Senior Hamas officials stated Tuesday that an agreement could be reached soon by which the militant group would launch hostages and Israel would free Palestinian prisoners.
Israel, the USA and Qatar, which mediates with Hamas, have been negotiating for weeks over a hostage launch that might be paired with a brief cease-fire in Gaza and the entry of extra humanitarian assist. Comparable predictions of a hostage agreement in current weeks have confirmed untimely.
Israel’s military is widening its operations throughout northern Gaza, the place they battled Palestinian militants on Tuesday within the densely populated Jabaliya refugee camp, the territory’s largest.
The army stated forces are “making ready the battlefield” within the Jabaliya space, simply north of Gaza Metropolis, and have killed dozens of militants in current days. Troops found three tunnel shafts the place fighters have been hiding and destroyed rocket launchers, it stated.
It wasn’t doable to independently verify particulars of the preventing. A strike on a close-by hospital killed 12 folks on Monday as Israeli troops and tanks battled militants outdoors its gates.
Israel says Hamas makes use of civilians and hospitals as shields, whereas critics say Israel’s siege and relentless aerial bombardment quantity to collective punishment of the territory’s 2.3 million Palestinians after Hamas’ Oct. 7 rampage into southern Israel.
Greater than 12,700 Palestinians — two-thirds of them girls and minors — have been killed for the reason that warfare started, in line with Palestinian well being authorities, who don’t differentiate between civilian and militant deaths. About 4,000 individuals are reported lacking.
Some 1,200 folks have been killed in Israel, principally through the Oct. 7 assault, and round 240 have been taken captive by militants.
Presently:
— Israel reveals indicators of Hamas exercise at Shifa, however a promised command heart stays elusive
— AP Photographs: Infants born prematurely in Gaza have been evacuated to Egypt
— Cyprus’ president says his nation is able to ship assist to Gaza
— Ukrainians who fled their nation for Israel discover themselves once more residing with warfare
— Discover extra of AP’s protection at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
Right here’s what’s taking place within the newest Israel-Hamas warfare:
HAMAS OFFICIAL SAYS AGREEMENT ON HOSTAGE RELEASE COULD COME SOON
BEIRUT — Israel, the USA and Qatar, which mediates with Hamas, have been negotiating for weeks over a hostage launch that might be paired with a brief cease-fire in Gaza and the entry of extra humanitarian assist.
Hamas has launched 4 hostages, Israel has rescued one, and the our bodies of two have been discovered close to Shifa.
Izzat Rishq, a senior Hamas official, stated Tuesday that an agreement could be reached “within the coming hours” by which Hamas would launch captives and Israel would launch Palestinian prisoners. Hamas’ chief in exile, Ismail Haniyeh, additionally stated they have been near a deal, however comparable predictions in current weeks have confirmed untimely.
Israel’s three-member warfare Cupboard met with representatives of the hostages’ households on Monday night. A relative of a hostage stated the officials, together with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, advised households the federal government considers the discharge of hostages and the defeat of Hamas to be “equally necessary.”
Udi Goren, whose cousin Tal Chaimi is in captivity in Gaza, stated that was “extremely disappointing” for the households, as Israel has stated it could take months to dismantle the militant group.
“We is not going to cease preventing till we convey the hostages house, destroy Hamas and be certain that there isn’t a extra of a menace from Gaza,” Netanyahu stated on social media after the assembly.
Hamas gunmen and their allies captured extra 240 hostages throughout their lethal Oct. 7 assault on southern Israel by which in addition they killed about 1,200 folks, most of them civilians.
AWARD-WINNING PALESTINIAN POET ARRESTED BY ISRAELI TROOPS, BROTHER SAYS
TEL AVIV, Israel — The brother of an award-winning Palestinian poet in Gaza says he has been arrested by Israeli troops and his whereabouts are unknown.
Mosab Abu Toha has been contributing items to Western media for the reason that begin of the Israel-Hamas warfare, portray a dire picture of its toll on civilians by way of his private expertise. His brother, Hamza Abu Toha, posted on X, previously Twitter, on Monday that Mosab was arrested whereas evacuating to southern Gaza, following Israeli army orders. Hamza stated his brother’s spouse and youngsters have been allowed to proceed south, however “the army detained my brother.”
Mosab Abu Toha final posted on X on Nov. 15, writing “Alive. Thanks in your prayers.”
The literary and free expression group PEN stated it was involved in regards to the arrest and demanded to know Abu Toha’s whereabouts and the rationale for his arrest. The New Yorker journal, to which Abu Toha has contributed a number of articles, known as for his protected return.
The Israeli army stated it was trying into the studies.
200 EVACUATED FROM GAZA HOSPITAL
GAZA CITY — About 200 folks have been evacuated from a northern Gaza hospital that was caught up in preventing between Israeli forces and Hamas militants on Monday.
Ashraf al-Qudra, a spokesperson for Hamas’ Well being Ministry, stated the evacuees from Indonesian Hospital have been taken to southern Gaza in a rescue effort coordinated by the United Nations and the Worldwide Committee for the Purple Cross. Most of the injured evacuees are being handled at al-Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, he stated.
Between 400 and 500 extra wounded folks stay at Indonesian Hospital, al-Qudra stated in an interview with Al-Jazeera.
The evacuations got here after 12 folks have been killed when a shell struck the second ground of the hospital, in line with the Well being Ministry and a medical employee on the hospital. Each blamed Israel, which denied shelling the hospital, saying its troops returned fireplace on militants who focused them from inside the three.5-acre compound.
WHO SAYS MOST GAZA HOSPITALS NO LONGER FUNCTIONING
GENEVA — The World Well being Group warned Monday that well being providers in Gaza had suffered “catastrophic” injury, with most hospitals not functioning.
“We now have 1.7 million folks displaced so we’ve got twice or 3 times the inhabitants (within the south of Gaza), utilizing one third of the hospital beds in lower than a 3rd of the hospitals out there,” Michael Ryan, government director of WHO’s Well being Emergencies Programme, advised a United Nations briefing, talking from Geneva.
“Even when tomorrow morning, this have been to finish when it comes to a ceasefire, we nonetheless have an enormous downside on our arms.”
Ryan stated the providers within the territory have been already unable to supply take care of extra advanced medical circumstances – together with care for many most cancers and kidney dialysis sufferers – and would probably be overwhelmed by some 5,500 births anticipated within the subsequent month.
Plans by the Israeli army to push additional south, he stated, would worsen well being situations even additional.
“The hospital state of affairs – the first well being care system state of affairs – in Gaza is catastrophic and it’s the worst you possibly can think about (within the) north,” Ryan stated.
