By The Associated Press
A cease-fire settlement between the Hamas militant group and Israel has been confirmed by each events, together with Washington and Qatar, which helped dealer the deal that might convey a short lived halt to the devastating warfare that’s now in its seventh week.
The Israeli authorities mentioned that underneath a top level view of the deal, Hamas is to free over a four-day interval at the least 50 of the roughly 240 hostages taken in its Oct. 7 assault on Israel, and Israel is to launch some Palestinian prisoners in trade. Egyptian state media say the truce will start Thursday morning. Egypt helped mediate the cease-fire settlement, which might convey the primary respite to war-weary Palestinians in Gaza, the place greater than 11,000 individuals have been killed, in keeping with well being authorities.
However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mentioned late Wednesday he advised U.S. President Joe Biden that he’ll press forward with the warfare after a cease-fire expires. Some 1,200 individuals have been killed in Israel, largely in the course of the preliminary incursion by Hamas.
Currently:
— Truce deal raises hopes of liberating hostages in Gaza and halting worst Mideast violence in many years
— Humanitarians need extra support for Gaza, entry to hostages underneath Israel-Hamas truce. And extra time
— Analysis: Iran-backed Yemen rebels’ helicopter-borne assault on ship raises dangers in essential Red Sea
— Iranian-backed militant group vows to increase battle if U.S. airstrikes in area proceed
— Pope Francis meets with family of Israeli hostages and Palestinians
— Find extra of AP’s protection at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
Here’s what’s taking place within the warfare:
JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he has instructed the nation’s Mossad spy company to trace down the management of the Hamas militant group residing in different international locations outdoors Gaza.
“I have instructed the Mossad to act against the heads of Hamas, wherever they are,” Netanyahu advised a information convention.
Most of Hamas’ prime management lives in exile, primarily within the Gulf state of Qatar and the Lebanese capital of Beirut.
The Mossad has been accused in a collection of assassinations abroad of Palestinian militants and Iranian nuclear scientists over time.
CAIRO — The U.N. support company for Palestinian refugees mentioned Wednesday that just about 1,037,000 internally displaced Palestinians had been at present searching for shelter in 156 UNRWA amenities throughout the Gaza Strip.
In its report, the help company mentioned that the variety of its employees killed by the continuing battle in Gaza stands at 108. The data within the report was legitimate as of Tuesday.
Earlier Wednesday, UNRWA’s Secretary General, Philippe Lazzarini, gave a press convention in southern Gaza warning that the struggling of Palestinians will solely worsen with the approaching of winter, and that the besieged territory is on the verge of a waterborne illness outbreak.
In the early hours of Wednesday morning, a short lived truce was agreed between Israel and Hamas that can facilitate the discharge of dozens of individuals taken hostage in the course of the militant group’s assault on Israel on Oct. 7.
The transfer has been welcomed by UNRWA whose leaders have regularly known as for a cease-fire.
JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he has advised President Joe Biden that he’ll press forward with Israel’s warfare in opposition to Hamas after a short lived cease-fire expires.
Netanyahu mentioned he delivered the message to Biden in a cellphone name on Wednesday.
“I want to be clear. The war is continuing. The war is continuing. We will continue it until we achieve all our goals,” Netanyahu mentioned.
A four-day cease-fire between Israel and Hamas is anticipated to take impact on Thursday.
Hamas can prolong the truce by releasing extra of the hostages it’s holding.
But Netanyahu, together with the opposite members of his particular warfare cupboard, advised a press convention they’ll resume the warfare till Hamas is destroyed and the entire 240 hostages it’s holding are launched.
SANAA, Yemen — The navy arm of Yemen’s Houthi rebels mentioned Wednesday that it launched a batch of long-range massive missiles towards southern Israel, together with the Red Sea metropolis of Eilat.
The Iran-backed insurgent group has launched at the least six aerial assaults in opposition to Israel for the reason that battle broke out on Oct. 7.
Last week, the Shia insurgent pressure — which controls most of northwest Yemen — additionally hijacked the Bahamas-flagged Galaxy Leader because it sailed within the northern Red Sea, taking 25 crew members hostage.
Ownership particulars in public transport databases related the ship’s homeowners with Ray Car Carriers, based by Abraham “Rami” Ungar, who is named one of many richest males in Israel. However, Israeli officers mentioned the ship was British-owned and Japanese-operated.
The Houthi are staunch foes of Israel and have vowed to proceed aerial assaults and hijackings of Israeli ships.
“We will continue to carry out military operations until the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank stops,” the Houthi navy mentioned in a publish on Telegram.
JERUSALEM — The Israeli military says it has launched an award-winning Palestinian poet it detained in Gaza.
Mosab Abu Toha has been contributing items to western media for the reason that begin of the Israel-Hamas warfare, portray a dire image of its toll on civilians via his private expertise.
His household introduced Monday that Abu Toha had been arrested whereas evacuating to southern Gaza from his dwelling within the hard-hit Jabaliya refugee camp.
Abu Toha final posted to X on Nov. 15, writing: “Alive. Thanks for your prayers.”
Diana Buttu, a former Palestinian peace negotiator and buddy of the household, mentioned Abu Toha was stopped at an Israeli checkpoint and held for 2 days with dozens of different Palestinians at an Israeli detention heart. She says he was was accused of getting Hamas connections and overwhelmed up in custody.
“He was taken out of Gaza and he was interrogated,” she mentioned.
She mentioned he was launched on Tuesday, apparently after the case attracted worldwide consideration.
The literary and free expression group PEN mentioned it was involved in regards to the arrest and demanded to know Abu Toha’s whereabouts and the rationale for his arrest. The New Yorker journal, to which Abu Toha has contributed a number of articles, known as for his secure return.
The Israeli navy mentioned Wednesday that Abu Toha had been launched. It gave no additional particulars.
Buttu mentioned Abu Toha was secure in central Gaza after receiving medical therapy. The poet, whose son is an American citizen, is attempting to go away the besieged territory.
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — More than 100 our bodies had been buried Wednesday in a mass grave in Khan Younis, the corpses wrapped in blue plastic sheets fixed with cable ties.
Medical employees positioned dozens of our bodies introduced from numerous areas in northern Gaza, together with Shifa Hospital, into an enormous trench that was dug utilizing a bulldozer.
Workers sporting surgical masks and gloves carried the our bodies to the grave and carried out funeral prayers.
GENEVA — International support teams which have lined up 1000’s of support vans for Gaza say they’re prepared to maneuver shortly to ship in meals, water and different provides if a pause in combating between Hamas and Israel takes maintain as hoped on Thursday.
Details stay unclear about each the mechanics of getting extra support for beleaguered Palestinians in Gaza and the attainable launch of hostages kidnapped from Israel whose households have desperately sought their launch.
The support teams say a key ambition will likely be to get assist to northern Gaza, which has been largely inaccessible to humanitarian shipments and the place almost all hospitals have stopped working amid a blistering navy marketing campaign by Israeli forces.
“The entire humanitarian sector is ready to scale up once everything is set,” mentioned Tommaso Della Longa, a spokesman for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, referring to the nice print of the introduced deal.
Della Longa lamented “bottlenecks” which have confounded the deliveries of some humanitarian support – although not almost sufficient – into Gaza. He mentioned IFRC hopes {that a} deal would come with provisions to permit for a “faster track” of support shipments.
The solely route for worldwide humanitarian support into Gaza since Oct. 7 has been via the Rafah Crossing into Egypt, and planeloads of provides have been flown into the close by Egyptian metropolis of El-Arish – and vans have queued up close to Gaza.
Intense Israeli inspections of vans and cargo have slowed entry into Gaza.
WASHINGTON — A serious Iranian-backed militant group in Iraq has warned it could strike extra U.S. targets after U.S. warplanes killed a number of militants in response to the primary use of short-range ballistic missiles in opposition to U.S. forces at Al-Asad Air Base earlier this week.
U.S. fighter jets struck a Kataib Hezbollah operations heart and a Kataib Hezbollah command and management node south of Baghdad on Tuesday, two protection officers mentioned, talking on situation of anonymity to supply extra delicate particulars of the assaults.
There had been Kataib Hezbollah personnel at each websites on the time of the strikes, however the officers mentioned they might not but affirm whether or not anybody there was killed.
Militia officers in Iraq mentioned the assault had killed eight Kataib Hezbollah members.
Kataib Hezbollah mentioned in a press release Wednesday that it was contemplating “expanding the scope of targets” if the U.S. navy continues with its strikes, including that the assault “will not go unpunished.”
The harmful back-and-forth strikes have escalated since Iranian-backed militant teams underneath the umbrella group known as the Islamic Resistance in Iraq and Syria started placing U.S. amenities on Oct. 17, the date {that a} blast at a hospital in Gaza killed a whole bunch. The assaults have continued unabated since, with at the least 66 rocket and missile assaults hitting U.S. amenities and wounding at the least 62 service members.
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Associated Press writers Tara Copp in Washington, D.C., and Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed.
GENEVA — Switzerland’s govt department mentioned Wednesday it’ll ask parliament to ban the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
The Federal Council mentioned the federal government can even finish contracts it has with three Palestinian non-governmental organizations. They had been amongst 11 Palestinian and Israeli NGOs that had been underneath overview by Swiss officers following Hamas’ Oct. 7 assaults in Israel.
Four days after the lethal rampage in Israel, the council moved to designate Hamas as a terrorist group and instructed the Foreign Ministry to contemplate a attainable ban.
The seven-member council, which incorporates the Swiss president, reiterated its condemnation of the assaults “in the strongest possible terms” and expressed its remorse in regards to the deaths of 1000’s of civilians on either side of the battle.
The United States and the European Union, which doesn’t rely Switzerland as a member, have lengthy thought-about Hamas a terrorist group.
NEW DELHI — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has known as on the worldwide group to supply “timely and sustained humanitarian assistance” to the Palestinians in Gaza.
Modi was talking at a digital assembly of Group of 20 nations on Wednesday earlier than India’s presidency ends on Nov. 30.
“We agree that terrorism is unacceptable to all of us. The death of civilians anywhere is condemnable,” Modi mentioned. “We welcome the news today concerning the release of the hostages. We hope that all the hostages will be released soon.”
Israel and Hamas agreed to a four-day cease-fire within the warfare in Gaza — a breakthrough that can facilitate the discharge of dozens of hostages held by militants in addition to Palestinians imprisoned by Israel and produce a big inflow of support to the besieged territory, officers mentioned Wednesday.
“It is important to provide timely and sustained humanitarian assistance. It is also important to ensure that the war between Israel and Hamas does not take any regional form,” Modi mentioned.
CAIRO — Egypt’s state-run Qahera TV says the Israel-Hamas truce will take impact at 10 a.m. native time (0800 GMT) Thursday.
Egypt helped mediate the four-day cease-fire, which is able to facilitate the discharge of dozens of hostages captured by Hamas throughout its Oct. 7 assault into southern Israel. The deal can even see the discharge of dozens of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel and the entry of extra humanitarian support into Gaza.
Israeli media additionally reported that the truce would start Thursday at 10 a.m.
CAIRO — The World Health Organization has documented 178 assaults on healthcare amenities that killed 553 individuals, together with 22 healthcare employees, for the reason that warfare began on Oct. 7, the company’s regional director mentioned Wednesday.
Ahmed Al-Mandhari mentioned in a web-based briefing that about 800 individuals, together with 48 healthcare employees, had been injured within the assaults, which broken 24 hospitals and 32 ambulances.
The warfare has compelled the shutdown of 27 out of 36 hospitals and 47 out of 72 major well being care clinics throughout Gaza, he mentioned. The amenities stopping offering companies primarily due to a scarcity of gasoline and assaults, he mentioned.
“Hospitals must be allowed to replenish the resources they need to continue functioning,” he mentioned. “We cannot keep providing drops of aid in an ocean of needs.”
CAIRO — The World Health Organization says one among its native employees members in Gaza was killed alongside along with her household when a strike hit the house the place they had been sheltering.
It mentioned Dima Abdullatif Mohammed Alhaj, 29, was killed Tuesday alongside along with her husband, their 6-month-old son and her two brothers.
The U.N. well being company mentioned in a press release late Tuesday that over 50 individuals had been reportedly killed within the strike. It was not instantly attainable to verify the report or to find out who carried out the strike.
Israel has launched airstrikes throughout Gaza within the warfare triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7 assault on southern Israel. Palestinian militants have fired rockets at Israel, a few of which have fallen brief.
Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, WHO’s consultant for the Palestinian territories, mentioned Alhaj “was a wonderful person with a radiant smile, cheerful, positive, respectful. She was a true team player.”
Alhaj, who had labored as a affected person administrator with WHO since 2019, was amongst a whole bunch of 1000’s of Palestinians who fled from northern Gaza to shelter within the south. She had left her dwelling in Gaza City and was staying with family.
WHO mentioned her demise “is another example of the senseless loss in this conflict.”
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis has met individually with Israeli and Palestinian delegations and begged for peace and an finish to what he known as terrorism and “passions that are killing everyone.”
In encounters organized earlier than the Israeli-Hamas hostage deal was introduced, Francis met Wednesday with family of hostages held in Gaza following Hamas’ Oct. 7 raid in southern Israel. And he met individually with a delegation of Palestinians with family in Gaza.
Speaking on the finish of his weekly basic viewers, Francis mentioned he heard from each how a lot they’re struggling and the toll that the warfare was taking. In the viewers had been individuals holding Palestinian flags and scarves in addition to small posters displaying obvious our bodies in a ditch and the phrase “Genocide” written beneath.
Francis mentioned: “Here we’ve gone beyond war. This isn’t war, this is terrorism. Please, let us go forward for peace. Pray for peace, pray a lot for peace.”
He additionally requested for God to assist each Israeli and Palestinian individuals “resolve problems and not go forward with passions that are killing everyone in the end.”
Francis has spoken out repeatedly for an finish to the warfare.
TEL AVIV, Israel — Israel’s Justice Ministry has revealed a listing of 300 Palestinian detainees and prisoners who may doubtlessly be launched in a hostage deal.
Most of these on the checklist revealed Wednesday are youngsters arrested over the previous yr for comparatively minor offenses, together with throwing rocks or alleged incitement. None was convicted of homicide, although some served sentences for tried homicide.
The youngest detainee on the checklist is 14, and it additionally contains round 40 ladies. The detainees are to be launched to their properties within the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.
According to the truce-for-hostages deal introduced Wednesday, 50 hostages will likely be launched over 4 days, possible beginning Thursday, throughout which combating will pause.
After that, each extra 10 hostages launched will lead to one extra day within the pause and the discharge of extra Palestinian prisoners.
Israel is anticipated to launch 150 Palestinian prisoners within the first 4 days, although the Ministry of Justice revealed the checklist of 300 in case the deal is prolonged. Under Israeli regulation, the general public has 24 hours to object to any launch.
CAIRO — The evacuation of sufferers trapped in Shifa Hospital in Gaza City has begun, the Palestinian Red Crescent says.
The charity mentioned 14 ambulances arrived on the hospital on Wednesday, and the evacuation has been coordinated with the United Nations and Doctors with out Borders medical group.
Ashraf al-Qidra, the spokesperson for Gaza’s Health Ministry, has mentioned there have been over 250 sufferers on the facility, which was besieged by the Israeli navy earlier this month. Over 400 displaced individuals sheltering within the facility have additionally been trapped there, he mentioned.
Israel has accused Hamas of utilizing the hospital, the most important in Gaza, to conduct militant operations. Hamas and well being officers have denied the allegation.
Over the weekend, the World Health Organization coordinated the evacuation of 31 untimely infants from Shifa Hospital to southern Gaza. Of them, 28 infants had been later transferred to Egypt.
BRUSSELS — The European Union’s disaster administration chief has welcomed the Israeli hostage launch settlement and says the halt in combating that’s a part of the deal should be used to flood Gaza with desperately wanted support.
“We hope that the agreement on a pause of hostilities that has just been reached will allow for a substantial surge in humanitarian aid delivery into and within Gaza,” Crisis Management Commissioner Janez Lenarcic mentioned Wednesday.
“We certainly hope that this will not be a one-off,” he advised EU lawmakers in Strasbourg, France, and known as for “urgent and extended humanitarian pauses throughout Gaza.”
The 27-nation EU is the world’s greatest support donor to the Palestinians. Lenarcic mentioned 15 EU support cargo flights have been despatched, with most of that support already in Gaza, and that extra is on the best way.
The bloc insists that extra vans should be allowed via the Rafah crossing level with Egypt and different corridors opened.
Lenarcic mentioned entering into Gaza is “extremely challenging” and that fewer than 50 vans a day make it via, a quantity which he described as “woefully inadequate.” He welcomed Israel’s determination to permit some gasoline in, however mentioned it solely covers about one third of Gaza’s fundamental wants.
LONDON — The British authorities has welcomed an settlement to launch a few of the Israeli hostages held in Gaza and urged all events to make sure it’s “delivered in full.”
Foreign Secretary David Cameron mentioned the settlement was “a crucial step towards providing relief to the families of the hostages and addressing the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.”
“This pause provides an important opportunity to ensure much greater volumes of food, fuel and other life-saving aid can reach Gaza on a sustained basis,” he mentioned. “The U.K. will continue to work with all partners in the region to secure the release of all hostages, restore security and reach a long-term political solution which enables both Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace.”
BEIJING — The Chinese authorities says it welcomes the four-day truce reached between Israel and Hamas.
“We welcome the provisional truce reached by the parties concerned and hope it will help to alleviate the humanitarian crisis, de-escalate the conflict and ease tensions,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning mentioned at a every day briefing in Beijing on Wednesday.
China has been calling for a cease-fire and shunned criticizing the preliminary Hamas assault on Israel that began the newest battle. A delegation of international ministers from Arab nations and Indonesia held talks with China’s international minister this week as they began a tour to press their case for a cease-fire with the everlasting members of the U.N. Security Council.
MOSCOW — The Kremlin on Wednesday hailed a deal between Israel and Hamas for a halt to the warfare and the discharge of hostages as step towards ending the hostilities.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov mentioned the announcement of the deal was “the first good news from Gaza in a long time.”
Speaking in a convention name with reporters, he famous that Russia together with most different international locations had known as for a truce and humanitarian pauses, including that “only on the basis of such pauses future attempts to find a lasting settlement to the problem could be made.”
PARIS — France’s international minister says she’s hopeful that French nationals will likely be among the many first hostages launched as a part of a truce deal between Israel and Hamas.
“We hope that French nationals are among them and even, if possible, among the first group that will be released,” the minister, Catherine Colonna, mentioned Wednesday on France Inter radio. “We are working for that.”
France counts eight individuals lacking, a few of them confirmed as hostages, from the Oct. 7 assault on Israel by Hamas militants that ignited their newest and deadliest warfare. France additionally counts 40 killed within the assault. Colonna mentioned that not all of the hostages taken on Oct. 7 had been captured by Hamas. But she mentioned that in the middle of negotiations, the militant group has mentioned that “it could assemble together all of the hostages.”
French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday welcomed the truce settlement.
In a message on X, previously Twitter, Macron mentioned “we are working tirelessly to ensure that all hostages are released.” He additionally hoped the truce will “enable aid to be brought in” and assist the Gaza individuals.
ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey, a vocal critic of Israel’s actions in Gaza, welcomed the four-day truce as a “positive development to prevent more bloodshed.”
A Foreign Ministry assertion launched Wednesday mentioned Turkey expects full compliance with the settlement.
“We hope that the humanitarian pause will help permanently end the current conflict as soon as possible and initiate a process towards a just and lasting peace based on a two-state solution,” it mentioned.
BAGHDAD — The United States navy mentioned Wednesday that it has carried out strikes in opposition to Iran-backed teams in Iraq which have launched assaults on U.S. forces.
The U.S. Central Command mentioned in a press release Wednesday that its forces had “conducted discrete, precision strikes against two facilities in Iraq … in direct response to the attacks against U.S. and Coalition forces by Iran and Iran-backed groups,” together with one on Tuesday involving the usage of close-range ballistic missiles.
Two officers with Iranian-backed militias in Iraq mentioned the strikes hit three places within the space of Jurf al-Sakhar south of Baghdad, killing eight members of the Kataeb Hezbollah militant group. The officers spoke on situation of anonymity as a result of they weren’t licensed to talk to the media.
Iranian-backed militants have launched dozens of assaults on bases and amenities housing U.S. personnel in Iraq and Syria since Oct. 17. While a lot of the greater than 5 dozen assaults have been ineffective, at the least 60 U.S. personnel have reported minor accidents. The militant teams have mentioned the strikes are in retaliation for U.S. assist of Israel within the ongoing Israel-Hamas warfare.
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Qassim Abdul-Zahra reported from Baghdad.
ROME — Pro-Palestinian protesters interrupted a city corridor assembly with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson on Tuesday, booing and heckling him when he addressed the Israel-Hamas battle.
The protesters chanted “Shame on you” and accused Kristersson of supporting genocide after he mentioned Sweden condemns Hamas and helps Israel’s proper to self-defense. Police eliminated a few of them from the venue in Gothenburg, Sweden’s second greatest metropolis.
Kristersson criticized the protesters in a Facebook publish after the occasion.
“When we met tonight with a few hundred Gothenburgers the meeting was disrupted by a screaming and shouting group of people who refused to respect everyone else who had come to ask questions,” he wrote. “These political saboteurs appeared to have come to our question-and-answer session only to shout out their anger over Sweden and the EU’s political position about the conflict in the Middle East -– they were particularly disappointed over the condemnation of the terror organization Hamas.”
Kristersson’s center-right authorities has strongly sided with Israel within the Gaza battle, condemning Hamas’ Oct. 7 assault on Israel and supporting Israel’s proper to self-defense. Pro-Palestinian teams and the left-leaning opposition have accused the federal government of ignoring the plight of Palestinian civilians.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”