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EXPLANER
As the truce drags on and hospitals in northern Gaza fear fuel shortages, here are the main updates.
Here is what you need to know about the situation on Tuesday November 28, 2023:
Truce, prisoner and release of captives
- At least 11 Israeli captives held in Gaza were released Monday, according to the Israeli military. The release welcomed by the Red Cross included six Argentines, three French and two Germans.
- Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari announced on Monday that the truce was extended by two more days, until Thursday morning. A Qatari official said this means at least 20 additional Israeli prisoners held in Gaza and 60 Palestinian detainees held in Israeli prisons will be released.
- Hamas also said the truce was extended, but there has yet been no update from Israel. However, Israel did not resume its bombing of Gaza on Tuesday morning.
- The Palestinian Commission for Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs on Tuesday morning published the names of three women and 30 children released by Israel from its Ofer military prison.
- The freed Palestinian prisoners were welcomed by their families upon their arrival in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, on Tuesday evening.
- Teenage Palestinian prisoner Mohammad Nazzal told Tel Aviv Tribune that Israeli jailers beat him in prison last week, causing fractures to his hand and finger. He said no medical attention was given to his injury until the Red Cross put a sling on him after his release.
- The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announcement on X, formerly Twitter, that 50 additional Palestinian women are eligible for release from Israeli prisons. This is an addition to the list of 300 prisoners scheduled for release, published before Israel’s truce agreement.
- Israeli Army Radio announced that Hamas had published a new list of prisoners who would be released. This is the first list resulting from the extension of the truce agreement. US news site Axios reported that the list contained 10 names.
Israeli repression in the West Bank
- Four Palestinians were injured on Tuesday by Israeli forces during clashes in the Dheisheh camp, south of Bethlehem, in the occupied West Bank. Six other people, including a woman, were arrested in different areas of the governorate, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.
- A young Palestinian man was shot and killed Tuesday morning by Israeli forces, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
- Two Palestinian youths were injured during clashes with Israeli occupying forces in the town of Yabad, west of Jenin, in the occupied West Bank. One was shot in the leg and the other was hit by shrapnel in the head, according to Wafa.
- Two young Palestinians were injured by live ammunition during an Israeli raid in the Deir Ammar refugee camp, west of Ramallah, according to Wafa. Wafa reported that sources indicated that in the camp, Israeli forces blew up the apartment of Palestinian Daoud Abdel Razzaq Daras, 41, who was allegedly shot and killed on August 31.
The consequences of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- The families of three Palestinian students shot dead in the US state of Vermont said they were targeted because they were Palestinian.
- American Jason J. Eaton, 48, was arrested without bail for shooting three Palestinian students in Vermont. The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating whether the shooting constitutes a hate crime.
- Police in the Canadian city of Montreal are investigating the firebombing of a Jewish community center that took place Monday evening.
Gaza hospitals and the fuel shortage
- Gaza, which is under a total blockade imposed by Israel, faces shortages of food, water and fuel. Israeli bombings caused considerable damage to hospitals, schools and residential buildings. The provision of aid, including fuel, was agreed in the truce.
- The UN humanitarian agency OCHA reported that small quantities of cooking gas – around 85 tonnes per day – reached Gaza over the past four days.
- Palestinians resort to lighting fires to cook and keep warm.
- Dr. Hossam Abu Safiya, head of the pediatric intensive care unit at Kamal Adwan Hospital, appealed for an urgent supply of fuel for the hospital, the only medical center in northern Gaza still receiving patients.
- Abu Safiya told Tel Aviv Tribune that if the hospital is not supplied with fuel within hours, there is a risk of losing patients, including premature babies.
Diplomacy
- US Secretary of State Antony Blinken plans to visit Israel, the occupied West Bank and the United Arab Emirates this week, the US State Department announced on Monday.
- US President Joe Biden reiterated his call for a “two-state solution” through a job on X. “To ensure that Israelis and Palestinians live with an equal measure of freedom and dignity, we will not abandon our efforts to achieve this goal,” Biden said.
- Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said world leaders must work “vigorously and urgently” to ensure that the current truce in Gaza “becomes a permanent ceasefire.” He said the two-state solution is the only path to peace in the region.
- US Defense Secretary Lloyd J Austin called Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. During the conversation, Austin reiterated the need to send more humanitarian aid to Gaza.
- EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Monday there would be no “peace or security for Israel” without the creation of a Palestinian state.
