Live blog: Israel, Hamas conclude fifth exchange of prisoners under truce deal

Tuesday, November 28, 2023

1946 GMT — Israel and Hamas have concluded the fifth exchange of prisoners under the truce deal.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters have handed over 12 hostages to the Red Cross in Gaza, while Israel prison service said 30 Palestinian prisoners were also released.

The Israeli hostages, all women, were handed over by masked and armed fighters, some from Hamas and others from Islamic Jihad, to Red Cross officials in Rafah near the border with Egypt, an AFP journalist said.

Israeli military said in a statement that "based on information that was received from the Red Cross, 12 hostages - including 10 Israelis and two foreign nationals - are on their way toward Israeli territory".

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1837 GMT — 160 corpses retrieved from under rubble in Gaza: media office

A total of 160 Palestinian corpses have been retrieved from under the rubble, streets and roads in the past 24 hours in Gaza, the government media office has said.

It said civil defence teams use manual methods to extract the bodies.

"We are facing a real humanitarian disaster that has unfolded with the start of the humanitarian pause," it said. "The occupation army has demolished 300,000 housing units, including 50,000 units completely demolished and another 250,000 partially demolished."

The office called for the entry of equipment and machinery to help civil defence teams retrieve hundreds of corpses from under the rubble.

1717 GMT — Israeli army prevents fuel truck from reaching northern Gaza

The Israeli army has prevented a fuel truck from reaching northern Gaza, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said.

In a previous statement, the society said that it was in the process of bringing a fuel truck, in addition to 31 trucks of humanitarian aid containing food, water and relief material, into Gaza City and the northern part of the enclave through the Israeli checkpoint that separates northern Gaza from the south.

The fuel truck would enhance the operations of the Palestinian Red Crescent's ambulances operating in northern Gaza which were at risk of halting their operations due to fuel depletion, it added.

1640 GMT — 8 Israeli soldiers killed by friendly fire in northern Gaza in one week

Eight Israeli soldiers were killed in one week in northern Gaza due to friendly fire and an explosive device, the Israeli Broadcasting Authority has reported.

Scores of soldiers were injured in operational incidents, it said.

There are conflicting reports about the number of Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza.

The Israeli army said at least 392 soldiers have been killed since the outbreak of the war on Gaza on October 7.

1615 GMT — UN highlights concerns over Israel's plans to expand attacks on Gaza

Recent comments from Israeli political leadership that they plan to expand the military offensive in Gaza at the end of the humanitarian pause are “deeply worrying,” the UN human rights office has said.

Marta Hurtado, spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, urged all parties of the conflict as well as states with influence to use the current humanitarian pause "to work towards a full ceasefire, on human rights and humanitarian grounds."


1606 GMT — US tells Israel not to displace Palestinians in southern Gaza

The US is urging Israel not to replicate the mass displacement of Palestinians that resulted from its invasion of northern Gaza when it pursues its campaign in the south of the coastal enclave, according to two senior American officials.

The officials, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity, said 2 million Palestinians are now residing in south and central Gaza.

One of the officials said it is "extremely important" that Israel conduct any campaign in southern Gaza "in a way that is, to a maximum extent, not designed to produce significant further displacement of persons."

"You cannot have the sort of scale of displacement that took place in the north, replicated in the south," he said. "It will be beyond the capacity of any humanitarian support network, however reinforced, however robust, to be able to cope with. It can't happen."

1557 GMT — Number of Palestinians killed in West Bank rises to over 240

The number of Palestinians killed by the Israeli army in the occupied West Bank since October 7 has exceeded the number of Palestinians killed in the last year, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

It said the army and settlers have since killed 242 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem.

A previous statement by the UN Humanitarian Affairs Office (OCHA) said 171 Palestinians were killed in the occupied West Bank in 2022 by Israeli forces and settlers.

1537 GMT — Three Palestinians killed by Israeli fire in West Bank

Three Palestinians have been killed in Israeli fire in different areas across the occupied West Bank, according to statements by the Palestinian Health Ministry.

It said Amr Wahdan, 14, was shot dead by Israeli forces in Tubas city in the northeast.

An Anadolu reporter said earlier that Israeli forces raided the city and cordoned off a home that triggered clashes with Palestinians that left several injured.

The official Palestinian news agency, WAFA, cited the ministry that said Malik Daghra, 17, from the village of Kafr Ain in northwest Ramallah, was shot before being pronounced dead at the hospital. Witnesses told Anadolu that clashes erupted in Kafr Ain after Israeli forces raided the village.

The Israeli army also killed a Palestinian in the town of Beitunia in western Ramallah and injured several Palestinians. The clashes erupted near Beitunia as hundreds of Palestinians gathered near the Ofer Prison to await the release of Palestinian prisoners.

1533 GMT — Turkish President Erdogan, UN chief discuss Israeli attacks on Gaza

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres have discussed the role of the international community in helping to end Israel's attacks on Gaza.

In a phone call, Erdogan and Guterres also exchanged views on addressing the humanitarian crisis and efforts for a lasting peace, Türkiye's Communications Directorate said on X.

Erdogan told Guterres that Israel continues to violate international law, the law of war, and humanitarian law "recklessly," in full view of the international community, and that it must be held accountable for the crimes committed before international law, the directorate added.

1509 GMT — Turkish delegation arrives in Gaza for planned field hospital

A Turkish technical delegation for a planned field hospital in Gaza has crossed over from Egypt to the besieged enclave, according to Turkish diplomatic sources.

"Based on the findings of our delegation, we plan to activate the hospital as soon as possible," the sources said in a statement.

The field hospital will provide medical treatment for tens of thousands of injured civilians.

Turkish officials are also working to position containers where Palestinian families in Gaza can take shelter, addressing urgent needs arising from the cooling weather and winter conditions.

1455 GMT — Israeli army opens fire on Lebanese territory with artillery shell: Lebanon

The Israeli army has fired at least one artillery shell on Lebanese territory, marking the first shelling since the start of a humanitarian pause in Gaza, according to the official Lebanese news agency NNA.

The Israeli army fired a shell on land on the outskirts of the southern Lebanese town of Aita al Shaab in the Rahib region, it said.

The Israeli Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper cited an Israeli military source that said no shells were fired from the Israeli side toward southern Lebanon.

A cautious calm has been prevailing in the border areas between Lebanon and Israel since Friday when a humanitarian pause took effect in Gaza.

1447 GMT — Several soldiers injured in exchange of fire in Gaza: Israeli army

The Israeli army has said that a number of its soldiers were "lightly injured" in an exchange of fire in northern Gaza.

"Over the last hour, 3 explosive devices were detonated adjacent to IDF troops in 2 different locations in northern Gaza, violating the framework of the operational pause," the Israeli army said in a statement on platform X.

In one of the locations, the army said, an exchange of fire also took place and a "number of soldiers were lightly injured during the incidents."

Earlier, Hamas' Qassam Brigades said that field clashes took place in northern Gaza between its fighters and the Israeli army over the violation of the humanitarian pause by the army.

1434 GMT — UN says 'high risk of famine' for Gaza

The population of Gaza risks famine if humanitarian food supplies do not continue, the UN's World Food Programme has warned.

The WFP said it had delivered food to 121,161 people in Gaza since Friday, when a four-day truce between Israel and Hamas began. The truce was extended by two days on Tuesday.

"Thanks to the pause, our teams have been in action on the ground, going into areas we haven't reached for a long time. What we see is catastrophic," said WFP's director for the Middle East, Corinne Fleischer.

The agency said that six days was "not enough to make any meaningful impact", calling for "uninterrupted and regular supplies" of food into Gaza.

1434 GMT — Israel approves unprecedented budget to cover war on Gaza

The Israeli government has approved an annexe budget, described as unprecedented, worth an estimated $8 billion to cover the needs of the war against Gaza.

The new annexe budget of 30 billion Israeli shekels will cover the costs of funding the war until the end of the year, according to the Israeli public broadcaster KAN.

KAN reported that Benny Gantz, who is a member of Israel's War Cabinet Council, besides Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, opposed the budget.

1424 GMT — Aid entering Gaza amid pause 'not even enough for triage': UN

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 northern Gaza - the largest since the war erupted on October 7 - was "the right start".

"(It's) definitely the right type of aid -- fuel, medicines, food, warmth," spokesperson 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."

When there are insufficient resources to treat everyone who needs it, hospitals and aid organisations are forced to triage - that is, to prioritise the most urgent cases, or those people most likely to survive, and leave the others.

"The aid needs to multiply... Everything here is emergency care right now," Elder said.

1331 GMT — Hamas reports clashes with Israeli forces over truce violations

The military wing of the Palestinian group Hamas, Qassam Brigades, reports field clashes with the Israeli army over violations of the humanitarian pause in northern Gaza.

The armed group has called for mediators to enforce the terms of the humanitarian pause in Israel.

Videos published on social media over the initial four-day truce showed Palestinians fleeing gunfire as Israeli forces stopped displaced residents from returning to northern Gaza during the temporary truce.

Before the truce began the Israeli military dropped leaflets warning people not to attempt to return to the area.

1244 GMT — 1,000 Israeli soldiers, officers injured since outbreak of war on Gaza

Around 1,000 Israeli soldiers and officers have been injured since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza on October 7, Israeli media has reported.

According to Haaretz daily, which got the figure from an Israeli military source, the number includes 202 cases in critical condition, 320 in moderate condition, and around 470 who were lightly wounded.

Haaretz added that 29 of the critically injured soldiers are still receiving medical treatment in hospitals in addition to 183 who were moderately wounded and 74 lightly wounded.

These are the first figures from the Israeli army on injured soldiers.

1134 GMT — Israel not letting enough fuel into Gaza: EU

Israeli restrictions on fuel supplies to Gaza are hampering aid deliveries and humanitarian access required under an UN resolution, an EU commissioner, Janez Lenarcic, has said.

Lenarcic - who is in charge of crisis management - was speaking as the EU countries and aid organisations scrambled to provide relief to Gaza's population of 2.3 million under a truce agreed by Israel and Hamas.

"We are calling for the increase of fuel supplies to the (Gaza) strip," Lenarcic told journalists in Brussels.

1100 GMT — CIA, Mossad chiefs and Qatari PM to meet in Doha for further Gaza ceasefire

CIA Director Bill Burns is set to meet Mossad Director David Barnea and Qatar's Prime Minister Mohammed Bin Abdul Rahman al Thani in Doha on Tuesday.

The focus will be on discussing a potential extension of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire, contingent on more hostage releases, Axios reported, citing a US official and two well-informed sources.

During the meeting, Burns intends to advocate for additional hostage deals with Barnea and the Qatari Prime Minister, the report says. The broader conversation aims to encompass the Gaza crisis, according to a statement from a US official.

The initial visit by Burns to Doha on November 9 involved discussions with Sheik Mohammed and Barnea. The primary challenge during that process was that Hamas had not yet identified the hostages it held, according to a US official.

1023 GMT — More people at risk of death from disease than bombings in Gaza: WHO

There is a risk that more people could die from diseases than from bombings in Gaza if the enclave's health system is not put back on its feet quickly, a World Health Organization spokesperson said.

"Eventually we will see more people dying from disease than from bombardment if we are not able to put back together this health system," said the WHO's Margaret Harris.

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.

0655 GMT — Yemen's Houthi group denies involvement in acts of piracy in Gulf of Aden

The Yemeni Houthi group denied any involvement in maritime piracy in the Gulf of Aden, affirming that their actions target Israeli ships.

This statement came in response to the United States' announcement that "two ballistic missiles were launched from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen towards an American naval destroyer in the Gulf of Aden."

Abdulmalik Al Ajri, a member of the Houthi political bureau and negotiation team, wrote on X, "Regarding the announced acts of piracy in the Gulf of Aden by the United States, the statements issued by the Yemeni Armed Forces (the Houthis) are clear that their maritime operations only target hostile Israeli ships."

0639 GMT — About 60 Palestinian women 'still in Israeli jails'

Israeli authorities continue to hold 60 Palestinian women in jail, with most detained after October 7, a local non-governmental organisation has said.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Amal Sarahneh, media officer at the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS), said the Israeli army detained 56 Palestinian women and girls in a major wave of arrests in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem after October 7, so far detaining 3,260 people.

Sarahneh added that Israel had released 33 Palestinian women under a prisoner swap deal with Gaza-based resistance group Hamas over the past four days.

0604 GMT — Second Palestinian killed by Israeli fire in West Bank on Tuesday

A second Palestinian has been killed by Israeli army gunfire near the city of Ramallah in the central occupied West Bank.

Palestinian medical sources at Salfit Governmental Hospital told Anadolu Agency, "A citizen from the town of Kafr Ayn northwest of Ramallah arrived at the emergency department with multiple gunshot wounds, described as critical, and died as a result."

Local sources in the town of Kafr Ayn said that "an Israeli force stormed the town and arrested a citizen, leading to clashes with dozens of Palestinians."

0453 GMT — Jordan evacuates wounded members of its medical staff in Gaza

Jordan announced that it had evacuated members of its medical staff in Gaza who had been wounded in Israeli airstrikes, transporting them to the kingdom to continue medical treatment.

According to a statement from the Jordanian Armed Forces on their website, the evacuation took place in response to a directive from King Abdullah II.

It said that "upon the royal directive, the Jordanian Armed Forces evacuated the injured personnel from the Jordanian field hospital in Gaza to Al Hussein Medical City in Amman. They sustained injuries while attempting to provide assistance to those injured in Gaza, who were subjected to Israeli airstrikes in the area."

0422 GMT — UN experts call for independent investigations into crimes committed in Israel, Palestine

Urging Israel, the Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank and authorities in besieged Gaza to cooperate fully with the investigations, UN experts 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."

"The duty to investigate war crimes and crimes against humanity, including any act of summary or extrajudicial killing, torture or other outrages on human dignity, is a fundamental legal obligation," they added.

They also called on the international community to work so that all those responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity as well as for any other international crimes committed in the conflict are swiftly brought to justice, especially those with command responsibility.

0044 GMT — Israel receives list of additional Gaza captives to be released

Israel's government has received a list of captives held by Hamas in besieged Gaza who are expected to be released under an extended truce deal with the resistance group, Israel's Army Radio reported, citing the Israeli prime minister's office.

The Axios news website reported the list contained 10 captives.

2317 GMT — Israel frees 30 Palestinian minors, 3 women in swap deal with Hamas

Israel has freed 30 Palestinian minors and three women "during the night" under the terms of a truce deal that returned captives from besieged Gaza.

The release brought the total number of Palestinian women and minors freed by Israel during the initial four-day pause in the fighting to 150.

Those freed included the youngest female Palestinian, 16-year-old Nofuz Hammad, from the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood in occupied East Jerusalem, who was initially handed 12 years in prison by Israeli authorities and now released in Hamas's swap deal with Israel, Anadolu Agency reported.

2313 GMT — Netanyahu's office approves inclusion of 50 female Palestinians in release list

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office has said it has approved the inclusion of 50 female Palestinians in the list for release in case additional Israeli captives are released from besieged Gaza.

The statement came after Qatari mediators said a four-day truce agreed to allow an exchange of Israeli captives for Palestinians languishing in Israeli jails that was set to expire after Monday had been extended for another two days.

For our live updates from Monday (November 27), click here.