Israel-Hamas war live: end of ceasefire nears, 30 Palestinian prisoners released

10m ago

Welcome and Summary Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the Israel-Hamas war . My name is Reged Ahmad and I’ll be with you for the next while.

The extended truce between Israel and Hamas is due set to end in the coming hours – at 7am Thursday local time (5am GMT). It’s currently 4:42am in Israel.

Israel has released another group of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for 16 hostages freed hours earlier by Hamas in Gaza. The latest swap for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel under the Gaza truce comes as international mediators raced to seal another extension to allow further exchanges and prolong the halt of Israel’s air and ground offensive.

More on this shortly. In the meantime, here are the other key recent developments:

A bus carrying some of the Palestinian detainees was seen arriving in the West Bank city of Ramallah before dawn.

Most prominent among those freed was Ahed Tamimi, a 22-year-old activist who gained worldwide fame in 2017 after a video of her slapping an Israeli soldier went viral on social media.

China says the UN security council should intensify its diplomatic mediation, relaunch the two-state solution and convene a “more authoritative and effective” international peace conference at the soonest, in a position paper on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict released on Thursday.

Sixteen hostages were released today, including 12 Israelis and four Thais. Among the Israeli hostages released today were Elena Trupanov and Irena Tati, two dual Israeli-Russian citizens who were released earlier this evening.

The Palestinians to be released from Israeli prisons in exchange include 16 minors and 14 women, the Qatari foreign ministry said.

A Hamas source said on Wednesday that the group was not satisfied with Israel’s proposals for another truce extension, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports. Speaking to AFP ahead of the expiration of the current truce, which will be at 7am local time on Thursday, the source said: “What is being proposed in the discussions to extend the truce is not the best.”

The Palestine Red Cross Society (PRCS) delivered 21 trucks of aid into Gaza and northern areas on Wednesday. “PRCS is committed to delivering the largest number possible of humanitarian aid to north Gaza, which had not received any aid prior to the humanitarian pause agreement,” the group said.

Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, has said Israeli forces are ready to resume fighting “immediately”. Posting to social media on Wednesday, Gallant wrote: “We are making every attempt to return all the abductees and to fully exploit the current move to return all the abducted women and children in Gaza. IDF forces in the air, on land and at sea are ready to resume fighting immediately.”

Two boys, one eight years old and the other 15, were shot and killed by Israeli forces on Wednesday in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, the Palestinian health ministry said. In a statement reported by Agence France-Presse, the health ministry said: “Adam al-Ghul, eight years old, and Bassem Abu el-Wafa, 15 years old, were killed by bullets from the occupier [Israel].”

Benjamin Nentanyahu has spoken with representatives of the Bibas family after reports from Hamas that three of its members were killed, including 10-month-old Kfir Bibas, Haaretz reports. According to Haaretz, the Israeli prime minister told the family representatives that the matter was being investigated by Israel’s security forces.

The US is hopeful that the truce in Gaza between Israel and Hamas can be extended, the US ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, told reporters on Wednesday, Reuters reports. “We’re hopeful the truce can be extended,” Thomas-Greenfield said, adding: “This is all in the hands of Hamas . The Israelis have said if they continue to release 10 hostages a day, they will extend by a day. So it truly is in their hands. But I do think there is a potential for that and we are actively working to extend the deal.”

Three Qatari armed forces aircraft carrying 108 tons of aid for Palestinians in Gaza have arrived in El Erish, Egypt, Qatar’s news agency announced on Wednesday. The three planes, which carried basic food supplies and shelter equipment, brings the total number of Qatari planes sent to Gaza to 30, carrying 1,018 tons of aid.

Speaking at the UN security council on Wednesday, Palestine’s foreign minister, Riad al-Maliki, said that the ongoing violence between Israel and Hamas was “not a war” but rather a “carnage that no one can justify”. “It must be brought to an end,” al-Maliki said.

Jordan will host an international conference on Thursday that will be attended by the main UN bodies, as well as regional and international relief agencies to coordinate humanitarian aid to Gaza , Reuters reports. The UN aid head, Martin Griffiths, as well as key UN bodies and NGOs involved in increasing the entry of aid into Gaza, are expected to attend the conference, along with representatives from western and Arab countries.

The UN secretary general,António Guterres, said on Wednesday that Gaza is in the midst of an “epic humanitarian catastrophe”. Addressing a UN security council meeting chaired by China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, Guterres said “we must not look away” from the deteriorating humanitarian crisis that has engulfed Gaza.