By The Associated Press
A four-day cease-fire within the Israel-Hamas conflict started Friday in Gaza as a part of an settlement that Qatar helped dealer. Twenty-four hostages have been freed, together with 13 Israeli residents, 10 Thai residents and one Filipino citizen, Qatar stated. Israel launched 39 Palestinian prisoners later within the day.
With the truce deal comes elevated shipments of gasoline and provides into Gaza — although nonetheless solely sufficient to dent the wants of the two.3 million Palestinians in Gaza who’ve endured weeks of Israeli bombardment, in keeping with support teams. Israel has agreed to permit the supply of 130,000 liters (34,300 gallons) of gasoline a day into besieged Gaza for humanitarian wants at some point of the truce.
More than 13,300 Palestinians have been killed, in keeping with the Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza after a dayslong pause in its casualty report, which it attributed to the well being system’s collapse in northern Gaza making it inconceivable to supply an in depth rely.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stated he’ll press forward with the conflict after the cease-fire expires. Some 1,200 folks have been killed in Israel, largely through the preliminary incursion by Hamas.
Currently:
— A four-day truce begins, setting the stage for the discharge of dozens of hostages.
— Families of hostages not slated for launch from Gaza throughout present truce face enduring nightmare.
— Palestinians in Gaza looking for refuge from conflict discover their world is shrinking.
— Hezbollah fires rockets at north Israel after an airstrike kills 5 of the group’s senior fighters.
— Thousands led by Cuba’s president march in solidarity with Palestinians.
— Find extra of AP’s protection at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war.
Here’s what’s taking place within the conflict:
JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s workplace says it has acquired a brand new record of hostages to be launched by Hamas on Saturday.
It could be the second batch of hostages to be launched by the Islamic militant group beneath a four-day truce.
Netanyahu’s workplace says it has notified the households whose loved-ones are set for launch.
NANTUCKET, Mass. — President Joe Biden stated Friday that he believes placing situations on army support to Israel is a “worthwhile thought,” and he hopes the Gaza cease-fire will last more than 4 days.
Speaking to reporters from Nantucket, Massachusetts, Biden stated he was inspired by the discharge of a few of the hostages and hopes for extra.
“We expect more hostages to be released tomorrow, and more the day after, and more the day after that,” he stated.
The freed hostages included 13 Israelis, 10 folks from Thailand and one from the Philippines, in keeping with Qatar, which was instrumental in brokering the deal to cease combating. In return, Israel freed 39 Palestinians from jail.
Biden stated that conditioning army support to Israel was a “worthwhile thought, but I don’t think if I started off with that we would have ever gotten where we are today.”
He didn’t give any examples of potential situations.
TEL AVIV — The Israeli army has “gotten to the heart” of Hamas’ army property and plans to proceed lively combating as soon as a cease-fire ends, a spokesman stated Friday.
“There are still many goals and many tunnels to demolish, including some we have destroyed even this morning right before the ceasefire began,” Israeli Defense Forces spokesman Daniel Hagari informed reporters.
Hagari spoke on the primary day of a cease-fire that included an trade of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners. The halt is scheduled expire on Monday until extra Israeli hostages are launched.
Hagari stated the IDF wouldn’t enable Gazan civilians to return to their properties within the northern a part of the Strip.
Israeli troops fatally shot two Palestinians and wounded 11 others on Friday as they headed towards the principle fight zone in northern Gaza regardless of warnings by the Israeli military to remain put.
TEL AVIV — Israel confirmed Friday that it launched 39 Palestinian prisoners consistent with a truce deal that noticed 13 Israeli hostages freed by militants in Gaza hours earlier.
Qadura Fares, who heads an advocacy group for prisoners, stated 33 prisoners freed within the West Bank have been handed to a staff from the International Committee of the Red Cross. He stated the remaining six have been being free of a Jerusalem lockup.
The releases on either side have been a part of a deal for a four-day truce within the Israel-Hamas conflict that started Friday.
Over the subsequent 4 days, 150 Palestinian prisoners and 50 Israeli hostages are to be freed.
TEL AVIV — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday welcomed the discharge of hostages taken in Hamas’ Oct. 7 raid into Israel, together with 13 Israeli residents, however stated his authorities is dedicated to the return of all hostages.
About 240 folks have been taken within the assault.
Netanyahu described every of the hostages launched as a four-day cease-fire started as “a world of their own.”
He stated getting again all of the hostages “is one of the goals of the war and we are committed to achieving all of the goals of the war.”
OUTSIDE OFER PRISON, West Bank — Israeli safety forces fired volleys of tear gasoline Friday at 1000’s of Palestinians from everywhere in the West Bank excitedly awaiting the discharge of 39 Palestinians in trade for the hostages launched by Hamas from Gaza.
Crowds waited for hours exterior Israel’s Ofer Prison within the West Bank for the Palestinians to emerge.
Shortly after some raucous boys surged by the crowds with Hamas flags, Israeli forces unleashed tear gasoline, sending households bolting in the other way, screaming, coughing and masking their watery, bloodshot eyes with their shirts.
DOHA, Qatar — Qatar’s Foreign Ministry has confirmed the discharge of 24 hostages after seven weeks of captivity within the Gaza Strip.
“Those released include 13 Israeli citizens, some of whom are dual citizens, in addition to 10 Thai citizens and a Filipino citizen,” stated Majed al-Ansari, the ministry’s spokesman. Qatar was a key mediator within the hostage launch.
The International Committee of the Red Cross, which delivered the hostages from Gaza into Egypt, additionally confirmed the discharge.
The hostages, girls and kids, have been present process medical checks earlier than they have been to be transferred to Israel. They are to be taken to Israeli hospitals and reunited with their households. They’re the primary of fifty folks to be launched from Gaza throughout a four-day truce that started Friday.
Israel is to launch 39 Palestinian prisoners later Friday, the primary of a complete of 150 Palestinian prisoners to be freed beneath the cease-fire.
RAFAH, Egypt — The Israeli authorities has summoned the ambassadors of Spain and Belgium after remarks by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and his Belgian counterpart Alexander de Croo Friday criticizing the bombing of civilians in Gaza and urging recognition for a Palestinian state.
Speaking at a joint press convention on the Egyptian aspect of the Rafah border crossing with Gaza on Friday, Sánchez stated the time has come for the worldwide neighborhood and the European Union to acknowledge the State of Palestine, and warned that if it didn’t, Spain would possibly accomplish that by itself.
He stated it might higher if the EU did it collectively, “but if this is not the case … Spain will take their own decisions.”
He was talking at finish of a two-day go to to Israel, Palestinian Territories and Egypt with de Croo.
Israel has the proper to defend itself “but it must do so within the parameters and limits imposed by international humanitarian law and this is not the case,” Sánchez stated. “The indiscriminate killing of civilians, including thousands of boys and girls, are completely unacceptable.”
GENEVA — The Red Cross says it has begun a “multi-day operation” to reunite hostages and detainees on either side of the battle between Palestinians and Israelis.
The group’s announcement got here as Israeli media reported the Hamas militant group on Friday launched the primary batch of hostages beneath a cease-fire deal. The deal requires 50 hostages to be freed over a four-day truce, with Israel to free 150 Palestinians in jail.
The International Committee of the Red Cross says it is going to even be ferrying in medical provides for hospitals in Gaza.
WASHINGTON — The lead U.S. growth company is urging a speedy ramping-up of humanitarian help to battered Gaza for the long run, calling it “urgent and imperative.”
Samantha Power, head of the U.S. Agency for International Development, made the decision in a press release Thursday, as a fastidiously negotiated cease-fire and hostage launch started within the Gaza Strip.
With 1.7 million folks in Gaza internally displaced and just about all the 2.3 million folks there needing support, “the scale of humanitarian needs in Gaza is staggering,” Power wrote.
“It is both urgent and imperative that lasting mechanisms be put in place to significantly accelerate the pace of sustained aid into Gaza,” Power wrote.
BAGHDAD — Iranian-backed militias which have launched dozens of rocket and drone assaults on bases housing U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria in current weeks held their hearth on Friday, the primary day of the a four-day truce between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
The lull got here after an escalation this week during which U.S. warplanes killed a number of militants from the highly effective Iraqi Kataib Hezbollah militia in response to the primary use of short-range ballistic missiles in opposition to U.S. forces at Al-Asad Air Base.
Milita spokesman Jaafar al-Husseini stated his group is “not necessarily” observing the truce — which solely formally pertains to Gaza — however is “monitoring” the habits of the United States and can act accordingly.
Kataib Hezbollah and different Iranian-backed militant teams beneath the umbrella group known as the Islamic Resistance in Iraq started placing U.S. amenities Oct. 17 and have since launched greater than 60 assaults in Iraq and Syria. The militant teams have stated they’re retaliating in opposition to the U.S. for its assist of the Israeli offensive in Gaza that has killed greater than 13,300 Palestinians, following the Hamas-led Oct. 7 shock assault that killed about 1,200 Israelis.
Likewise, in southern Lebanon, the place the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has exchanged hearth with Israeli forces all through the Israel-Hamas conflict, a cautious calm prevailed Friday. Some of the greater than 55,000 Lebanese displaced by the combating started returning to examine their homes and companies in border cities.
JERUSALEM — Thousands of Israelis gathered in what has been dubbed “Hostages Square” in Tel Aviv on Friday night, singing songs to welcome the Jewish Sabbath and watching newscasts on giant screens as they waited to obtain information of the discharge of 13 Israeli hostages slated to be freed.
“My emotions are mixed,” Shelli Shem Tov, the mom of 21-year-old hostage Omer Shem Tov, informed Israeli’s Channel 12 on the sq.. “I’m excited for the families that are going to hug their loved ones, I’m jealous, and I’m sad, mostly sad, that Omer is not coming home yet.”
BEIJING — French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna known as Friday for the discharge of all hostages held in Gaza, together with eight French residents, and an enduring truce between Israel and Hamas.
‘’It is important that worldwide legislation is utilized there (in Gaza) as elsewhere,’’ Colonna stated throughout a visit to Beijing. ‘’All states have the proper to defend themselves, however we should cooperate in order that terrorism is contained.’’
She known as for a sturdy truce in order that ‘’the wounded will be handled, and humanitarian support can arrive and ease the struggling of Palestinian civilians in Gaza.’’
The eight French hostages in Gaza embrace three youngsters. The French president, overseas minister and protection minister have traveled to the area in current weeks to push for his or her launch and a long-term peace.
JERUSALEM — Israeli forces shot and killed a 12-year-old Palestinian boy within the occupied West Bank, Palestinian well being officers stated Friday, as violence surges within the territory beneath the shadow of the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza.
The boy was killed Thursday within the village of Beita close to the flashpoint metropolis of Nablus within the northern West Bank, the officers stated.
The Israeli army stated Palestinians threw stones when troopers entered the village and that troops responded with stay hearth. The army stated it was wanting into the circumstances of the boy’s dying.
Since the Israel-Hamas conflict started seven weeks in the past, the West Bank has seen one of many deadliest intervals in at the very least 20 years. Israeli troopers and settlers have killed 229 Palestinians, together with 52 youngsters and minors beneath the age of 18, in arrest raids and violent confrontations, in keeping with U.N. figures.
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli troops fatally shot two Palestinians and wounded 11 others as they headed towards the principle fight zone in northern Gaza regardless of warnings by the Israeli military to remain put.
An Associated Press journalist noticed the 2 our bodies and the wounded as they arrived at a hospital within the city of Deir al-Balah within the southern half of Gaza. The injured had been shot within the legs.
Friday’s capturing got here hours after the Israeli army warned tons of of 1000’s of displaced Palestinians who sought refuge in southern Gaza to not try to return to their properties within the northern half of the territory, the main focus of Israel’s floor offensive.
The army had dropped leaflets on southern Gaza saying that returning to northern Gaza is prohibited and harmful.
Witnesses stated Israeli troops are opening hearth on folks attempting to go north.
Sofian Abu Amer, who had fled Gaza City, stated he determined to danger heading north to examine on his dwelling.
“We don’t have enough clothes, food and drinks,” he stated. ”The state of affairs is disastrous. It’s higher for an individual to die.”
BEIRUT — The chief of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group stated Friday that Israeli troopers among the many 240 hostages held by militant teams in Gaza will solely be launched in trade for all of the Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
Islamic Jihad is reportedly holding about 40 of the hostages who have been captured by Hamas and different militant teams throughout their Oct. 7 assault on southern Israel. Over the subsequent 4 days, 50 hostages are to be launched in trade for 150 Palestinian prisoners, with either side releasing girls and kids first.
In a televised speech, Islamic Jihad chief Ziad Nakhaleh stated that “the enemy’s military prisoners will not be released without the freedom of our prisoners and this is linked to the end of the aggression.” He stated that Israel could be pressured to “eventually reach a deal of everyone in return for everyone.”
It was not instantly clear how lots of the hostages held in Gaza are presently serving within the army and whether or not the militants additionally think about reserve troopers to be army hostages.
JERUSALEM — Israel introduced that 4 tankers with gasoline and 4 tankers with cooking gasoline entered the Gaza Strip on Friday, the primary day of what’s meant to be a four-day cease-fire.
Israel has agreed to permit the supply of 130,000 liters (34,300 gallons) of gasoline a day into besieged Gaza for humanitarian wants at some point of the truce. This could be roughly twice the quantity permitted beforehand, however nonetheless solely a small portion of Gaza’s day by day wants, estimated at greater than 1 million liters (264,000 gallons).
For many of the previous seven weeks of conflict, Israel had barred the entry of any gasoline to Gaza, claiming it may very well be utilized by Hamas for army functions. United Nations support businesses pushed again in opposition to such claims, saying gasoline deliveries have been carefully supervised and urgently wanted to avert a humanitarian disaster.
JERUSALEM — The Israeli army stated Friday it has destroyed stretches of tunnels and quite a few tunnel shafts within the space of Shifa Hospital, Gaza’s largest.
On Wednesday, Israel confirmed a tunnel and rooms that army officers stated have been a serious Hamas hideout beneath Shifa. Hamas and hospital employees deny Israeli allegations that Shifa was used as a militant command heart.
On Thursday, Israeli army spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari stated Israel mapped out Shifa Hospital and plans to destroy all “terror infrastructure” it has discovered.
A short lived truce within the Israel-Hamas conflict took impact early Friday, setting the stage for the trade of dozens of hostages held by militants in Gaza for Palestinians imprisoned in Israel.
The halt is to final at the very least 4 days. During the truce, Gaza’s ruling Hamas group pledged to free at the very least 50 of the about 240 hostages it and different militants took of their lethal Oct. 7 assault on Israel. In flip, Israel is to free three Palestinian prisoners for every launched hostage. The releases are to happen in levels over the subsequent 4 days.
The truce deal was reached in weeks of intense oblique negotiations, with Qatar, the United States and Egypt as mediators. The truce marks the primary vital break in combating since Israel declared conflict on Hamas seven weeks in the past.
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This story has corrected the dateline and textual content of merchandise on Spain/Belgium leaders to point out they spoke on Egyptian aspect of border.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”