Biden says he believes a hostage deal will come soonJoe Biden has said he believes a deal to secure the release of hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza is near.
The US president was answering a question by a reporter while at a turkey pardoning ceremony at the White House on Monday.
When asked how soon, the president was seen crossing his fingers.
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The families of the hostages in Gaza are fuming after some of them were not allowed to attend a meeting with Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanayahu, and his war cabinet.
Some representatives of the families were told there was not enough space to accommodate everyone, despite the families having provided a list of 107 representatives ahead of time, the Times of Israel reported.
The families who could not enter are planning to protest at the gate to the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv where the meeting is taking place, Haaretz reported.
Families of the hostages wait to enter a meeting with Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu and the war cabinet at the Kirya in Tel Aviv, Israel. Photograph: Alexi J Rosenfeld/Getty ImagesYemen’s Houthi rebels have released video footage reportedly showing armed men dropping from a helicopter and seizing a cargo ship in the Red Sea.
The footage was released a day after Houthi rebels said they had seized what they called an Israeli cargo ship in the Red Sea, warning that all vessels linked to Israel “will become a legitimate target for armed forces”.
Israel said the vessel was a British-owned and Japanese-operated cargo ship.
A mother covers her daughter as a siren sounds signalling incoming rockets launched from the Gaza Strip towards Israel in Tel Aviv, Israel. Photograph: Itai Ron/ReutersThe head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said 12 of the premature babies rescued from Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital have been flown to Cairo.
In an effort coordinated by the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, 28 premature babies were rescued from al-Shifa hospital and taken to Egypt earlier today. Three babies remained in Gaza.
Posting to social media, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said:
All babies are fighting serious infections and others conditions, and need specialised medical care.
Today, 28 of the 31 premature babies, who were evacuated from the Al-Shifa hospital yesterday, were safely transferred in Al-Arish to receive medical treatment in #Egypt. From there, 12 babies were flown to Cairo.
Three babies continue to receive treatment at the Emarati… pic.twitter.com/SZjKbRUojJ
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) November 20, 2023Biden says he believes a hostage deal will come soonJoe Biden has said he believes a deal to secure the release of hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza is near.
The US president was answering a question by a reporter while at a turkey pardoning ceremony at the White House on Monday.
When asked how soon, the president was seen crossing his fingers.
Guterres says war must lead in ‘irreversible way to a two-state solution’António Guterres, at a press conference on Monday, said he did not believe a UN protectorate in Gaza would be a solution to the conflict.
The UN secretary general said it was “important to be able to transform this tragedy into an opportunity”, which was to “move in a determined, irreversible way to a two-state solution”, adding:
I believe it to be important after the war to have a strengthened Palestinian Authority to assume responsibilities in Gaza.
He said a humanitarian ceasefire was a crucial first step, along with unrestricted access for humanitarian aid and the release of hostages.
He added the Palestinian Authority could clearly not return to Gaza while Israeli tanks remain, meaning there must be a “transition period”. He said:
I think we need a multi-stakeholder approach in which different countries, different entities, will cooperate. For Israel, of course, the US is the main guarantor of its security. For Palestinians, the neighbouring and Arab countries of the region are essential.
So everybody needs to come together to make the conditions for a transition, allowing for a strengthened Palestinian Authority, to assume responsibility in Gaza and then, based on that, to finally move … in a determined and irreversible way to a two-state solution based on the principles that have been largely established by the international community and which I have time and time again outlined.
World is witnessing an ‘unparalleled and unprecedented’ killing of civilians in Gaza, says UN chiefThe UN secretary general, António Guterres, has said it is clear that the war in Gaza has seen “a killing of civilians that is unparalleled and unprecedented in any conflict” since he began his role in 2017.
Guterres, in a press conference on Monday, said: “What is clear is that we have had in a few weeks thousands of children killed.”
His remarks came as Gaza authorities said at least 13,300 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the 7 October terror attacks by Hamas. The death toll, published by Gaza’s Hamas-run government media office on Monday, includes 5,600 children and 3,550 women.
Without entering into discussing the accuracy of the figures released by the health ministry in Gaza, which are regarded by UN agencies as reliable, Guterres said:
This is what matters. We are witnessing a killing of civilians that is unparalleled and unprecedented in any conflict since I have been secretary general.
Spain’s newly re-elected prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, will travel to Israel and Palestine on Thursday, his office has said.
Sánchez will travel alongside his Belgian counterpart Alexander de Croo, according to a statement from his office.
Both leaders will meet with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s president Isaac Herzog and the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, the statement added.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has said it transferred 28 premature babies into Egypt in ambulances, after 31 were evacuated from al-Shifa hospital in northern Gaza.
A total of 28 premature babies were rescued from Shifa hospital and taken to Egypt in an effort coordinated by the PRCS. Three babies remained in Gaza, two for family reasons, and one because the family could not be identified.
They were evacuated after Gaza’s biggest hospital was no longer able to function after an IDF raid. Israel has said Hamas has command centres underneath hospitals in Gaza but Hamas has denied this.
Some mothers of the premature babies were present at the crossing, one woman described the ordeal of having to leave her baby inside al-Shifa while she evacuated south.
Premature babies evacuated from Gaza into Egypt – video
Dan Sabbagh
A dozen people were reportedly killed at a second major medical facility in northern Gaza on Monday as Israeli forces closed in around the packed Indonesian hospital despite hopes that a ceasefire for hostages deal may be agreed.
Video broadcast on al-Jazeera showed damage to what were described as patient facilities, while daytime footage on social media appeared to show that Israeli tanks were close by the medical complex.
One medical worker, Marwan Abdallah, said the tanks were clearly visible from the hospital windows. “Women and children are terrified. There are constant sounds of explosions and gunfire,” he added.
The ministry of health in Gaza said it believed 12 had been killed in shelling overnight and that it feared a repeat of what happened at the al-Shifa hospital complex, which was surrounded and raided by Israeli forces last week.
There was no immediate comment from the Israel Defense Forces, although in the past the Israeli military has said that it believed that a Hamas tunnel entrance is near to the Indonesian hospital and that missiles were launched into Israel from nearby.