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Israel-Hamas War Live: Pause In Fighting To Begin At 7am On Friday With First Hostages To Be Released That Afternoon, Hamas Confirms

Israel to continue ‘intense’ fighting for at least two months after ‘short’ truce, says defence ministerIsrael’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, has said the military will resume fighting against Hamas “with intensity” for at least two more months once the “short” temporary pause ends.

Gallant, addressing troops of the Israeli navy special operations unit on Thursday, was quoted by the Times of Israel as saying:

What you will see in the coming days is first the release of hostages. This respite will be short.

He told troops to “organise, get ready, investigate, resupply arms, and get ready to continue” during the ceasefire, adding:

There will be a continuation, because we need to complete the victory and create the impetus for the next groups of hostages, who will only come back as a result of pressure.

“At least another two months of fighting is expected,” he added.

From the Times of Israel’s Emanuel Fabian:

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant to troops of the Navy’s Shayetet 13 commando unit: “This will be a short respite, after which the fighting will continue with intensity, and pressure will be made to bring back more hostages. At least two more months of fighting is expected.” pic.twitter.com/scMUZWOdlh

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) November 23, 2023 Key events

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Patrick Wintour

Back in London, John Casson, David Cameron’s former chief foreign policy adviser in Downing Street, criticised Benjamin Netanyahu’s strategy, saying it was teaching hatred of Israel among Palestinians.

He also called for a change to the ageing leadership of the Palestinian Authority.

In his main critique, he argued it was right to say “we stand with Israelis and say ‘never again’ to facing the terrorist horror of the last month – that is not the same as to say we endorse and enable what prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his partners are saying and doing because the two things are at odds.

The current approach is not making the Israelis safe and secure for the long term but creating a traumatised generation of Palestinians and teaching them that Israel is their enemy and it is undermining the prospects of a two-state solution and deliberately dismantling it.

Patrick Wintour

David Cameron has met Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, during a visit to Israel, expressing hope that the planned temporary truce with Hamas would be an “opportunity to crucially get hostages out and get aid into Gaza”.

The Israeli prime minister told the new UK foreign secretary that the precondition for peace in the Middle East was the eradication of what Netanyahu called the “genocidal terrorist cult” Hamas. His remarks gave the impression that Netanyahu is not currently interested in anything but a military solution to the future of Israel’s security.

Cameron’s visit to Jerusalem and Ramallah, the headquarters of the Palestinian Authority, came on another dramatic day surrounding the release of hostages, and Palestinian political prisoners.

Netanyahu insisted Israel would continue with its plans to destroy Hamas, saying:

We’ll continue with our war aims, namely to eradicate Hamas, because Hamas has already promised that they will do this again and again and again. They’re a genocidal terrorist cult. There’s no hope for peace between Israel and the Palestinians, between Israel and the Arab states, if we don’t eradicate this murderous movement that threatens the future of all of us.

It is understood Cameron discussed the impact of the conflict on civilians and the need to take all possible measures to minimise civilian casualties, and urged the Israelis to take action to end settler violence in the West Bank. The UK foreign secretary highlighted the need to use Kerem Shalom border crossing to scale up scanning and inspections to get more trucks in to Gaza.

Israel to continue ‘intense’ fighting for at least two months after ‘short’ truce, says defence ministerIsrael’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, has said the military will resume fighting against Hamas “with intensity” for at least two more months once the “short” temporary pause ends.

Gallant, addressing troops of the Israeli navy special operations unit on Thursday, was quoted by the Times of Israel as saying:

What you will see in the coming days is first the release of hostages. This respite will be short.

He told troops to “organise, get ready, investigate, resupply arms, and get ready to continue” during the ceasefire, adding:

There will be a continuation, because we need to complete the victory and create the impetus for the next groups of hostages, who will only come back as a result of pressure.

“At least another two months of fighting is expected,” he added.

From the Times of Israel’s Emanuel Fabian:

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant to troops of the Navy’s Shayetet 13 commando unit: “This will be a short respite, after which the fighting will continue with intensity, and pressure will be made to bring back more hostages. At least two more months of fighting is expected.” pic.twitter.com/scMUZWOdlh

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) November 23, 2023 Biden ‘fingers crossed’ that three-year-old American hostage will be releasedJoe Biden has said he has his “fingers crossed” that a three-year-old Israeli-American girl taken hostage on 7 October will be released on Friday.

The US president, speaking to reporters in Nantucket, Massachusetts on Thursday, said he was “not prepared to given an update” on the hostages in Gaza “until it’s done”.

Asked about Abigail Mor Edan, the three-year-old, Biden responded:

I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

From Axios’ Barak Ravid:

From pool:

Any update on Gaza hostages?

Biden: “I’m not prepared to give an update until it’s done”

Will three year old US girl be among those released initially?

Biden: “I’m keeping my fingers crossed”

— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) November 23, 2023 The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has said it is “deeply worried” about the director of its medical clinic in Khan Yunis, who it said was arrested by Israeli forces and whose whereabouts is unknown.

Awni Khattab was arrested on Wednesday when a convoy transporting the wounded from al-Shifa hospital in northern Gaza went through a checkpoint that separates north and south Gaza, the PRCS said in a statement. It added:

PRCS holds the Israeli authorities responsible for the safety of Khattab, and we demand his immediate release along with other medical teams that are under arrest.

🚨PRCS is deeply worried about Awni Khattab, our colleague the head of Khan Younis Medical Center, #Gaza. Israeli forces arrested him and now his whereabouts are unknown. 📍The arrest took place yesterday while the convoy of the wounded from Al-Shifa Hospital was traveling… pic.twitter.com/amr9JoBewL

— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) November 23, 2023In New York, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade was interrupted when a group of pro-Palestinian protesters in jumpsuits covered in fake blood glued themselves to the street.

They carried a banner that said “Free Palestine” and “Genocide then. Genocide now” and were taken into custody, AP reported.

🔴 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade Blocked By Pro-Palestinian Protesters

Pro-Palestinian protesters disrupted the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on 6th Avenue in New York City, according to multiple reports and videos from the scene.

CREDIT: Jenn Ryan via Storyful pic.twitter.com/w0IWWLp044

— Newsweek (@Newsweek) November 23, 2023Israel’s communications minister, Shlomo Karhi, has proposed halting government funding for the daily Haaretz newspaper, accusing the publication of “defeatist and false propaganda” against the state of Israel, according to a Times of Israel report.

In a letter to cabinet secretary Yossi Fuchs, Karhi criticised Haaretz for its editorial stance on the war, and proposed that the state not enter into any new commercial agreements with the newspaper, halt all advertising in it, and block any outstanding payments from being made. He wrote:

Since the beginning of the war, my office has received numerous complaints that the Haaretz newspaper has taken a harmful line that undermines the goals of the war and weakens the military effort and societal resilience.

The letter comes after a report in Haaretz published on Saturday that said an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) helicopter that engaged Hamas militants at the Nova music festival on 7 October also fired on festival participants.

Palestinians flee to the southern Gaza Strip, on the outskirts of Gaza City, during the ongoing Israeli bombardment. Photograph: Víctor R Caivano/APAn Israeli self-propelled Howitzer artillery gun fires towards the Gaza Strip from a position close to the border in southern Israel. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty ImagesDisplaced Palestinians wait in line as volunteers distribute a hot meal in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip Photograph: Mahmud Hams/AFP/Getty Images

Dan Sabbagh

Mohammad abu Salmiya was regularly interviewed as Israeli forces attacked Gaza after 7 October, describing a desperately overcrowded facility housing 650 patients and sheltering another 5,000. He described allegations that al-Shifa sat above a Hamas command centre as untrue.

Al-Shifa, the largest medical facility in Gaza, was surrounded and raided by Israeli forces over a week ago. Israel has repeatedly claimed that Hamas ran a command and control centre from tunnels running near and under the hospital, although so far the evidence presented has fallen short of that.

IDF release footage allegedly showing Hamas centre under al-Shifa hospital – videoThe IDF took a group of journalists to visit the tunnels on Wednesday, and video reports appeared showing lengthy tunnels reinforced with concrete blocks. A bathroom and an empty tiled room with electric sockets could be seen on the footage, although its purpose could not be discerned from the filmed material.

Daniel Hagari, the IDF’s spokesperson, said on Wednesday evening the footage showed that “Hamas built tunnels underneath hospitals, used them to command their operations”, and accused the group of “using the protected status of the hospitals as a shield”.

Israeli soldiers show the media an underground tunnel found below al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City. Photograph: Víctor R Caivano/APPatients and civilians have since been gradually evacuated from al-Shifa and the hospital’s boss was among the last to leave, on a day in which intense fighting continued unabated across Gaza as the planned truce was delayed by at least a day.

A second hospital in northern Gaza, the Indonesia hospital, has now been evacuated at the insistence of Israel’s military, according to the Indonesian charity Medical Emergency Rescue Committee (Mer-C), which helped fund and build it. Gaza’s health ministry said the evacuation meant that 65 bodies at the facility remained unburied.

Dan Sabbagh

Israel’s army has arrested the director of Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital and bombed at least 300 targets from the air, killing dozens of Palestinians, as an agreed four-day truce was delayed until Friday.

Mohammad abu Salmiya and other medics were detained, a colleague said, amid reports that members of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) had seized them as they were travelling with a World Health Organization evacuation convoy.

“Dr Mohammad abu Salmiya was arrested along with several other senior doctors,” Khalid abu Samra told the AFP news agency, while Gaza’s ministry of health demanded the WHO explain what had happened.

Several hours later, the IDF confirmed Abu Salmiya had been arrested and transferred to the Shin Bet domestic security service for further questioning. It said that al-Shifa “under his direct management, served as a Hamas command and control centre” and that Hamas fighters had sought refuge in the hospital.

The UK’s foreign secretary, David Cameron, has met Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, during a visit to Israel today.

Cameron, who earlier visited kibbutz Be’eri, the scene of some of the worst violence during the Hamas assault inside Israel on 7 October, told the Israeli leader in Jerusalem:

I wanted to come here in person … to see just the true nature of the horrific attacks that you faced, I think that’s very important to do that and see that, we stand with the people of Israel.

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, with Britain’s foreign secretary, David Cameron, during a meeting in the Knesset in Jerusalem. Photograph: GPO/KOBI GIDEON HANDOUT/EPACameron met Netanyahu in Jerusalem. Photograph: GPO/KOBI GIDEON HANDOUT/EPAHe added that he believed the announcement of a truce between Israel and Hamas would be an opportunity to get the hostages out and to get aid into Gaza, adding:

I hope everyone who is responsible and behind this agreement can make it happen.

Netanyahu vowed to “continue with our war aims, namely to eradicate Hamas”, adding:

There is no hope for peace between Israel and the Palestinians and between Israel and the Arab countries if we do not eradicate this murderous movement, which threatens the future of all of us.

Ziad, a 35-year-old Palestinian in Gaza, on helping a child suffering from toothache, marvelling at a family’s ability to laugh and sing, and how a simple scarf can allow you to dream of better times for her diary for the Guardian:

8am A woman I know once wondered about what life would be like if tears were coloured. If there was a specific colour for tears of joy, sadness, anger, despair and helplessness.

We have reached a stage where it is not a surprise to see someone crying in the street. They might have lost someone, they might have lost their home or maybe they have no place to go. The list could go on and on.

I leave early every day to start searching for anything useful. The shops open early to welcome all the lost souls. I call us the lost souls because we don’t know who we are any more. We had jobs, dreams and somewhat normal routines. Then suddenly we had to leave, and found ourselves in places we have never lived in before. Now we are facing the unknown. Our minds and souls are lost.

Palestinians in a Khan Yunis supermarket with barely any food left. ‘We have reached a stage where getting bread easily is a victory.’ Photograph: AFP/Getty ImagesI see a man bringing a big bag with Saj bread. He starts calling out to let people know that he has something to sell. I run and reach him first. I ask him for some bread and pay him. Just like that. Then many people start running towards him. I take the bread – no, I hug the Saj bread – and pass through the gathering crowd. I have a big smile over my face. For almost half an hour I keep walking, not focusing where I am going. I’m just feeling happy.

A tear falls down my face, it does not need a colour. It is not a tear of sadness. We have reached a stage where getting bread easily is a victory, and it was a tear of gratefulness. I was grateful.

Read Ziad’s full diary entry here.

Sam Jones

Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has urged Israel to rethink its offensive in Gaza, telling its president and prime minister the number of dead Palestinians is “truly unbearable”.

Sánchez’s blunt pleas came during a visit to the Middle East with the Belgian prime minister, Alexander De Croo, during which he called for a peace conference and reiterated that the creation of a Palestinian state remained the best way to bring peace and security to the region.

The response to Hamas’s terrorist attacks last month cannot include “the deaths of innocent civilians, including thousands of children”, Sánchez said.

Speaking as he met Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, on Thursday afternoon, Sánchez said Spain had repeatedly condemned Hamas’s “shocking acts of terrorism” and acknowledged Israel’s right to defend itself. But he added:

Let me also be clear: Israel must abide by international law, including international humanitarian law, in its response … The whole world is shocked at the images that we see coming from Gaza every day. The number of Palestinians killed is truly unbearable. I believe that all civilians must be protected at all costs.

Hamas confirms truce to begin at 7am on FridayThe armed wing of Hamas, the Izz ad-Din al Qassam brigades or al-Qassam brigades, has confirmed that a four-day pause in fighting will begin at 7am local time in Gaza (0500 GMT).

During the truce, all military actions by al-Qassam Brigades and Israeli forces will cease, according to a statement on Thursday.

It added that Israeli military would stop flights over the southern Gaza Strip and would also cease flying for six hours daily, from 10am to 4pm over Gaza City and the northern areas.

The statement also sayss Israeli “prisoners, women and children under the age of 19, will be released”. Three Palestinian prisoners, including women and children, would be released for every Israeli, it added.

In addition, 200 trucks containing medical supplies would be brought into Gaza on a daily basis, along with four trucks containing fuel and cooking gas.

Qatar says ceasefire to begin Friday 7am, 13 hostages to be released later that day

Jason Burke

A four-day ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas will begin on Friday morning, a day later than originally announced, after negotiators worked out final details of the deal, which will lead to the release of dozens of hostages held by militants as well as Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.

Majed al-Ansari, a spokesperson for the foreign ministry of Qatar, which played a key role in mediating with Hamas, announced the cease-fire will start at 7 a.m. local time Friday (5 a.m. GMT.)

He said the two sides had exchanged lists of those to be released, and the first group of hostages held by Hamas – including 13 women and children – would be freed Friday afternoon. Increased aid for Palestinians will start to enter “as soon as possible,” al-Ansari said.

The exchange of female and minor hostages and prisoners was due to take place on Thursday but postponed as last minute logistical issues were worked out over 24 hours of frantic diplomacy.

The truce, which initially would last for four days, was announced early on Wednesday after days of speculation and has raised hopes for a more durable pause in the violence.

Under the agreement, Hamas will free at least 50 of the more than 240 mostly Israeli hostages they have held since launching bloody attacks into southern Israel on 7 October. In turn, Israel will release at least 150 Palestinian prisoners and allow up to 300 trucks of humanitarian aid into Gaza after more than six weeks of bombardment, heavy fighting and a crippling blockade of fuel, food, medicine and other essentials.

There will be a halt to Israeli air sorties over southern Gaza, with air activity over northern Gaza restricted to six hours a day. According to a Hamas statement, Israel has agreed not to arrest anyone in Gaza for the duration of the truce.

While this press conference in Doha has been going on, Israel’s prime minister’s office has confirmed it has received an “initial” list of the hostages expected to be released at 4pm local time on Friday.

It said: “The relevant officials are checking the details of the list and are currently in contact with all families.”

The Times of Israel is reporting that there has also been confirmation from Hamas that the ceasefire will last four days, and that 50 hostages will be released in total.

The Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson said 13 Israeli hostages are expected to be released tomorrow and this will be followed by a release of Palestinian detainees from Israel’s jail.

The Qatar foreign ministry spokesperson has described the Israel-Hamas deal as “a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel”.

He has said that the criteria to prioritise hostages was humanitarian with a focus on women and children. He said he hoped there would be momentum generated by the deal to help everybody get out and “lessen the hardship of the people in Gaza through the humanitarian pause that is taking place”.

The press conference is taking place in Doha, where a 7am ceasefire in Gaza and a 4pm Israeli hostage release for Friday has been announced.

One question that has just come from a journalist in the room has been to have reassurance that all the hostages on the list for initial release are alive. The spokesperson said they are alive, but he also said he does not have verifiable information of the total number of hostages and their status.

The Qatar foreign ministry briefing is being given by Majed al-Ansari. He has said a ceasefire will start in Gaza tomorrow at 7am local time Friday morning, and that the first hostages will be released at 4pm local time Friday afternoon. Thirteen Israelis are expected to be returned. This will be followed by the release of some Palestinian detainees from Israel’s jails. He has said for security reasons he cannot disclose the exact mechanics.

The Q&A portion of this press conference is being given in Arabic or English, depending on which media organisation has asked the question.

Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesperson said Gaza is a war zone, and the delay in the plan was to ensure safety all round.

He said the lists and timings of release have only been agreed for the first day and that subsequent days will be announced as it goes along.

He says it is important that lines of communication stay open. He says the truce is a cessation of all hostilities, and could be broken by any resumption of hostilities, however it is defined.

He said he thinks they have reached a point now where they are ready to go on the ground and that there should be no further delays.

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