Qatar's foreign ministry spokesman, Majed Al-Ansari said on Thursday that hostage release will start on Friday morning.
The complex and carefully choreographed deal saw Israel and Hamas agree to a four-day truce, during which at least 50 hostages taken in the Palestinian militant group's deadly October 7 attacks would be released. For every 10 additional hostages released, there would be an extra day's "pause" in fighting, an Israeli government document said.
In turn, Israel would release at least 150 Palestinian women and children and allow more humanitarian aid into the besieged coastal territory after weeks of bombardment and heavy fighting.
The Israeli government said that under an outline of the deal, Hamas will free over a four-day period at least 50 of the roughly 240 hostages taken in its Oct 7 attack on Israel, and Israel will release some Palestinian prisoners in exchange.
Egypt helped mediate the cease-fire agreement, which would bring the first respite to war-weary Palestinians in Gaza, where more than 11,000 people have been killed, according to health authorities.
Egyptian state media had earlier said the truce would begin Thursday morning. But, it was not immediately clear what caused the delay in the deal that resulted from weeks of talks involving Qatar, Egypt and the United States.
However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said late Wednesday he told US President Joe Biden that he will press ahead with the war after a cease-fire expires. Some 1,200 people have been killed in Israel, mostly during the initial incursion by Hamas.
"We are winning and will continue to fight until absolute victory," he said on Wednesday, vowing to secure Israel from threats emanating from Gaza and Lebanon, home to Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants.
UPDATES FROM DAY 48 OF THE WAR
A spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross has told Al Jazeera that its staff were fired upon while trying to deliver humanitarian support in northern Gaza
IDF spokesperson, Daniel Hagari posted the following thread on X
Al-Shifa's director and several other medical personnel were arrested by Israeli forces on Thursday.
The director of the Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip was apprehended and transferred for ISA questioning following evidence showing that the Shifa Hospital, under his direct management, served as a Hamas command and control center >>
— ???? ???? ????? ???? - Daniel Hagari (@IDFSpokesperson) November 23, 2023
Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has met with Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, which has traded deadly cross-border fire with Israel since the start of the Gaza war, the Lebanese movement said Thursday.
In a statement, Hezbollah said Amir-Abdollahian and Nasrallah "reviewed the latest developments in Palestine, Lebanon and the region, and... the efforts made to end the Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip".
Amir-Abdollahian, who warned on Wednesday that the war could spiral out of control, left Beirut for Doha after their meeting, Iran's Nour news agency reported. (Read here)
A Palestinian official told AFP on Thursday a delay in implementation of a truce in the Gaza Strip between Israeli forces and Hamas was due to “last minute” details over which hostages would be released and how. (Read more)
According to a report by Al-Jazeera, the Indonesian Hospital in north Gaza has been "completely evacuated" and its volunteers have been moved to Rafah in the south. This comes after the Israeli army gave a four-hour ultimatum to vacate the facility earlier today.
An official from Gaza's Health Ministry had told Al Jazeera that nearly 200 patients had remained at the medical facility earlier today, while 450 patients had been evacuation yesterday.
The Guardian reports that Herzi Halevi, IDF's Chief of the General Staff, informed his troops that Israel will not be ending the war in Gaza.
"We are trying to connect the goals of the war, so that the pressure from the ground operation brings about the ability to also achieve the goal of this war, to create the conditions for the release of the abducted hostages. We are not ending the war. We will continue until we are victorious, going forward and continuing in other Hamas areas," Halevi told brigade commanders inside Gaza.
About "300 Hamas sites" in the Gaza Strip were targeted by air strikes in the last 24 hours, according to the IDF. Israel claims these included rocket launch locations, ammo storage, subterranean combat tunnels, operational headquarters, and weapon manufacturing facilities.
According to a report by Al-Jazeera, the Israeli army has warned people in the Indonesian Hospital to evacuate it in four hours.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, Gaza’s Health Ministry officials said there is still bombing going on all around the northern Gazan hospital, with nearly 200 patients remaining at the medical facility, following the evacuation of 450 patients yesterday.
According to UNICEF, more than 5,300 Palestinian children have been killed in just 46 days and one million children are now food insecure and facing a catastrophic nutrition crisis.
56 Palestinian children have been killed in the West Bank over the past six weeks and 450,000 children in the region need humanitarian assistance.
“The war must be brought to an end and the killing and maiming of children must stop immediately.”@unicefchief’s remarks at the UN Security Council briefing on the protection of children in Gaza.
— UNICEF (@UNICEF) November 22, 2023
Women and girls are disproportionately suffering the devastating impacts of the crisis in Gaza.
— United Nations (@UN) November 22, 2023
UN leaders tell Security Council that in this urgent test of humanity, the most vulnerable desperately need peace to prevail. https://t.co/TPP50MyYqi
A US warship patrolling the Red Sea intercepted multiple attack drones launched from Huthi-controlled areas in Yemen on Thursday, the US Central Command says. The Huthis have declared themselves part of an "axis of resistance" of Iran's allies and proxies retaliating against Israel's war with Hamas. They seized an Israel-linked cargo vessel on Sunday and have warned they may seize more Red Sea ships.
Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah movement said Thursday that five of its fighters, including the son of a senior lawmaker, had been killed, amid skirmishes at the Israel-Lebanon border since the Israel-Hamas war began.
It issued separate statements with the identities and photographs of four other fighters who were also killed.
A source close to the family, requesting anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to the media, told AFP that Abbas Raad "was killed with a number of other Hezbollah members" in an Israeli strike Wednesday on a house in south Lebanon's Beit Yahun.
Lebanon's official National News Agency said Wednesday that "an air strike launched by the Israeli enemy... on a house in Beit Yahun killed four people", but it did not identify the victims.
Israeli military on Wednesday unveiled what it claimed was a Hamas military facility under Gaza's largest hospital, showing what appeared to be a subterranean dormitory to a group of foreign journalists who were given a rare glimpse inside the besieged enclave.
Israel has not yet unveiled this purported centre, but the military portrayed the underground hideout as its most significant discovery yet. Hamas and the hospital administration have denied Israel's accusations.
A Palestinian official told AFP that a delay in the implementation of a truce in the Gaza Strip between Israeli forces and Hamas was due to "last minute" details over which hostages would be released and how. The truce, widely expected to go into force on Thursday but delayed during the night, had been put back over "the names of the Israeli hostages and the modalities of their release", said the official, who has knowledge of the negotiation process.
A doctor at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City told AFP that the facility's director and several other medical personnel were arrested by Israeli forces on Thursday.
A senior Israeli official has said that the planned exchange of some Palestinians held in Israeli prisons for Israeli hostages in Hamas has been delayed until at least Friday. Multiple news media are reporting that the ceasefire will also be delayed, as well as the hostage deal. READ FULL REPORT HERE
Israel and Hamas on Wednesday agreed to a four-day cease-fire in the war in Gaza — a diplomatic breakthrough that will free dozens of hostages held by militants as well as Palestinians imprisoned in Israel, and bring a large influx of aid to the besieged territory.
"We don't know who will get out because Hamas will release the names every evening of those who will get out the next day," said Gilad Korngold, whose son and daughter-in-law are being held in Gaza along with their two children and other relatives.
Israel's list of eligible Palestinian prisoners included 123 detainees under 18 and 33 women, among them Shrouq Dwayyat, convicted of attempted murder in a 2015 knife attack.
"I had hoped that she would come out in a deal," her mother, Sameera Dwayyat, said, but added that her relief was tempered by "great pain in my heart" over the dead children in Gaza.
In Khan Yunis, southern Gaza, displaced Palestinians remained sceptical about the Israel-Hamas deal.
"What truce are they talking about? We don't need a truce just so aid can come in. We want to go home," said Maysara Assabagh, who fled northern Gaza for a hospital that now shelters about 35,000 displaced people.
