Theguardian
Israel-Hamas war live: ceasefire enters final 24 hours as Netanyahu under pressure to extend deal
R.Green3 months ago
8m ago Opening summary Welcome to our continuing live coverage of the Israel-Hamas war . I’m Adam Fulton and here’s a snapshot of the top developments: The truce between Israel and Hamas entered its final 24 hours on Monday, with the militant group saying it was willing to extend the pause, while US president Joe Biden said he hoped it could continue as long as hostages were being released. Hamas freed 17 more people on Sunday in the third exchange of hostages and prisoners under the four-day ceasefire deal that began on Friday, while Israel released 39 Palestinian detainees. Israel faces enormous pressure from the families of hostages, as well as allies, to extend the truce to secure more releases. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who on Sunday made the first visit to Gaza by an Israeli premier since 2005, said he had spoken to Biden and would welcome extending the truce if it meant that on every additional day 10 captives would be freed. But Netanyahu said he also told the US president that, at the end of the truce, “we will return with full force to achieve our goals” of eliminating Hamas and securing the remaining hostages’ release. More on that story shortly. In other news as it turns 7am in Gaza City and Tel Aviv:The 17 hostages Hamas freed on Sunday included a four-year-old Israeli-American girl, three Thai nationals and a Russian national, and all the Israelis were women or children, Israel said. Prison authorities said 39 Palestinian prisoners , also women and children, were freed from Israeli jails Israelis celebrate as a helicopter carrying hostages released from Gaza lands at a medical centre in Petah Tikva, Israel, on Sunday. Photograph: Léo Corrêa/AP The releases bring to 63 the total number of freed hostages from around 240 taken to Gaza after Hamas’ 7 October attack, Agence France-Presse reports, while Israel has freed 39 Palestinian prisoners and detainees on each of three days since Friday.One hundred and twenty aid trucks crossed from Egypt to Gaza on Sunday, including two fuel trucks and two with gas for cooking, the head of Egypt’s State Information Service said. “The truce is proceeding without roadblocks,” Diaa Rashwan said.Benjamin Netanyahu said in a phone call with US president Joe Biden on Sunday that at the end of the four-day ceasefire, Israel will resume its military operations in Gaza with full force, Reuters has reported. However, the Israeli prime minister also said he welcomed the possibility of 10 hostages being freed for each extra day of truce.Hamas said on Sunday that it was seeking to extend the truce with Israel should serious efforts be made to increase the number of Palestinian detainees released from Israel. A crowd in Ramallah on the West Bank surrounds a Red Cross bus carrying Palestinian detainees released from Israeli jails on Sunday. Photograph: Fadel Senna/AFP/ A US Navy warship responded to a distress call from a commercial tanker in the Gulf of Aden that had been seized by armed individuals and was now safe and free , US officials say . The tanker, carrying a cargo of phosphoric acid, was identified as the Central Park by the vessel’s company. The officials did not identify the attackers. The incident is the latest in a series of attacks in Middle Eastern waters since the Israel-Hamas war broke out.Hamas has announced that four senior commanders have been killed , including Ahmed al-Ghandour, a commander in the north of Gaza. Ghandour – whose nom de guerre was Abu Anas – was listed by the US in 2017 as a “specially designated global terrorist”.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 Palestine Red Crescent Society reported.Israel’s military claimed to have killed five Palestinians overnight on Saturday as well as arresting 21 in Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. Funerals were held for those killed on Sunday. The Palestinian health ministry said three others were killed in separate areas of the West Bank since Saturday morning.The current state of aid in Gaza is “hardly enough for humanitarian response if we want to reverse the impact of the siege of Gaza Strip”, the head of the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has said. Philippe Lazzarini told US CBS’s Face the Nation said on Sunday that a lot more aid was required than the 160 to 200 trucks’ worth crossing into Gaza daily over the past few days.Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk will meet Israeli president Isaac Herzog on Monday, along with Israelis whose relatives have been held by Hamas in Gaza. Herzog’s office announced the meeting on Sunday night, saying: “In their meeting, the president will emphasise the need to act to combat rising antisemitism online.” Musk, who also runs Tesla and SpaceX, has been accused by civil rights groups of amplifying anti-Jewish hatred on his social media platform X, formerly Twitter. Israel’s Channel 12 said the billionaire would also meet Benjamin Netanyahu on the visit.The Israeli government has accused Ireland’s taoiseach , Leo Varadkar , of legitimising terror and losing his moral compass by saying a freed Irish-Israeli hostage had been “lost” as opposed to kidnapped.Three college students described as being of Palestinian descent were shot and wounded in the US city of Burlington, Vermont, on their way to a family dinner on Saturday evening.Tens of thousands of people including former UK prime minister Boris Johnson gathered in London on Sunday for a march against antisemitism, a day after large crowds turned out for a pro-Palestinian rally. Johnson was joined by the UK chief rabbi Ephraim Mirvis and other senior government officials at the march, which organisers billed as the largest gathering against antisemitism in London for almost a century. Police at the march detained Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, more widely known by his alias Tommy Robinson, who is the former leader of the far-right English Defence League.
Read the full article:https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2023/nov/27/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-gaza-ceasefire-hostages-deal-end-extension-benjamin-netanyahu
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