Israel says it is open to truce extension if more captives released
6:17pm
Israel says it is open to truce extension if more captives released
Eilon Levy, Israeli government spokesperson, has said that Hamas was aware of Israel's willingness to extend the truce in return for the release of 50 more captives held in Gaza, reports Al Jazeera.
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Levy added that 184 Israelis are still detained in the Gaza Strip.
3:42pm
Dozens more hostages could be released if deal extended: BBC
The final group of hostages to be freed under the initial deal is expected to emerge from Gaza later today.
About a dozen captives - women and children - should be released.
For every Israeli citizen freed, three Palestinian prisoners – women and minors – held in Israeli jails are being released.
Early indications suggest the truce could be extended. Israel is offering a further day of pause in the fighting in Gaza for every 10 captives released, and Hamas says it could agree to an extension.
A Palestinian official told the BBC between 20 to 40 additional Israeli hostages could be freed, which would possibly add an additional two to four days to the temporary ceasefire.
Around 180 people remain in captivity in Gaza - including about a dozen children - which gives Hamas leverage in its fight against Israel.
Some, however, fear an extended pause could give time for Hamas to regroup and organise its defences ahead of the possible restart of the Israeli campaign.
On Sunday, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was open to extending the deal, but also stressed that, after the temporary ceasefire, Israel would resume its offensive with the goal of "eliminating Hamas".
In Gaza, the pause has allowed the delivery of much needed aid, as the humanitarian crisis triggered by weeks of unrelenting Israeli bombardment continues.
3:35pm
Jordanian FM reiterates call for two-state solution
Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said that the path towards a two-state solution in the Israel-Palestine conflict must begin with "ensuring an end to this brutal aggression".
"Only a long and lasting peace will bring stability, there cannot be a Gaza-alone diplomatic approach," he said at the Forum for the Union of the Mediterranean in Barcelona, reports Al Jazeera.
3:34pm
China to preside over Security Council session on the war in Gaza
China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi will visit New York this week to hold a UN Security Council meeting on the war in Gaza, reports Al Jazeera.
"As it holds the rotating presidency of the United Nations Security Council this month, China will hold a high-level meeting on the Palestinian-Israeli issue on November 29," ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said.
Beijing hopes the talks will achieve "a ceasefire and an end to the fighting" and make "contributions to alleviating the humanitarian crisis in Gaza", Wenbin added.
Beijing has repeatedly called for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. President Xi Jinping has also called for an "international peace conference" to resolve the fighting.
2:52pm
Israel says Musk agrees not to activate Starlink over Gaza without approval
Elon Musk has agreed to not activate Starlink over Gaza without Israel's approval, Israeli communications minister said, reports Al Jazeera.
Starlink is a satellite internet venture operated by SpaceX, owned by Musk, that makes it easier to provide internet services in rural and isolated regions of the world where the internet terminals and cables are not strong.
It has been reported that Musk landed in Tel Aviv this morning, Al Jazeera added.
In a post on X, Shlomo Karhi, the Israeli minister, congratulated Musk "for reaching a principle understanding" whereby "Starlink satellite units can only be operated in Israel with the approval of the Israeli Ministry of Communications, including the Gaza Strip".
As part of its attacks on Gaza, Israel destroyed communication towers and cut off all internet for the besieged enclave last month.
12:50pm
$10,000 reward for info on Vermont shooting of Palestinian students
A Muslim civil rights and advocacy group in the US is offering a $10,000 (£7,900) reward for information on the perpetrators of a shooting that targeted three Palestinian university students, reports BBC.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) also urged authorities to investigate a possible "bias motive" for the shooting, citing an "unprecedented spike in anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian hate and violence", BBC adds.
Hisham Awartani, Tahseen Ahmed and Kinnan Abdalhamid were confronted and shot by a man near the University of Vermont Campus while on their way to a family dinner, Burlington Police said.
Officers are investigating a possible motive, but said they were wearing keffiyeh - a traditional scarf - and speaking Arabic when attacked.
Burlington police chief Jon Mura said two of the victims are in a stable condition; the third has suffered much more serious injuries.
Police are searching for the suspect.
11:55am
How many prisoners and captives have been released?
There have been three prisoner-captive exchanges since the four-day truce started on Friday.
In total, 175 people have been released, including:
- 39 Israeli citizens released by Hamas, in three groups of 13
- 117 Palestinian prisoners released by Israel, in three groups of 39
- 17 Thais released by Hamas
- One Filipino released by Hamas
- One Israeli-Russian released by Hamas
Hamas said that in total, 50 women and children are to be freed in return for 150 Palestinian women and children in Israeli jails under the truce deal.
Israeli media are reporting that Israel is yet to receive a list of names of 11 hostages expected to be released by Hamas on Monday.
Netanyahu has said that the truce could be extended if more captives are released at a rate of 10 per day.
Meanwhile, Palestinian officials say more than 3,200 Palestinians have been arrested in the occupied West Bank alone since October 7.
Source: Al Jazeera.
11:35am
Egypt, Qatar, and the US are pressing for the truce to be extended beyond Monday while Netanyahu addressing Israeli forces in Gaza, saying, "Nothing will stop us."
Hamas freed 17 hostages held in Gaza, including a 4-year-old American girl, while Israel released 39 Palestinian prisoners on Sunday, the third day of their truce.
More than 14,854 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since October 7, with thousands more believed to be trapped in the rubble. In Israel, the official death toll stands at 1,200.
10:40am
Biden hopes for extension of Israel-Hamas truce
US President Joe Biden said he hoped the temporary truce between Israel and Hamas can go on as long as hostages are being released, after the fighter group freed 17 more people, including a 4-year-old Israeli-American girl.
Hamas said it wanted to extend the pause in fighting, which will enter its fourth day and final agreed day on Monday, if serious efforts were made to increase the number of Palestinian detainees released by Israel.
Thirty-nine teenage Palestinian prisoners were released by Israel on Sunday, taking the total since the truce began to 117.
Hamas said it had handed over 13 Israelis, three Thais and one with Russian citizenship, and the International Committee of the Red Cross confirmed it had successfully transferred them from Gaza on Sunday.
10:25am
How many prisoners and captives have been released?
According to Al Jazeera, there have now been three prisoner-captive exchanges since the four-day truce started on Friday.
In total 175 people have now been released including:
- 39 Israeli citizens released by Hamas, in three groups of 13.
- 117 Palestinian prisoners released by Israel, in three groups of 39.
- 17 Thais released by Hamas.
- One Filipino released by Hamas.
- One Israeli-Russian released by Hamas.
Hamas said 50 women and children are to be freed in return for 150 Palestinian women and children in Israeli jails in total under the truce deal.
Israeli media are reporting that Israel is yet to receive a list of names of 11 hostages expected to be released by Hamas on Monday.
Netanyahu has said that the truce could be extended if more captives are released at a rate of 10 per day.
Meanwhile, Palestinian officials say more than 3,200 Palestinians have been arrested in the occupied West Bank alone since October 7.
08:36am
UN deliveries to northern Gaza ramp up
A UN official who took part in a humanitarian aid convoy to northern Gaza said on Sunday aid groups were on track to deliver the biggest shipment in over a month, describing thin, gaunt residents slaking their thirst as soon as water arrived.
Earlier, UN agencies had voiced fears of disease and dehydration in the north, cut off from outside aid for weeks in a siege within a siege. The UN previously said it could not get safe passage and medical groups who remained active like the International Red Cross came under fire there.
"People are so desperate and you can see in adults' eyes they haven't eaten, you can see the children are getting thinner," the UN children's agency's James Elder told Reuters by video link from southern Gaza after returning from Gaza City.
"There's just this immense relief. Literally, people as they get water start drinking the water immediately," he said. "They're thirsty. They've been thirsty for days."
UNICEF's Elder took part in a five-truck convoy on Sunday alongside other UN agencies delivering high-energy biscuits, vitamin tablets for children as well as medical kits. A dispute over aid flows to the north of the Israeli-besieged enclave temporarily held up a deal to free captives on Saturday.
08:05am
3 students of Palestinian descent were shot in Vermont
Police and federal agents searched on Sunday for a gunman who shot and wounded three college students of Palestinian descent in Burlington, Vermont, in what investigators suspect was a hate-motivated crime, authorities said.
A man with a pistol shot the three victims on the street near the University of Vermont on Saturday evening and then ran away, Burlington police said in a statement.
Two victims are US citizens and the third is a legal US resident, all 20 years old, police said. Two of the men were wearing a keffiyeh, the traditional black-and-white checkered scarf of Middle Eastern dress, at the time of the attack, police said.
The shooting came amid a rise in anti-Islamic incidents reported around the United States since the latest wave of Israel-Palestine bloodshed erupted in the Middle East on 7 October.
07:37am
Thai PM names three latest freed captives
Thailand Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin has said that the three Thai captives released by Hamas are in good health.
The three are among 17 captives, including four foreign citizens, released from Gaza on Sunday.
Srettha named the three captives as Wichian Temthong, Surin Rae Sung Noen and Phonsawan Pinakalo. He said none of the three needed urgent medical attention, although one complained of abdominal pain.
"I'm happy!" Srettha post on X.
Thai officials say that 15 Thai nationals remain in captivity in Gaza after the release of 17 since Friday.
07:20am
UN World Food Programme chief warns of famine in Gaza
In an interview with the US television channel CBS, Cindy McCain, director of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), warned that the Gaza Strip is "on the brink of famine" and called for more aid to the besieged territory, as the end of a four-day truce draws near.
McCain, who is the widow of the late Republican Senator and presidential candidate John McCain, also said that a life-threatening form of malnutrition in children could increase by nearly 30 percent in the territory.
"First of all, the — the bottom line here is that we need to get more aid in as — as has been said, we're looking at … possibly being on the brink of famine in this region," McCain told CBS Face the Nation moderator Magaret Brennan.
"This is something that … will spread. And with that comes disease and — and everything else that you can imagine."
06:56am
Fatah calls for end to Israeli hostilities across Palestinian territories
The Palestinian political group, Fatah, has called for "a comprehensive and permanent end" to the Israeli "aggression" that targets civilians living in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank, following a meeting of its Central Committee members.
In a statement, Fatah also said that it rejects any efforts to displace more civilians from their lands, amid reports of efforts to drive out Palestinians from Gaza.
"We will not allow a single inch of its land to be cut off, no matter the sacrifices," it said, while calling on the international community "to recognise an independent Palestinian state".
06:28am
Palestinians arrested by Israel in West Bank reaches 3,200 since 7 Oct
A report released by Palestinian Commission for Detainees and Ex-Prisoners' Affairs said that of the 3,200 Palestinians arrested by Israel since October 7 in the occupied West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem, 41 were journalists, 29 of whom remain in detention.
The number of detentions since October 7 brings to more than 7,000 the number of arrested Palestinians from the occupied territory, the report published on Sunday said.
That includes more than 200 children and about 78 female prisoners as well as "hundreds" of sick and wounded people, some of whom need "urgent medical intervention", the report added.
It also noted that the recent arrests were accompanied by "widespread raids and abuse, in addition to vandalising and destroying of citizens' homes, and severe beatings of the families of detainees" as well as the shooting of unarmed Palestinians, resulting in deaths.
06:00am
US deploys USS Eisenhower to Arabian Gulf
In a statement posted on X, the US Navy said that its aircraft carrier USS Eisenhower had crossed the Strait of Hormuz and reached the waters of the Arabian Gulf "to support" the missions of the US Central Command.
The US said the aircraft is patrolling the area "to ensure freedom of navigation in key international waterways" while also supporting the US Navy's "requirements throughout the region".
The USS Eisenhower is being accompanied by the guided-missile cruiser USS Philippine Sea, guided-missile destroyers USS Gravely and the USS Stethem and the French frigate Languedoc.
Disclaimer: The information and infographics provided in this thread have been collected from Al Jazeera, Reuters, BBC and other media platforms.
