Qatar says Israel-Hamas cease-fire and hostage release will begin Friday: Updates
A temporary truce between Israel and Hamas is scheduled to begin Friday morning, followed hours later by the release of civilian hostages, Qatar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, in what would be the first break since the start of an especially violent and deadly period of conflict in the region.
Brokered by the United States along with Qatar and Egypt, the deal includes a four-day pause in fighting, the release of 50 hostages taken by Hamas and 150 Palestinians being held in Israeli prisons. Both sides agreed to release women and children. Israel also had agreed to extend the pause in fighting by one day for every 10 additional hostages Hamas releases.
The dayslong truce will commence at 7 a.m. local time on Friday, said Majed al-Ansari, Qatar’s foreign minister. Then, around 4 p.m., 13 women and children will be released. CNN reported 39 Palestinian prisoners will be freed on Friday.
A delay announced just before the cease-fire was set to begin on Thursday pushed back the awaited respite. Al-Ansari said the delay was caused by logistical issues, including verification of the hostage release list exchanged by Israel and Hamas officials.
The diplomatic breakthrough would come more than six weeks after the captivity of an estimated 240 hostages and Israel’s relentless bombardment of the Gaza Strip, which persisted in areas across the besieged enclave Thursday.
Over 13,300 people have been killed in Gaza since the war began last month, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health. Some 2,700 people are missing and believed to be buried under rubble.
In the West Bank, Israeli forces have killed 201 Palestinians since Oct. 7, including 52 children, which is more than in any year since 2005, Human Rights Watch said, citing United Nations data. This year, Palestinians have killed 24 Israeli civilians and four security force members as of Nov. 16, the highest number in more than 15 years.
Israeli authorities said 1,200 people have been killed since the conflict began, with most of those deaths occurring in the Oct. 7 incursion by Hamas.
Developments:
? The Palestinian Red Crescent Society, an independent aid group, demanded the release of Awni Khattab, a paramedic they say was detained by Israeli forces Wednesday after they stopped a convoy evacuating wounded people from Al Shifa Hospital. The groups said they were "very concerned" about the detention of Khattab and that "his whereabouts are unknown."
? The Israeli military confirmed Thursday that it had detained Mohammad Abu Salmiya, the director of Al Shifa Hospital after a World Health Organization convoy carrying hospital evacuees was stopped.
? The Israeli military on Thursday said it had struck more than 300 targets in Gaza over the past day, including military command centers, underground tunnels, and missile launch posts used by Hamas.
? At least 53 journalists and media workers have been killed in the war, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Others have faced harassment, detainment, communication blackouts and other obstructions to reporting, the group said.
? The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East has said this is the largest displacement of Palestinians since 1948.
Gaza Strip bombarded by airstrikes ahead of temporary cease-fire
Ahead of the brief pause in fighting, Israeli airstrikes continued to bombard areas across the Gaza Strip.
On Thursday, an Israeli airstrike destroyed a residential building in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, the Associated Press reported. At least 12 people were killed, according to the AP, which cited officials at Al-Aqsa Hospital.
In the southern Gaza city of Rafah, at least 14 people were killed in multiple strikes there Thursday, Dr. Marwan Al-Hams, director of the Abu Youssef Al-Najjar Hospital, told the Washington Post. In the north, there were reports of airstrikes hitting the Beit Lahia and the Jabalya refugee camp.
Biden: 'Fingers crossed' that 3-year-old hostage Avigail Idan will be freed
President Joe Biden expressed hope Thursday that 3-year-old Avigail Idan will be among the initial round of hostages released Friday by Hamas.
“I’m keeping my fingers crossed,” Biden told reporters in Nantucket, Massachusetts, where he is spending the Thanksgiving holidays. The Israeli-American girl has been held hostage in the Gaza Strip since Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7. Her parents were killed in the attack.
Fifty women and children held hostage by Hamas are to be released in exchange for a pause in fighting by Israel for at least four days. The temporary cease-fire is scheduled to start at 7 a.m. local time Friday, and the first round of civilian hostages will be released at 4 p.m., according to Qatar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“We welcome the announcement from Qatar and expect to see a number of hostages coming out of Gaza tomorrow,” said Adrienne Watson, a spokeswoman for the National Security Council.
– Michael Collins
Hamas gives Israel preliminary list of hostages to be freed
Israel has received a preliminary list of those who will be freed by Hamas as part of the temporary cease-fire, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said.
Officials are checking the details of the people named on the list and are in contact with their families. Netanyahu's office has not released their identities or profiles.
Earlier, al-Ansari, said 13 women and children will be released. That figure has not been confirmed by Israel, which has said that at least 10 hostages will be freed.
Father of American hostage does not expect son to be released
As dozens of families await word on whether their loved ones will be released in the hostage and prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas, American Jonathan Dekel-Chen, 60, is keeping his expectations low.
"It will not involve my son. I am as certain of that as one can be," he said in a brief phone interview.
Dekel-Chen's son, Sagui, 35, hasn't been heard from since Hamas invaded his home on Nir Oz kibbutz, in southern Israel, on Oct. 7. He lived there with his two daughters, ages 2 and 6, and pregnant wife. They escaped.
Of the 50 hostages due to be released over four days beginning Friday, most if not all are expected to be women and children, according to Israel and Qatari officials.
"I will be overjoyed for those families who can be reunited with their loved ones," Dekel-Chen said.
He described his son, an entrepreneur whose "moonlighting gig is repurposing old buses for new uses," as "the son anyone would love to have. You can't meet him and not smile. He's endlessly positive. He's a builder. He's a creator. He's been that his entire life."
Body of Shani Gabay identified after she was presumed to be a hostage
Authorities have identified the body of Shani Gabay, a 26-year-old law student who was presumed to have been taken hostage after she was last seen at the Nova music festival, where Hamas militants unleashed fire on civilian revelers on Oct. 7.
The Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum, the group representing families of the hostages, said in a statement that, "we share in the immense grief of the Gabay family over the murder of Shani Gabay." The group said the family asked for privacy and that additional information about funeral arrangements will be released soon.
The Nova music festival occurred near Kibbutz Be’eri, only 3 miles from the Gaza Strip. Hamas gunmen killed more than 260 people at the festival – the largest civilian massacre in Israeli history.
Who are the hostages and prisoners awaiting release?
Three Americans were among the hostages set for release including 3-year-old Avigail Idan, whose parents were killed during the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, as well as two women, according to a senior Biden administration official.
Only four hostages, including two Americans, have been released so far. Israeli forces said they rescued a fifth hostage, a female soldier.
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the deal also included a provision for the International Committee of the Red Cross to visit the hostages in captivity.
One of the earliest proposals was put forward Oct. 12, and it called for releasing all women and children held by Hamas and other Palestinian militants in Gaza, in return for freeing all Palestinian women in Israeli prisons, according to Egyptian officials. The Israelis rejected that proposal, but it “opened the door for more talks,” one of the officials said.
Israel’s Justice Ministry published a list of 300 Palestinians eligible for release from prison, mainly teenagers arrested over the past year for relatively minor offenses such as throwing rocks. The youngest detainee on the list is 14. The list also includes about 40 women. The detainees are to be released to their homes in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza.
Addameer, a Palestinian prisoner rights group, said there are 7,000 "political prisoners" in Israel. There are 2,070 "administrative detainees," or people held indefinitely without charges. At least 200 of the people in prison are children and 62 are women, according to the organization.
Director of Al Shifa Hospital detained by Israeli forces
The Israeli military has detained Mohammad Abu Salmiya, the director of Al Shifa Hospital, the largest medical facility in the Gaza Strip, after a World Health Organization convoy carrying hospital evacuees was stopped.
Salmiya will be questioned about "evidence that the Shifa Hospital, under his direct management, served as a Hamas command and control center," according to a statement from the Israeli military.
Officials in Israel and the U.S. have said the medical complex harbored a Hamas command center and a vast network of tunnels. Hamas and hospital officials have denied this, saying Israel is using the allegations to justify its expanding ground operations.
In the days since troops entered the hospital just over a week ago – trapping patients, including newborn babies, and citizens seeking refuge – Israel's military has not provided conclusive evidence of a command or control center.
Contributing: The Associated Press
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Israel war news updates: Cease-fire and hostage will begin Friday