset, but forms part of Netanyahu’s government.

Breaking: Erdogan tells UN chief that Israel must be held accountable for ‘war crimes’

Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has told the UN’s chief António Guterres that Israel must be held accountable in international courts for war crimes.

In a phone call ahead of a U.N. Security Council meeting on Gaza planned for Wednesday, Erdogan told Guterres that ‘Israel continues to shamelessly trample on international law, laws of war, and international humanitarian law by looking in the eyes of the international community’, his office said.

  • Israel launched an air and ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza after the militant group carried out a deadly gun rampage in Israel on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 people and taking 240 others hostage. Israeli bombardment has killed more than 15,000 in Gaza, according to the enclave’s health authorities.

Hamas ‘forced 12-year-old Israeli hostage to watch footage of October 7 attack’

Hamas forced a 12-year-old Israeli hostage to watch footage of the terror group’s October 7 attack while being held hostage inside Gaza, his aunt has said.

Deborah Cohen told France’s BFMTV that Eitan Yahalomi, who has French and Israeli citizenship and who was released on Monday, experienced ‘horrors’ in captivity.

‘When he arrived in Gaza, all the Gazans, they all beat him. We are talking about a 12-year-old boy!’ she said, according to Israel’s Haaretz newspaper.

She also said that gunmen would threaten children with rifles if they cried.

‘He went through horrors,’ she said, adding she was horrified to learn that her nephew had been forced to watch footage of Hamas’s massacre.

‘We were very happy yesterday, but now that I know about this, I’m worried. It’s inconceivable, I don’t know who could do such things.’

This handout photo provided by the IDF shows released Israeli hostage Eitan Yahalomi, 12, upon his arrival at Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Monday Nov. 27, 2023, after being held hostage by militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip. (IDF via AP)

UN welcomes aid into Gaza but calls for more

The United Nations has welcomed the increase in aid deliveries into Gaza afforded by a temporary truce, but warned it was not enough to even start addressing the Palestinian territory’s massive needs.

UN children’s agency UNICEF said the aid flow to the northern Gaza Strip – the largest since the Israel-Hamas war erupted on October 7 – was ‘the right start’.

‘(It’s) definitely the right type of aid – fuel, medicines, food, warmth,’ spokesman James Elder told a press briefing in Geneva via video-link from Gaza.

But, he warned, the needs in the besieged enclave of more than two million are so huge that ‘all this aid is triage… It’s not even enough for triage.’

UN agency says it had reached staff in north of Gaza where fighting has been heaviest

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees says it has reached some of its staff working in northern Gaza.

The organisation said it had been able to provide them and the people living there with ‘lifesaving supplies of humanitarian aid’, amid the on-going truce between Israel and Hamas which has paused the fighting.

US and Israeli intelligence chiefs arrive in Qatar to discuss ‘next phase’ of deal

US and Israeli intelligence chiefs have arrived in the Qatari capital to discuss the ‘next phase’ of a deal between Hamas and Israel in Gaza, a source briefed on their visit has told AFP news agency.

‘The director of the CIA and the director of the Israeli National Intelligence Agency (Mossad) are in Doha to meet with the Qatari prime minister to build on the progress of the extended humanitarian pause agreement and to initiate further discussions about the next phase of a potential deal,’ the source told AFP, adding that Egyptian officials were also present.

Group tracking antisemitism in Germany documents drastic increase in incidents

  • A group tracking antisemitism in Germany says it has documented a drastic increase of antisemitic incidents in the country in the month after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7.
  • The RIAS group said it recorded 994 incidents, which is an average of 29 incidents per day and an increase of 320 percent compared to the same time period in 2022.
  • The group looked at the time period from October 7 to November 9.
  • Among the 994 antisemitic incidents, there were three cases of extreme violence, 29 attacks, targeted damage to 72 properties, 32 threats, four mass mailings and 854 cases of offensive behaviour.

Qatar says it is working towards ‘sustainable truce’ between Israel and Hamas

Mediator Qatar said Tuesday it would use a two-day extension to a humanitarian pause in Gaza to work towards a ‘sustainable truce’ between Israel and Hamas.

Foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari told a Doha news conference:

Our main focus right now, and our hope, is to reach a sustainable truce that will lead to further negotiations and eventually to an end… to this war. However, we are working with what we have. And what we have right now is the provision to the agreement that allows us to extend days as long as Hamas is able to guarantee the release of at least 10 hostages.

Qatar has been engaged in intense negotiations, with support from Egypt and the United States, to establish and extend a truce in Gaza, and has previously said that it was designed to be broadened and expanded.

Meanwhile, the directors of Israel’s Mossad and the US Central Intelligence Agency are set to meet with Qatar’s prime minister in Doha to ‘build on progress’ of the 48-hour extension to the truce, a source briefed on the visit told Reuters.

Egyptian officials were also in attendance, the source said adding the Doha meeting would also broach the next phase of a potential deal.

Qatar's Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Majed Al-Ansari, speaks to journalists during a press conference in Doha, Qatar, November 23, 2023. REUTERS/Imad Creidi

Hamas says ten hostages will be freed today in return for 30 Palestinian prisoners – but there is no sign ten-month-old Israeli Kfir Bibas will be among them

A source close to Hamas said 10 Israeli hostages held in Gaza were to be released on Tuesday in exchange for 30 Palestinian prisoners under an extended truce deal.

‘Lists of the 10 Israeli hostages and 30 Palestinian prisoners for the fifth day of the truce were exchanged without objections,’ the source told AFP.

‘Some foreign workers held in Gaza will also be released.’

Read the full report by clicking the link below.

More people could die from disease than bombing in Gaza, WHO warns

More people could die from disease than from bombings in the Gaza Strip if its health system is not repaired, a WHO spokesperson has said.

‘Eventually we will see more people dying from disease than we are even seeing from the bombardment if we are not able to put back (together) this health system,’ said the WHO’s Margaret Harris at a UN briefing in Geneva.

She repeated concerns about a rise in outbreaks of infectious diseases, particularly diarrhoeal diseases.

Citing a UN report on the living conditions of displaced residents in northern Gaza, she said: ‘(There are) no medicines, no vaccination activities, no access to safe water and hygiene and no food. We saw a very high number of cases of diarrhoea among infants,’ she said.

She described the collapse of Al Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza as a ‘tragedy’ and voiced concern about the detention of some of its medical staff by Israeli forces during a WHO evacuation convoy.

James Elder, a spokesperson from the UN Children’s Agency in Gaza, told reporters by videolink that hospitals in Gaza were full of children with war wounds and gastroenteritis from drinking dirty water.

‘I met a lot of parents… They know exactly what their children need. They don’t have access to safe water and it’s crippling them,’ he said.

He described seeing one child with part of his leg missing lying on the hospital floor for several hours, without receiving treatment for lack of medical staff.

Breaking: Ten more hostages to be released today in exchange for 30 prisoners

A source close to Hamas says 10 hostages will be freed today in exchange for 30 Palestinian prisoners, AFP news agency reports.

‘Lists of the 10 Israeli hostages and 30 Palestinian prisoners for the fifth day of the truce were exchanged without objections,’ the source told AFP.

‘Some foreign workers held in Gaza will also be released.’

This is a breaking news update. More to follow…

UN calls for independent investigations into any crimes committed by Israel and Hama

Experts from the United Nations have called for full and independent investigations into any crimes committed by Israel and Hamas in their ongoing conflict.

The UN experts, Morris Tidball-Binz, special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary executions, and Alice Jill Edwards, special rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, issued a joint statement in Geneva on Monday.

They said ‘independent investigators must be given the necessary resources, support and access required to conduct prompt, thorough and impartial investigations into crimes allegedly committed by all parties to the conflict.’

They urged all parties involved in the conflict to protect civilians, comply with their obligations under international law, and cooperate fully with investigations.

Breaking: Qatar says there have been ‘minimal breaches’ of truce agreement amid reports of smoke rising over Gaza

Qatar’s foreign ministry has said there have been ‘minimal breaches’ of the truce agreement, amid smoke rising over the Gaza Strip.

It added that the breaches have not threatened the overall agreement.

  • According to the BBC, there have been reports that Palestinian groups may have fired on Israeli soldiers, unaware of yesterday’s truce extension.
  • An AFP journalist also reported that they saw an Israeli tank fire three times in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood of Gaza City as Palestinians attempted to make use of the lull to return to their homes.
  • The Israeli military described the shelling as ‘warning shots’, saying its tank fired as suspected militants approached army positions.
  • At least one person was hurt, the AFP reporter saw.
  • Hamas and UN officials have reported that Israeli fire has killed at least one person since the truce began on November 24.

US aid for Gaza set to start arriving today

America is sending three military aircraft to Egypt, starting today, to bring vital humanitarian aid for Gaza, senior US officials said.

The relief flights carrying food, medical supplies and winter gear are the first by the US military since the conflict began with Hamas’s October 7 attack.

The flights start a day after President Joe Biden said he would use the extension of the truce to get more aid into Gaza, and as international efforts continue to further prolong the pause in fighting which has so far killed thousands.

Upon its arrival, the United Nations will then take the aid from Egypt’s North Sinai region, which borders the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, into the stricken Palestinian territory itself, the US officials said, according to AFP news agency.

Two further planeloads will arrive ‘in coming days’, they said.

WATCH: Hostages handed over to Red Cross by Hamas last night

UN says truce made up-scaling aid to Gaza possible, but more trucks are still needed

The UN has said the truce made it possible to scale up the delivery of food, water and medicine to the largest volume since the start of the war.

But the 160 to 200 trucks a day is still less than half what Gaza was importing before the fighting, even as humanitarian needs have soared.

Juliette Toma, a spokesperson for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, said people come to shelters asking for heavy clothes, mattresses and blankets, and that some are sleeping in damaged vehicles.

‘The needs are overwhelming,’ she told The Associated Press. ‘They lost everything, and they need everything.’

Meanwhile, the Hamas-run government media office in Gaza issued a statement saying the coastal strip needs 1,000 trucks daily to recover.

TOPSHOT - Palestinians eat outside amid the destruction caused by Israeli strikes in the village of Khuzaa, east of Khan Yunis near the border fence between Israel and the southern Gaza Strip on November 27, 2023, amid a truce in battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. The Israeli government said today it had put Hamas "on notice" that an "option for an extension" of the truce in the Gaza Strip was open. (Photo by SAID KHATIB / AFP) (Photo by SAID KHATIB/AFP via Getty Images)

Almost 100 freed Palestinian prisoners ‘never charged’ by Israel, report says

Of the Palestinian prisoners released by Israel, 98 were detained without charge, according to a report by CNN.

It said 119 were children and the remaining 31 were women.

In its report, CNN explains that Israel often places Palestinians under ‘administrative detention’, a practice that is widely criticised.

It means the detainee is unaware of the charges against them, and their case is not subject to any legal process. In other words, they are detained without a civil trial.

Israeli authorities say the practice is permitted under Article 78 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which relates to the Protection of Civilians in Time of War.

At the beginning of October, 1,200 Palestinians were being held in administrative detention, which according to human rights organisations is the highest number in more than three decades.

Arrests have increased since Hamas’s attack on October 7.

Truce appears to hold on fifth day of deal

  • Israeli forces and Hamas terrorists appeared to be abiding by a truce for a fifth morning today, according to reports on the ground.
  • This is after a four-day ceasefire was extended at the last minute on Monday for at least two days to let more hostages go free.
  • A single column of black smoke could be seen rising above the obliterated wasteland of the northern Gaza war zone from across the fence in Israel, but there was no sign of jets in the sky or rumble of explosions.
  • Both sides reported some Israeli tank fire in the Sheikh Radwan district of Gaza City in the morning, but there were no immediate reports of casualties.
  • A spokesperson for the Israeli Defence Forces said: ‘After suspects approached IDF troops, an IDF tank fired a warning shot.’
View of destroyed buildings in Gaza hit in Israeli strikes during the conflict, amid the temporary truce between Hamas and Israel, as seen from southern Israel, November 28, 2023. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko
An Israeli Merkava tank manoeuvres near the Israel-Gaza border, amid the temporary truce between Hamas and Israel, as seen from southern Israel, November 28, 2023. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko
TOPSHOT - Palestinians walk amid debris of buildings hit in Israeli strikes, near Al-Zawiya market in Gaza City on November 27, 2023, on the fourth day of a truce in fighting between Israel and Hamas. The Israeli government said on November 27, it had put Hamas "on notice" that an "option for an extension" of the truce in the Gaza Strip was open. (Photo by Omar El-Qattaa / AFP) (Photo by OMAR EL-QATTAA/AFP via Getty Images)

Iranian President a no-show at summit announced by Erdogan

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has failed to show for a summit in Ankara that Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan had earlier announced to reporters, but which Tehran itself never officially confirmed.

The confusion around Raisi’s visit underscores the tensions that linger between the two regional powers despite their joint views on the Israel-Hamas war.

The Turkish presidency told AFP that Erdogan had no meetings planned for Tuesday, with later reports suggesting the summit had been postponed.

This is despite Erdogan personally announcing the Iranian president’s first official visit to Turkey on his return flight from a summit between regional leaders in Riyadh on November 11 that was also attended by Raisi.

The visit was also announced by Turkey’s state media and discussed heavily on television as late as Monday.

But it was never officially confirmed by Raisi’s office or announced by Iran’s media.

Shell hits near southern Lebanese town, country’s state news agency says

  • An Israeli shell has hit near the southern Lebanese town of Aita al-Shaab this morning, according to Lebanon’s state news agency.
  • It came hours after a truce between Israel and Hamas was extended.
  • The truce did not formally include Lebanon, but weeks of cross-border shelling between Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, had come to a halt when the truce first came into force last Friday.

The release of more hostages by Hamas to Israel last night saw officials agree to extend their ceasefire by another two days as both parties continue to negotiate terms to free yet more captees.

But hopes that Hamas could eventually return all hostages to Israel without issue were dashed last night when it emerged that as many as 40 people taken during the ruthless October 7 attacks – including ten-month-old Kfir Bibas – are no longer under the captivity of the Palestinian group.

IDF spokesman Avichay Adraee yesterday declared Kfir, his four-year-old brother Ariel and mother Shiri had been taken to Khan Younis in southern Gaza and handed to elements of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).

Follow the link below to read the full story…

French helicopter carrier docks in Egypt

  • The French helicopter carrier Dixmude has docked in Egypt and could start treating wounded children from Gaza later this week, Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu said on Tuesday.
  • Its arrival comes as Western powers look to ramp up efforts to deliver aid.
  • It is the first Western military ship to dock in Egypt since the conflict started and moored on Monday at al-Arish 31 miles west of Gaza, now a hub for international aid for Gaza.
(FILES) This photograph taken on April 3, 2020 shows the French amphibious helicopter carrier (PHA) Dixmude leaving the port of Toulon. The French helicopter carrier Dixmude, configured to provide hospital support to the wounded in the Gaza Strip, arrived on November 27, 2023 in the Egyptian port of Al-Arich, complete with "two operating theaters" and approximately 60 beds onboard, a port source reported to AFP. Hundreds of critically wounded Palestinians have crossed into Egypt in recent weeks with special exit permits, after the majority of hospitals in Gaza were forced out of service, according to the United Nations. (Photo by Anne-Christine POUJOULAT / AFP) (Photo by ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT/AFP via Getty Images)

ISW gives update on Israel-Hamas war

  • The Institute for the Study of War, a US think tank, delivered its latest daily update on the Israel-Hamas war overnight.
  • It reported that Hamas is preparing to resume fighting with Israel in anticipation of the temporary truce coming to an end, and said Palestinian fighters clashed with Israeli forces inside the West Bank.

You can read the full update below:

Israel-Hamas hostage deal: What do we know on day five of the truce?

  • In all, 50 Israeli hostages have been released under the truce deal, with another 19 hostages freed under separate agreements, including Thai workers and a dual Russian-Israeli citizen.
  • In exchange, 150 Palestinian prisoners have been released by Israel.
  • Hamas said it was now drawing up lists of additional hostages to be released, though the process is reportedly complicated by the fact that some are held by other Palestinian militant groups operating inside Gaza.
  • US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said that ‘in order to extend the pause, Hamas has committed to releasing another 20 women and children’.
  • Israel views the truce as temporary to secure hostage releases and plans to continue its war, with the government agreeing a 30.3 billion shekel ($8.2 billion) war budget that will now go to parliament.
  • But it faces increasing pressure for a more lasting ceasefire and the ramp-up of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Tal Goldstein-Almog, 9, who was released from the Gaza Strip on November 26 after being taken hostage by the Palestinian militant group Hamas during the October 7 attack on Israel, is embraced by a loved one shortly after being reunited with his family, at Schneider Children's Medical Center of Israel in Petah Tikva, Israel, in this handout picture released by Schneider Children's Medical Center of Israel on November 27, 2023. Schneider Children's Medical Center of Israel/Handout via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY
Palestinian Muhammad Abu Al-Humus, former prisoner released from the Israeli jail in exchange for hostages freed by Hamas in Gaza, hugs his mother upon return to his home in east Jerusalem, on November 28, 2023. Israel's prison authority said early on November 28 that 33 Palestinian prisoners had been released "during the night" under the terms of a truce deal that returned hostages from the Gaza Strip. The release brought the total number of detainees freed by Israel during the initial, four-day pause in the fighting to 150. (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP) (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images)

Israel has claimed that Hamas has moved its youngest hostage into the IDF’s firing line, hours after it tonight received the fourth group of hostages from the terror group.

Hamas has handed ten-month-old Kfir Bibas to a separate Palestinian terror group in the southern city of Khan Younis, an IDF spokesperson today claimed.

Click the link below to read the full story…

UN: More than 1.8 million Gazans displaced

Israel’s bombardment and ground offensive have displaced more than 1.8 million people, nearly 80% of Gaza’s population, with most having sought refuge in the south, according to the UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs.

Israeli troops have barred people from returning to the north during the cease-fire.

Hundreds of thousands of people have packed into UN-run schools and other facilities, with many forced to sleep on the streets outside because of overcrowding. It’s unclear where they would go if Israel expands its ground operation, as Egypt has refused to accept refugees and Israel has sealed its border.

It is feared Israel will expand its offensive if or when the temporary truce currently in place ends.

Displaced Palestinians shelter in tents in Khan Yunis near the border fence between Israel and the southern Gaza Strip on November 27, 2023, amid a truce in battles between Israel and Hamas. The Israeli government said today it had put Hamas "on notice" that an "option for an extension" of the truce in the Gaza Strip was open. (Photo by Mahmud HAMS / AFP) (Photo by MAHMUD HAMS/AFP via Getty Images)
View of destroyed buildings in Gaza hit in Israeli strikes during the conflict, amid the temporary truce between Hamas and Israel, as seen from southern Israel, November 28, 2023. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko

Freed hostage describes ‘suffocating’ conditions in Hamas captivity

The hostages freed from Gaza have mostly stayed out of the public eye, but details of their captivity have started to emerge.

In one of the first interviews with a freed hostage, 78-year-old Ruti Munder told Israel’s Channel 13 television that she was initially fed well in captivity but that conditions worsened as shortages took hold.

She said she was kept in a ‘suffocating’ room and slept on plastic chairs with a sheet for nearly 50 days.

Yesterday, we looked at what had been said so far about the conditions that hostages inside Gaza were kept in by the Hamas terror group.

Click the link below to read the full story:

Israel-Hamas war day 53: What you need to know

Good morning and welcome to MailOnline’s liveblog covering the on-going war between Israel and Hamas, which today entered its 53rd day.

A truce between the two sides entered its fifth day today after an agreement was struck on Monday to extend it until the end of Wednesday.

Hamas has promised to release more hostages in exchange for the release Palestinian prisoners, and to delay the resumption of the war.

The terror group released 11 more hostages last night. However, Israel said Hamas had handed ten-month-old Kfir Bibas to a separate Palestinian terror group in the southern city of Khan Younis. You can read the full story here.

After four groups of hostages were released over the last four days, Hamas and other terror groups are still holding about 160 people in Gaza, out of the 240 seized in their October 7 assault into southern Israel that ignited the war.

Israel’s retaliatory ground and air operation in Gaza has killed almost 15,000 people, mostly civilians, according to the territory’s Hamas government.

Follow along for more updates…

GAZA CITY, GAZA - NOVEMBER 27: Hamas hands over 11 Israeli hostages to the International Committee of the Red Cross in Gaza City, Gaza on November 27, 2023. (Photo by Stringer/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Key Updates

  • Ten more hostages to be released today in exchange for 30 prisoners

  • Truce appears to hold on fifth day of deal

  • Israel-Hamas war day 53: What you need to know

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