Day Forty-Nine Of Swords Of Iron

3:00 pm

President Joe Biden said, "Today we can also be thankful for families being reunited with loved ones who have been held hostage for nearly 50 days." Biden was in Nantucket, Massachusetts, on his second day celebrating Thanksgiving. Crediting his administration, Biden said it came because of “extensive US diplomacy, including numerous calls I’ve made from the Oval Office to leaders across the region.” He thanked Israeli PM Netanyahu, Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi for their cooperation. He said today was “only a start,” while acknowledging that things have “so far gone well.” “The teddy bears waiting to greet those [released] children at the hospital are a stark reminder of the trauma these children have been through and at such a very young age,” Biden lamented. None of the hostages released today are US citizens. 

12:06 pm

The IDF confirmed that 13 Israeli hostages, among the total of 39 hostages, are in Israeli territory, and are being escorted by special forces and the Shin Bet after undergoing an initial assessment. “Our forces are accompanying the released hostages until they reach their families at the hospitals,” the statement said. “The commanders of the IDF and its soldiers salute and embrace the returning hostages upon their return home,” it said. “We will continue to work together with the defense establishment’s bodies for the return of all the hostages,” the IDF added, The statement also asked the Israeli people to  “show patience and sensitivity and respect the privacy of released hostages and their families.”

Among the Israelis released is Hannah Katzir, an elderly woman who the terrorists had claimed was dead. 

Qatar foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari announceed that 39 Palestinian women and minors were released from prison by Israel. "We also confirm the release of 39 women and children detained in Israeli prisons in implementation of the commitments of the first day of the agreement."

The spokesman tweeted: "We confirm that the Red Cross has received 24 civilians detained in the Gaza Strip, including a number of civilian women and children within the framework of the humanitarian truce agreement." He added, “A number of Thai citizens have also been released outside the framework of the truce agreement and they are currently on their way out of the Strip with the Red Cross,” he continued. Earlier statements said there would be 13 Israeli and 12 Thai hostages released today. Ansari said 13 Israeli hostages were released — some of whom are dual citizens along with 10 Thai citizens and one Filipino citizen.

The Red Cross issued its own statement saying, “We are relieved to confirm the safe release of 24 hostages.” “We have facilitated this release by transporting them from Gaza to the Rafah border, marking the real-life impact of our role as a neutral intermediary between the parties,” it added.

Dozens of Gazans gathered outside Ofer prison north of Jerusalem waiting for the release of 39 Palestinian prisoners — the first group of the 150 that are slated to be released over the course of four days under the truce agreement between Israel and Hamas. Israeli police fired tear gas at the crowd, which includes families of the prisoners, local residents and journalists.

The IOF fires tear gas at journalists and residents in front of "Ofer" prison waiting to receive the 39 women and children prisoners that will be freed today.

9:24 am

‘I don’t believe Hamas controls all the hostages I believe everybody took a few and hid them in their house or basement," said retired Israeli army Brig. Gen. Avigdor Kahalani, who served as  Battalion Commander in Yom Kippur War, decades ago. He hopes Israel ‘will not be naive’ and trust Hamas’s promises during the ceasefire.

Families of hostages desperate for word on their loved ones are enduring an agonizing wait, as hostages are expected to be taken in by IDF troops and transferred to an Israeli airbase and forwarded to area hotels and hospitals. Psychological treatment and medical care is being made available to the hostages.

Forty-five Israeli newborns—34 boys and 11 girls—have been named after Kibbutz Be’eri, where Hamas terrorists butchered more than a hundred people during their Oct. 7 assault on southwestern Israel, Israel's Population and Immigration Authority said on Nov. 23. Be’eri was one of the hardest-hit areas in the Hamas attacks. Some 30% of the kibbutz’s inhabitants were murdered or taken hostage by terrorists. The names Oz, Erez and Nir have also gained popularity since the beginning of the war, according to the Population and Immigration Authority, also alluding to Israeli localities that were destroyed in the Oct. 7 massacre.

Several Hamas tunnels which have been discovered beneath Al-Shifa Medical Center in Northern Gaza were destroyed this morning prior to the ceasefire which is now in effect, with IDF troops and armor having redeployed along the Lines-of-Contact which were agreed upon with Hamas.
 

9:11 am

The Red Cross has arrived with a bus at Ofer Prison in Judea and Samaria on the West Bank to collect 39 Palestinian prisoners to be released by Israel as a first stage of the deal to free Israeli hostages from Gaza. They are expected to be released later today. 

Israel's border with Lebanon has been relatively calm today as a temporary ceasefire took effect,  according to Lebanese state media and the IDF. Hezbollah, which has been carrying out daily attacks on Israel along its northern border, will also hold fire in the next four days of the ceasefire in Gaza, though it was not part of the deal mediated by Qatar. Israel has not said whether it will not target Hezbollah during the ceasefire. “A precarious calm reigned on the southern border, with the humanitarian truce in Gaza coming into effect at 7 a.m.,” Lebanon’s official National News Agency reported. After the ceasefire took effect, and IDF spokesman said that there have been no subsequent incidents or firing so far across the Lebanon border.

The IDF  has completed preparations for the reception of the first group of 13 hostages set to be released at 4 p.m. today from Gaza, in an operation dubbed “Heaven’s Door.” The hostages will be brought by the IDF to Hatzerim Airbase in southern Israel for an initial reception, where they will undergo a short physical and mental checkup. Toys are also awaiting the children set for release. The IDF has psychologists and mental health experts to greet the hostages, many of whom are expected to be children. The experts will explain to them what happened in their community on October 7 when they believe the time is right. The IDF is making phones available for hostages to contact relatives. They will remain at the base for two hours before transfer to hospital by helo or bus. Those needing medical attention will be transferred from the border directly to a hospital without passing through Hatzerim. Hostages' families are waiting a area hotel rooms and hospitals.

Last night, the IDF demolished the home of Kamel Abu Bakr, the terrorist behind a deadly Tel Aviv shooting in August, in the West Bank village of Rummanah. Abu Bakr killed Tel Aviv patrolman Chen Amir. The IDF also killed in the Aqbar Jabr refugee camp near Jericho the terrorist Mohammed Hinnawi, an Islamic Jihad operative who “recruited a military squad and carried out several shooting attacks against IDF forces in recent months.” The IDF seized an assault rifle and military equipment in Hinnawi’s car.

Tensions in Judea and Samaria have been high since October 7. IDF troops have arrested some 1,950 wanted Palestinians across the West Bank, including more than 1,100 affiliated with Hamas, since the war began.

Thousands of Gazans, with children and pets in their arms and their belongings loaded onto donkey carts or car roofs, seek to go home as a four-day Israel-Hamas truce begins.

Israeli air strikes on Gaza have been relentless for weeks, but no more shots were heard today in Khan Yunis, in the south of the enclave.

Israel has warned that it is not possible for those now in southern Gaza to move to the north, where it remains heavily deployed.

9:05 am

Egypt announced it has negotiated the release of 12 Thais held hostage in Gaza. 

Report: 12 of 13 hostages set for release from Gaza are from Kibbutz Nir Oz.

The IDF vowed today, "Anyone who poses a threat toour forces in Gaza will be hit. The security of our forces is a top priority, that’s how we behaved and that’s how we will continue to behave." An IDF spokesman said that the offensive and "the operational achievements put pressure on Hamas and its leadership, and served as a necessary tool to create conditions for the implementation of the plan to return some of the hostages. We will use most of the time for the sake of readiness and planning the tasks expected of us immediately after the end of the truce. We are preparing to continue attacking with all our strength immediately after the end of the truce.”

8:50 am

Anti-semites attacked the home of the leader of the American-Israeli Political Action Committee, throwing red paint and smoke bombs on Thanksgiving Day.

8:00 am

The Guardian provided the following summary of events in the Israel/Hamas war:

A four-day ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas will begin at 7am local time on Friday (0500 GMT), Majed al-Ansari, the spokesperson for the foreign ministry of Qatar, has announced. The truce, initially lasting four or five days, was announced early on Wednesday and has raised hopes for a more durable pause in the violence.

The release of hostages is expected to follow on Friday afternoon. Israel and Hamas have exchanged lists of those to be released, with Hamas expected to free 13 women and children, Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson Ansari said. He did not specify how many Palestinian women and children will be released on Friday or when this would take place. Israel has notified the families of the hostages set to be released on Friday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Daniel Hagari said. Joe Biden said he has his “fingers crossed” that a three-year-old Israeli-American girl will be released.

Overall, Hamas has agreed to free at least 50 of the more than 240 mostly Israeli hostages it has held since launching bloody attacks into southern Israel on 7 October, under the terms of the agreement. In turn, Israel will release at least 150 Palestinian prisoners and allow up to 300 trucks of humanitarian aid into Gaza after more than six weeks of bombardment, heavy fighting and a crippling blockade of fuel, food, medicine and other essentials.
In a separate agreement, Hamas is set to unconditionally release 23 Thai hostages it is holding in Gaza, according to a report by the Al-Araby Al-Jadeed news site. The release of Thai hostages came after Iran-mediated talks, the outlet reported on Thursday.

A special flight has evacuated 103 Russian nationals from Gaza, Russia’s emergencies ministry said early on Friday. In a post on Telegram, the ministry said the group flew to Moscow aboard a chartered Ilyushin-76 aircraft, Reuters reported. The post said 101 Russian nationals had been taken from Gaza to Egypt in the past 24 hours, bringing to more than 750 the total number of Russian evacuees. More than 650 had been flown to Russia, including more than 300 children.

The exchange of Palestinian and Israeli female and child hostages and prisoners had been due to take place on Thursday but was postponed as last-minute logistical issues were worked out. Sources close to the negotiations said Israel had presented a series of late requests for clarification of practical issues, and demanded the full identification of the hostages Hamas intended to release.

The diplomatic breakthrough promises the first pause in seven weeks of war in Gaza and some relief both for the 2.3 million Palestinians in the territory who have endured intensive Israeli bombardment, and for families in Israel fearful for the fate of their loved ones.

Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, has said the military will resume fighting against Hamas “with intensity” for at least two more months. Addressing Israeli troops on Thursday, Gallant instructed them to “organise…resupply arms, and get ready to continue” during the “short” respite in fighting.

Israel’s army arrested the director of Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital on Thursday, more than a week after it surrounded and raided the medical facility. Mohammad abu Salmiya and other medics were detained, a colleague said, amid reports that the IDF had seized them as they were travelling with a World Health Organization evacuation convoy. The IDF confirmed Abu Salmiya had been arrested and transferred to the Shin Bet domestic security service for further questioning. Just two doctors are left at al-Shifa to treat the remaining estimated 200 patients, the hospital’s head of plastic surgery has said.

Israeli forces bombed at least 300 targets from the air, killing dozens of Palestinians. Gaza’s health ministry said 27 people were killed in a strike on a school affiliated with the UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) in Jabaliya refugee camp. The Palestinian Wafa news agency reported that dozens had been killed in Israeli bombing raids in Nuseirat and its camp in the central Gaza Strip, and in Jabaliya in the north. Among those reported killed in Nuseirat was a photojournalist, Mohammad Moin Ayyash, and his family.

The IDF said it has killed the commander of Hamas’s naval forces in Khan Younis in an airstrike in the Gaza Strip. Amar Abu Jalalah was killed along with another member of the Hamas naval forces, the IDF said in a statement on Thursday.

More than 13,000 Palestinians have been recorded killed in Gaza since the war began, according to Gaza’s health ministry. The director of the health ministry, which is run by the Hamas government, said another 6,000 people have been reported missing and are feared buried under the rubble. Israel’s assault on Gaza followed the Hamas attack on 7 October which killed at least 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians.

UK foreign secretary David Cameron has met Benjamin Netanyahu during a visit to Israel, and expressed hope that the planned temporary truce with Hamas would be an “opportunity to crucially get hostages out and get aid into Gaza”. The Israeli prime minister told Cameron that the precondition for peace in the Middle East was the eradication of what he called the “genocidal terrorist cult” Hamas. His remarks gave the impression that Netanyahu is not currently interested in anything but a military solution to the future of Israel’s security.

Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has urged Israel to rethink its offensive in Gaza, telling its president and prime minister the number of dead Palestinians is “truly unbearable”, and that the response to Hamas’s terrorist attacks last month cannot include “the deaths of innocent civilians, including thousands of children”.

November 24, 2023