Live blog: Israel, Hamas conclude third round of prisoner swap

November 26, 2023

2140 GMT — Israel and the Palestinian resistance group Hamas have completed the third round of a prisoner swap deal amid a four-day humanitarian pause in fighting.

Palestinian authorities released the names of 39 Palestinian children who were freed from Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank and left on a bus belonging to the International Red Cross.

Hamas released 17 captives -- 14 Israelis and three foreigners -- who were handed over to the Red Cross to be delivered to Israel.

An Anadolu correspondent reported that the release of the Palestinians had already commenced in Jerusalem, with some of them having reached their homes accompanied by their families.

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2155 GMT — Netanyahu offers to extend humanitarian pause if 10 hostages freed for each additional day

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that his government would accept an extension of the humanitarian pause in Gaza in exchange for the release of more hostages.

Netanyahu said in a video statement published by his office that he spoke by phone with US President Joe Biden and told him an extension would be accepted in exchange for the release of 10 hostages for each additional day of the pause.

He stressed that after the pause, Israel would continue its military operations with the ultimate aim of eliminating the Palestinian resistance group Hamas and seeing to it that all of the remaining hostages are returned.

1703 GMT — 39 Palestinian children to be released from Israeli prisons

Palestinian authorities have released the names of Palestinian prisoners set to be released in the third batch of hostage exchange between Israel and Hamas.

The list, revealed by the governmental Commission of Detainees’ Affairs and Palestinian Prisoners Society, a local nongovernmental organisation, exclusively included the names of child prisoners, totaling 39.

Among them are 21 children from Jerusalem, one is from Rafah in Gaza, and the remainders are from various parts of the occupied West Bank.

Qatar, with the support of the United States and Egypt, engaged in weeks of intense negotiations to secure the four-day truce between Israel and Hamas, which began Friday in Gaza after nearly seven weeks of bombardment that left nearly 15,000 Palestinians dead.

The 39 Palestinian detainees will be released in exchange for the 14 Israeli hostages and three foreign nationals released from Gaza earlier today.

1547 GMT — Hamas hands over 14 Israeli hostages, 3 foreigners to Red Cross

Fourteen Israeli hostages and three foreign nationals have been handed over to the Red Cross in Gaza, the Israeli army said.

"Based on information that was received from the Red Cross, 14 Israeli hostages and three foreign hostages have been transferred to the Red Cross," it said in a statement on the third day of an agreed pause in the fighting between Israel and Hamas, that is to also see Palestinian prisoners freed in Israel.

1501 GMT — Palestinian Red Crescent dispatches 50 aid trucks to Gaza

The Palestine Red Crescent Society has dispatched a convoy of 50 trucks laden with aid to Gaza City and northern Gaza.

The humanitarian aid group said in a statement: “Today (Sunday), we sent a relief convoy comprising 50 trucks from Rafah in the southern Gaza to Gaza City and its northern environs.

“A group of volunteers from the society in the Gaza and northern governorates will receive the convoy and accompany it for the distribution of aid to the resilient citizens in Gaza” the statement added.

Aid included relief materials, food items, potable water, medicines, and emergency medical supplies. The society did not specify the source providing the assistance.

1419 GMT — 40,000 tonnes of explosives dropped on Gaza since Oct. 7

The Gaza government’s media office has said that the Israeli army has dropped 40,000 tonnes of explosives on the coastal enclave since October 7, with the apparent goal of rendering the enclave uninhabitable.

Salama Maarouf, the head of the media office, issued a statement on Telegram on the third day of the temporary humanitarian pause between Israel and Hamas, which came into effect on Friday morning.

“The Israeli occupation forces have dropped 40,000 tonnes of explosives on the Strip (since October 7), and the atrocities of the occupation (forces) have unfolded away from the scrutiny of cameras,” Marouf said.

He explained that “the bombs recently used by the occupation (forces) have never been used before, and hundreds of martyrs are buried in the places where they died. The devastation by the occupation (forces) reflects its intent to make Gaza uninhabitable.”

1231 GMT — Number of Palestinians arrested since Oct. 7 climbs to 3,200

The Israeli army has arrested 20 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, bringing the total number of detainees since October 7 to 3,200, the Palestinian Prisoners Club said.

“The occupation forces arrested at least 20 Palestinians, on Saturday-Sunday night, from cities and towns in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem,” the nongovernmental group said in a statement.

The total number of detainees rose to 3,200 Palestinians since October 7, it added.

The Israeli army, on a daily basis, storms villages and towns throughout the occupied West Bank, accompanied by confrontations, arrests, shooting, and gas bombs on Palestinians, coinciding with the war on Gaza.

1144 GMT — Only 3 hospitals still operating in northern Gaza: Health Ministry

Northern Gaza has only three hospitals now operating, serving some 900,000 people there, and they are close to collapse, a top official has warned.

“The quantities of medical aid and fuel that arrived in Gaza, especially the northern areas of the enclave, are very limited and insufficient, in light of the catastrophic health condition of the hospitals,” Munir Al Bursh, director general of the Health Ministry in Gaza, told Anadolu.

"Medicines and medical supplies must be brought into Gaza in large quantities, in line with the catastrophic health situation in the strip,” he added.

He stressed "the need to strengthen the health system in Gaza and the northern regions and provide adequate health services."

“Only three hospitals are operating in the northern Gaza, namely Al Maamadani, Al Awda, and Kamal Adwan,” Bursh said, warning of “their collapse.”

0953 GMT — Israel kills farmer in Gaza refugee camp

A Palestinian farmer was killed and another injured on Sunday after they were targeted by Israeli forces in the Maghazi refugee camp in the centre of Gaza, the Palestinian Red Crescent said.

The incident occurred on the third day of a four-day truce between Israel and the Palestinian militant faction Hamas.

0951 GMT — Military commander, three other leaders are killed: Hamas

The armed wing of the Palestinian group Hamas has announced the killing of four of its military commanders in Gaza, including the commander of the North Gaza brigade Ahmad Al Ghandour.

"Al Ghandour (Abu Anas) is the member of the military council and the commander of the North Brigade," Al Qassam Brigades said in a statement published on their Telegram channel

0725 GMT — Hamas fighters to free more hostages as families reunite

Hamas fighters were set to release a third group of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, a day after freeing captives including a young woman snatched from a desert rave.

13 more Israeli hostages to be released, said Israeli officials, according to local media.

In a sign of the fragility of the exchanges, the latest swap Saturday was delayed for hours after Hamas accused Israel of breaching its side of the deal that led to a four-day ceasefire in the seven-week-old war.

0547 GMT — Israel kills two more Palestinians shot in occupied West Bank

Two more Palestinians were shot dead by the Israeli occupation forces in Nablus and Jenin, the Palestinian health ministry said.

Israeli forces operating in the occupied West Bank killed at least seven Palestinians in a 24-hour period, Palestinian health officials said, as a fragile pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas in Gaza entered its third day.

Separately Israeli Prison Service has received the list of 39 Palestinian prisoners to be released on Sunday, according to Israeli media.

0137 GMT — Israel and Hamas complete 2nd day of swaps after tense delay

Hamas fighters have released 17 captives, including 13 Israelis, from Gaza, while Israel set free 39 Palestinian prisoners in the latest stage of a four-day ceasefire.

The late-night exchange was held up for several hours after Hamas accused Israel of violating the agreement. The delay underscored the fragility of the ceasefire, which has halted a war that has shocked and shaken Israel, caused widespread destruction across Gaza, and threatened to unleash wider fighting across the region.

The war erupted on October 7, when Hamas fighters burst across the border into southern Israel and abducted some 240 people. Israel immediately declared war, carrying out weeks of air strikes and a ground offensive that have left over 13,300 Palestinians dead, two-thirds of those killed in Gaza have been women and minors.

The ceasefire, brokered by Qatar and the United States, is the first extended break in fighting since the war began. Overall, Hamas is to release at least 50 Israeli captives, and Israel 150 Palestinian prisoners. All are women and minors.

0122 GMT — Four Thais in second group of Gaza captives freed, Thai PM says

Four Thai nationals were freed in the second round of captive releases from Gaza, Thailand's Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said on social media.

"Everybody is safe, on the whole in good mental health and are able to speak normally," he said on social media platform X of the release late on Saturday.

"They want a shower and to contact their relatives."

0052 GMT — UN says 61 trucks deliver aid in northern Gaza

The United Nations said 61 trucks carrying medical supplies, food and water had delivered their payloads in northern Gaza, as a pause in fighting allows aid to enter the besieged coastal territory.

Another 200 trucks had been dispatched to Gaza from Nitzana, Israel, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement, with 187 of them having made it past the border by the early evening local time.

Eleven ambulances, three coaches and a flatbed were delivered to Al Shifa hospital, which had seen heavy fighting in recent days, "to assist with evacuations," the statement said.

"The longer the pause lasts, the more aid humanitarian agencies will be able to send in and across Gaza," it added, thanking the Palestinian and Egyptian Red Crescent groups.

2300 GMT — Israeli army kills 6 people in West Bank: Palestinian ministry

Israeli troops killed six Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said.

A 25-year-old doctor was killed early in the morning outside his home in Qabatiya, near Jenin, a stronghold of Palestinian armed groups in the north of the territory, the ministry said.

Another Palestinian was killed in el-Bireh, near Ramallah.

Four people were also killed by Israeli army fire in Jenin, during an incursion by a large number of armoured vehicles into the town, which was recently the scene of the deadliest Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank in almost 20 years.

Witnesses told AFP on Saturday that the Israeli army was surrounding Jenin's public hospital and the Ibn Sina clinic, and that soldiers were searching ambulances.

For our live updates from Saturday (November 25), click here.