Gaza/Jerusalem (Reuters) – A Palestinian farmer was killed and another injured on Sunday after they were targeted by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip’s Maghazi refugee camp, the Palestinian Red Crescent said, underlining the fragility of the truce between Israel and Hamas fighters.
There was no comment from Israel on the report but there were fears it could jeopardise the third phase of plans to swap 50 hostages held by the Palestinian militant group for 150 prisoners in Israeli jails over a four-day period.
A senior Palestinian source said Sunday’s phase looked “complicated”. Asked by Reuters if the farmer’s killing could delay a third batch of releases, the source replied: “I don’t know”.
Maghazi, in the central part of the Gaza Strip, is home to the families or descendents of refugees from the 1948 war over the creation of the state of Israel.
Thirteen Israelis and four Thai nationals arrived in Israel early on Sunday after a second release of hostages held by Hamas following an initial delay caused by a dispute about aid delivery into Gaza.
Egypt and Qatar had to mediate to maintain the truce, the first halt in fighting since Hamas fighters rampaged through southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and taking about 240 hostages.
In response to that attack, Israel has vowed to destroy the Hamas militants who run Gaza, bombarding the enclave and mounting a ground offensive in the north. Some 14,800 people, roughly 40% of them children, have been killed, Palestinian health authorities said on Saturday.
The armed wing of Hamas also announced on Sunday the killing of four of its military commanders in the Gaza Strip, including the commander of the North Gaza brigade Ahmad Al Ghandour. However, it was not clear when they had been killed.
Qatar, Egypt and the United States are pressing for the truce to be extended beyond Monday but it is not clear whether that will happen.
Israel had said the ceasefire could be extended if Hamas continued to release at least 10 hostages a day. A Palestinian source had said up to 100 hostages could go free.
Freed Hostages
Television images showed freed hostages on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing after leaving Gaza as Hamas handed the captives to the International Committee of the Red Cross late on Saturday.
Six of the 13 Israelis released were women and seven were teenagers or children. The youngest was three-year-old Yahel Shoham, freed with her mother and brother, although her father remains a hostage.
“The released hostages are on their way to hospitals in Israel, where they will re-unite with their families,” the Israeli military said in a statement.
Israel released 39 Palestinians – six women and 33 teenagers – from two prisons, the Palestinian news agency WAFA said.
Some of the Palestinians arrived at Al-Bireh Municipality Square in Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where thousands of citizens awaited them, a Reuters journalist said.
Violence flared in the West Bank where Israeli forces killed seven Palestinians, including two minors and at least one gunman, late on Saturday and early Sunday, medics and local sources said.
Even before the Oct. 7 attacks from Gaza, the West Bank had been in a state of unrest, with a rise in Israeli army raids, Palestinian attacks, and violence by Israeli settlers in the past 18 months. More than 200 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since Oct. 7, some in Israeli air strikes.
Saturday’s swap follows the previous day’s initial release of 13 Israeli hostages, including children and the elderly, by Hamas in return for the release of 39 Palestinian women and teenagers from Israeli prisons.
On Friday Hamas also released a Philippine national and 10 Thai farm workers.
The four Thais freed on Saturday “want a shower and to contact their relatives”, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said on social media platform X. All were safe and showed few ill-effects, he said.
“I’m so happy, I’m so glad, I can’t describe my feeling at all,” Thongkoon Onkaew told Reuters by telephone after news of the release of her son Natthaporn, 26, the family’s sole breadwinner.
Aid On The Way
The deal risked being derailed when Hamas’ armed wing said on Saturday it was delaying releases until Israel met all truce conditions, including committing to let aid trucks into northern Gaza.
Saving the deal took a day of diplomacy mediated by Qatar and Egypt, which U.S. President Joe Biden also joined.
Hamas spokesperson Osama Hamdan said only 65 of 340 aid trucks that had entered Gaza since Friday had reached northern Gaza, or “less than half of what Israel agreed on”.
Al-Qassam Brigades also said Israel had failed to respect terms for the release of Palestinian prisoners that factored in their time in detention.
The Israeli agency for civilian coordination with the Palestinians, COGAT, said that 200 humanitarian aid trucks carrying food, water, shelter and medical supplies were being sent on Sunday via the Rafah crossing to relief organisations in Gaza.
“The United Nations is leading the deployment of tens of humanitarian aid trucks and six ambulances to the northern Gaza Strip and shelters that have not yet been evacuated,” it said in a statement.
‘Heart Is Split’
Saturday also brought hours of waiting for the families of hostages, some of whose joy was tempered by the continued captivity of others.
“My heart is split because my son, Itay, is still in Hamas’ captivity in Gaza,” Mirit Regev, the mother of Maya Regev, who was released late on Saturday, said in a statement from the Hostage and Missing Families Forum.
Also released was Irish-Israeli hostage Emily Hand, initially feared killed, who spent her ninth birthday in captivity before being freed along with 12-year-old Hila Rotem, whose mother remains in captivity.
“We are overjoyed to embrace Emily again, but at the same time, we remember Raya Rotem and all the hostages who have yet to return,” Hand’s family said in a statement.
New Delhi (Reuters) – India will start blending compressed biogas with natural gas to boost domestic demand and cut reliance on natural gas imports, the government said in a statement on Saturday.
The mandatory phased introduction will start at 1% for use in automobiles and households from April 2025, it said. The share of mandatory blending will then be increased to around 5% by 2028.
India, which is one of the world’s largest importers of oil and gas, ships in about half of its overall gas consumption and wants to cut its imports cost.
The government also aims to have 1% sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) in aircraft turbine fuel by 2027, doubling to 2% in 2028. The SAF targets will initially apply to international flights, the statement said.
The steps are aimed at helping India achieve net zero emissions targets by 2070.
Cairo (Reuters) – Hamas said on Saturday night that its armed wing had handed over 13 Israeli hostages and seven foreign nationals to the International Red Cross.
Gaza/Jerusalem (Reuters) – Hamas handed over 13 Israeli hostages and four foreigners to the International Committee of the Red Cross on Saturday night, Qatar’s foreign ministry said, after a brief disruption earlier to the deal to free captives was overcome with the mediation of Qatar and Egypt.
The Gaza hostage deal was back on track after a temporary delay over a dispute about aid supplies to the north of the besieged enclave.
“13 Israelis and 4 foreigners were received by ICRC and on their way to Rafah,” Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesman, Majed Al Ansari, said on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
TV images showed Red Cross vehicles at Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt.
A Palestinian official familiar with the diplomacy said Hamas would continue with the four-day truce agreed with Israel, the first break in fighting in seven weeks of war.
Al Ansari earlier said a brief delay and obstacle to the hostage release were overcome through Qatari-Egyptian contacts with both sides, adding that 39 Palestinian civilians were going to be released in exchange.
Among the Israeli hostages, eight were expected to be children and five others women, Al Ansari said, while the Palestinians to be released from Israeli prisons would consist of 33 children and six women.
U.S. President Joe Biden spoke to Qatar Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on the hold-up over the hostage deal, Adrienne Watson, spokesperson for the White House National Security Council, said. About 3-1/2 hours after their call, the White House learned from the Qataris that the agreement was back on and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was moving to collect the hostages, Watson added.
The armed wing of Hamas had earlier said it was delaying Saturday’s scheduled second round of hostage releases until Israel met all truce conditions, including committing to let aid trucks into northern Gaza.
Hamas spokesperson Osama Hamdan said only 65 of 340 aid trucks that had entered Gaza since Friday had reached northern Gaza, which was “less than half of what Israel agreed on.”
Al-Qassam Brigades also said Israel had failed to respect the terms of the Palestinian prisoner releases. Qadura Fares, the Palestinian commissioner for prisoners, said Israel had not released detainees by seniority, as was expected.
Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter, a member of Israel’s security cabinet, told Channel 13 News that Israel was “abiding by the deal” with Hamas that Qatar had mediated.
Israel has said 50 trucks with food, water, shelter equipment and medical supplies had deployed to northern Gaza under UN supervision, the first significant aid delivery there since the start of the war.
The brief dispute over the truce raised concerns over the smooth implementation of the hostage deal after 13 Israeli women and children were freed by Hamas on Friday. Some 39 Palestinian women and teenagers were released from Israeli jails.
Israeli army spokesperson Olivier Rafowicz told French television Israel was strictly honouring the terms of the truce, and said the military had carried out no attacks or offensive operations in Gaza on Saturday.
Truce Extended?
A total of 50 hostages are to be exchanged for 150 Palestinian prisoners over four days under the truce, the first halt in fighting since Hamas fighters rampaged through southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and taking about 240 hostages.
In response to that attack, Israel has vowed to destroy the Hamas militants who run Gaza, raining bombs and shells on the enclave and launching a ground offensive in the north. To date, some 14,800 people, roughly 40% of them children, have been killed, Palestinian health authorities said on Saturday.
Before the delay to the latest hostage and prisoner exchange, Egypt, which controls the Rafah border crossing through which aid supplies have resumed into southern Gaza, said it had received “positive signals” from all parties over a possible truce extension.
Israel has said the ceasefire could be extended if Hamas continues to release hostages at a rate of at least 10 per day. A Palestinian source has said up to 100 hostages could go free.
Dancing For Joy
The short-lived row over the truce accord’s implementation contrasted with scenes of joy earlier in the day as hostages were reunited with their families.
After almost 50 days in captivity in Gaza, nine-year-old Ohad Munder ran down a hospital corridor in Israel into his father’s arms, footage released by the hospital showed.
He and three other children released at the same time were in relatively good condition, Gilat Livni, the centre’s Director of Paediatrics told reporters.
“They shared experiences, we were up with them until late at night and it was interesting, upsetting and moving,” said Livni.
“I dreamt we came home,” said another hostage, four-year-old Raz Asher, as she sat in her father’s arms on a hospital bed after she and her mother and younger sister were freed. “Now the dream came true,” her father, Yoni, replied.
For Palestinians, however, joy at the release of prisoners from Israeli jails had a bitter tinge to it. Israeli police were seen raiding the home of Sawsan Bkeer on Friday shortly before her daughter Marah, 24, was released. Israeli police declined to comment.
“There is no real joy, even this little joy we feel as we wait,” said Sawsan Bkeer. “We are still afraid to feel happy,” she said.
Dead Sea (Reuters) – Emily Hand had her ninth birthday as a hostage in Gaza, the day before she was reunited with her father, who initially believed she had been killed in the devastating attack by Hamas gunmen on southern Israel last month.
Returned in the second group of hostages released by the Islamist movement under a Qatari-brokered deal with Israel, she appeared in good health in a photograph released with fellow hostage Hila Rotem, whose mother remains in Gaza.
The daughter of an Irish immigrant to Israel, Emily’s mother died of cancer when she was 2 years old and her family described the violent mix of feelings reported by other hostage families.
“We can’t find the words to describe our emotions after 50 challenging and complicated days,” her family said in a statement. “We are overjoyed to embrace Emily again, but at the same time, we remember Raya Rotem and all the hostages who have yet to return.”
For residents of the Hands’ home kibbutz of Be’eri, one of the communities worst hit by last month’s attack by Hamas, the release of some of the hostages abducted on Oct. 7 brought a measure of relief tinged with sadness.
In the Dead Sea resort where most of the residents of the kibbutz have been evacuated to, there were cheers and applause as the community watched the hostages being brought to Israel.
“You don’t know, you can’t imagine they will come. You just can’t imagine it, what they will do, if they will talk about it,” said 10-year-old Talia, a friend of Emily Hand.
“We have a lot of questions, everyone wants to ask them, What happened there, what they did to them, if they ate and drank,” she said.
Exchange
More than 100 people were killed during the attack on the kibbutz, located a few kilometres from the security fence with Gaza that was breached by Hamas gunmen in the early hours of Oct. 7, and the kibbutz has become one of the most potent symbols of the suffering caused by the attack.
Around 1,200 Israelis and foreigners were killed and some 240 were seized as hostages.
Since then, Israel has vowed both to destroy Hamas and bring the hostages back home. It has unleashed a relentless bombardment of the Gaza Strip that has killed more than 14,000 people, according to Palestinian health authorities.
Saturday’s release of 13 hostages came after some six weeks of fighting as part of a deal to release 50 hostages in exchange for 150 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.
Once the scheduled four-day truce to complete the exchange is over, Israeli commanders and Hamas have both said they expect fighting to resume. The future for the hostages who remain in Gaza is unclear.
“This is the saddest joy and the happiest sadness, but our family is home,” said Inbal Tzach, whose cousin Adi Shoham was visiting Be’eri, along with her children Nave, 8 and Yahel, 3 when the family was abducted.
However, with Adi’s husband, Tal, still in Gaza, she said there remained a long way to go. “This is an emotional evening for the families who received their loved ones tonight. We will continue the struggle until everyone comes home.”
Jenin (Reuters) – Israeli forces killed seven Palestinians, including two minors and at least one gunman, in the occupied West Bank late on Saturday and early Sunday, medics and local sources said.
The West Bank, among territories where Palestinians seek statehood, has experienced a surge in violence parallel to the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, now in its eighth week.
Five of the overnight deaths occurred in the city of Jenin, which the Israeli military said it raided to detain a Palestinian wanted for alleged involvement in a lethal West Bank ambush in August as well as 20 other suspects.
During the raid, Israeli forces “engaged with armed terrorists and killed five of them”, the military said in a statement.
The Jenin Brigades, a local armed group, said its fighters battled the Israeli troops. It did not immediately provide details on any casualties, but local witnesses said at least one of the Palestinians killed in Jenin was a known Brigades member.
The WAFA official Palestinian news agency said that Israeli forces stormed Jenin “from several directions, firing bullets and surrounding government hospitals and the headquarters of the Red Crescent Society”.
A sixth Palestinian fatality was in Yatma, a village near Nablus city, and another was near a Jewish settlement outside the West Bank town of El Bireh, Palestinian officials said. There was no immediate comment from Israel on those incidents.
Six other Palestinians were injured during the shooting in Jenin, the Palestinian health ministry said. The Israeli military said one of its aircraft had attacked a group of gunmen, wounding several of them.
A number of Palestinian factions called for a strike in Jenin on Sunday to “mourn the souls of the martyrs”, the WAFA said.
About 200 West Bank Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops or settlers since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that triggered the Gaza war, according to United Nations figures. Four Israelis have been killed by Palestinians in the West Bank in the same period, the figures show.
Silkyaya (Reuters) – Rescuing 41 workers trapped in a highway tunnel in the Indian Himalayas for two weeks will take much longer than previously hoped as rescuers are switching to manual drilling following damage to machinery, officials said on Saturday.
The heavy drill brought in to break through nearly 60 meters of debris was damaged on Friday and was being pulled out entirely, government officials said, adding the last 10-15 metres would have to be broken with hand-held power tools.
The men, construction workers from some of India’s poorest states, have been stuck in the 4.5-km (3-mile) tunnel being built in Uttarakhand state since it caved in early on Nov. 12. Authorities have said they are safe, with access to light, oxygen, food, water and medicines.
A heavy drill machine, called an auger, which got damaged after hitting an obstacle on Friday, broke while being pulled out of the 47-meter pipe inserted to bring out the trapped workers.
Pushkar Singh Dhami, chief minister of Uttarakhand state said on Saturday the damaged drilling machine would be taken out by Sunday morning, allowing manual drilling to start.
Syed Ata Hasnain, a member of the National Disaster Management Authority which is overseeing rescue efforts, said the operation was becoming “more complex” and the process would become slower, compared to when the auger was used to drill.
“We have to strengthen our brothers stuck inside. We need to monitor their psychological state, because this operation can go on for a very long time,” he said, without giving a timeline.
On Saturday morning the trapped workers, all migrants, were “very worried”, said Sunita Hembrom, whose brother-in-law Birendra Kishku, 39, is in the tunnel.
“My brother in law told me that he has hasn’t eaten any food since yesterday. We are very worried,” she said.
Authorities have not said what caused the tunnel collapse, but the region is prone to landslides, earthquakes and floods.
The tunnel did not have an emergency exit and was built through a geological fault, a member of a panel of experts investigating the disaster said on Friday on condition of anonymity as they are not authorised to speak to media.A rescue mission is currently underway at the Silkyara tunnel in Uttarakhand to free 41 workers who are stuck inside following a landslide.
The rescue plan involves pushing a pipe wide enough to pull the trapped men out on wheeled stretchers. Rescue workers rehearsed the evacuation by going into the pipe and being pulled out on stretchers, a video clip provided by the authorities showed.
A second plan to drill vertically from atop the hill is also being pursued and the drilling machines are being assembled, the statement said.
The men have been getting cooked food since a larger lifeline pipe was pushed through earlier this week and the statement said they were sent 200 rotis or Indian round flat bread, lentils and vegetable curry.
More than a dozen doctors, including psychiatrists, have been at the site, talking to the men and monitoring their health.
They have been advised to do light yoga exercises, walk around in the 2-km space they have been confined to, and to keep speaking to each other. Rohit Gondwal, a psychiatrist, said they were also considering sending in playing cards and board games.
The collapsed tunnel is on the Char Dham pilgrimage route, one of the most ambitious projects of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
It aims to link four key Hindu pilgrimage sites with 890 km (550 miles) of two-lane road, at a cost of $1.5 billion.
Manila – Demonstrators from civil society, the Catholic church, and academia gathered in Manila on Saturday to demand an unconditional ceasefire in Gaza and an end to Israel’s occupation of Palestine. Hundreds of protesters marched from Roxas Boulevard toward the US Embassy, carrying Palestinian flags and banners with messages such as “Ceasefire now,” “We don’t want a graveyard of children in Gaza,” “Stop the genocide,” and “You’re a Filipino, you know what it means to be occupied… don’t be neutral.”
The protest took place during a four-day pause in attacks, as Israel agreed to halt its daily bombardment in exchange for the release of hostages held by the Gaza-based militant group Hamas. However, Filipino protesters argued that a temporary ceasefire was insufficient, expressing concerns that Israel would continue its campaign of bombardment that has resulted in the deaths of at least 14,800 people and the injury of tens of thousands more in the besieged Palestinian enclave over the past 45 days.
“For more than a month now, Israel has waged a brutal war against the Palestinian people living in Gaza. We have seen in real-time the non-stop bombings and air strikes, including that of hospitals and refugee camps, the denial of humanitarian aid and basic services like electricity, water, internet communications, fuel, and even food,” said Renato Reyes, President of BAYAN, a major activist network in the Philippines.
Reyes added, “The genocide is sure to intensify as Israel’s ground invasion steps up, threatening to engulf not only neighboring countries in the Middle East but the entire world.”
The rally drew participants from various sectors, including Catholic priests advocating for a free Palestine. Rory Del Rosario from the Union Theological Seminary stated, “We want a free Palestine like we want a free Philippines.” Wesley Cabansag, also from the seminary, highlighted their belief that Jesus would stand up for the oppressed, saying, “And I know if Jesus Christ were here, he would also take the side of the Palestinian children, the Palestinians.”
Drieza A. Lininding, chairman of the Moro Consensus Group, a co-organizer of the rally, emphasized that the march aimed not only to end Israeli violence, occupation, and apartheid but also to restore respect for international law. Lininding stated that Israel’s consistent and open violations of international law set a dangerous precedent for similar violations to occur worldwide.
Bing Parcon from the Women’s Global Network for Reproductive Rights expressed solidarity with the people of Gaza, stating, “We believe that what is happening now in Gaza can also happen to anyone if people do not unite. And also, of course, we are against the occupation. Free Gaza and the Palestinian people. It’s their land, and it’s their right to be in their land.”
The protest in Manila showcased a unified call for a ceasefire in Gaza, an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestine, and the restoration of international law. Demonstrators from diverse backgrounds and organizations voiced their support for the Palestinian cause, highlighting the importance of solidarity and justice in addressing the ongoing conflict.