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EXPLANER
An extended truce agreement, attacks in the West Bank and Hamas’ invitation to Elon Musk – here are the main updates.
Here is what you need to know about the situation on Thursday, November 30, 2023:
Truce, prisoner and release of captives
- Minutes before the six-day extended truce expired, Israel and Hamas agreed on Thursday to further extend the ceasefire for at least one more day.
- The Israeli government said it received a new list of prisoners in Gaza who will be released on Thursday. He did not specify the number of captives to be released.
- Hamas released 16 prisoners in exchange for Israel’s release of 30 Palestinian prisoners on Wednesday. So far, 210 Palestinian prisoners and 97 Israeli prisoners have been released.
- One of the captives released Wednesday included dual Israeli-American national Liat Beinin. US President Joe Biden has expressed his determination to secure the release of Beinin’s husband.
- Prominent Palestinian activist Ahed Tamimi arrived in Ramallah on Thursday after being released from Ofer prison.
- Ruqayah Amro, one of the released Palestinian prisoners, told Tel Aviv Tribune’s Hoda Abdel-Hamid that the prisoners had been threatened with sexual assault by Israeli guards.
Latest developments
- Israeli forces surrounded Thabet Thabet Hospital in Tulkarem, in the occupied West Bank, at dawn on Thursday, according to the Wafa news agency. They also blocked ambulances and questioned rescue workers.
- At al-Nasr Children’s Hospital in northern Gaza, medical teams discovered the partially decomposed bodies of five premature babies, Wafa reported on Wednesday.
- Israeli forces shot dead a 21-year-old Palestinian outside Ofer prison, west of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, at dawn on Thursday, Wafa reported.
- Israeli forces on Wednesday killed two Palestinian minors – eight-year-old Adam Samer al-Ghoul and 15-year-old Basil Suleiman Abu al-Wafa – during a raid in Jenin, in the northern occupied West Bank. Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, condemned the killing of the eight-year-old as a “cold-blooded execution”.
- The US military’s Central Command said it shot down a drone from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen on Wednesday.
- On Wednesday, Hamas invited tech CEO Elon Musk to witness the destruction in Gaza, following his visit to Israel.
Diplomacy
- Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian-American member of the US Congress, called for a lasting ceasefire during a vigil outside the White House. She added that temporary pauses in fighting are not enough to end Palestinian suffering.
- For his third trip to the region since October 7, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Israel. He said the Biden administration would like a further extension of the pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas.
- Israeli leaders would maintain their position on continuing military operations in Gaza to “eliminate Hamas.” During his last phone call with US President Joe Biden, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that military activity in the south of the enclave was “necessary”, according to the US site Axios.
- On Wednesday, the United Nations Security Council discussed Israel-Palestine and the two-state solution.
- As European Union negotiations on sanctions against Hamas advance, France said Wednesday that the European Commission should consider sanctions against Israeli settlers who have targeted Palestinians in the West Bank.
