Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said Tuesday a truce agreement with Israel was in sight, raising hopes that hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel and dozens of people taken hostage in the October 7 attacks could be released.
There was no immediate response from Israel on the status of negotiation efforts to secure the release of the estimated 240 hostages seized during Hamas' surprise incursion.
The majority of the hostages are Israeli civilians. Only a handful have been released by Hamas.
"We are close to reaching a deal on a truce," Haniyeh said, according to a statement sent by his office to AFP.
Speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, sources from Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad confirmed that their groups had agreed to the terms of a truce deal.
Last weekend, around 200 protestors gathered in a park in Tel Aviv for an anti-war protest calling for a ceasefire and diplomatic solution to Israel's war on Gaza.
— The New Arab (@The_NewArab) November 20, 2023
The protesters identified as part of Israel’s leftist camp and featured some Palestinian citizens of Israel, ⬇ pic.twitter.com/FyAq7SIMfs
The tentative deal includes a five-day truce, comprised of a ceasefire on the ground and limits to Israeli air operations over southern Gaza. Israeli bombardment has killed over 13,300 people so far, most of them civilians.
Under the agreement, between 50 and 100 Israeli civilian and foreign hostages would be released, but no military personnel.
In exchange, some 300 Palestinians would be released from Israeli jails, among them women and children.
On Monday, US President Joe Biden had said he believed a deal was close, as hopes grew for talks brokered by Qatar, where Hamas has a political office and which has behind-the-scenes diplomatic links with Israel.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said Monday that its president had travelled to Qatar to meet Hamas's Haniyeh.
The leaders of the BRICS group of nations on Tuesday called for an "immediate" humanitarian truce in Gaza during a summit aimed at drawing up a common response to the Gaza war.
"We called for an immediate, durable, and sustained humanitarian truce leading to a cessation of hostilities," the group of major emerging economies that includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa said in a statement.
The websites of two government ministries in Bahrain briefly became inaccessible Tuesday night after a statement claimed hackers took them down over the island kingdom's stance on the ongoing Gaza war.
A statement posted online by a self-described group calling itself Al-Toufan, or "The Flood" in Arabic, claimed hacking the Foreign Ministry and the Information Affairs Ministry's websites. Both later became accessible again Tuesday night.
The statement said the purported hacks came in retaliation for "the abnormal statements issued" by the island's Al Khalifa ruling family, without elaborating.
Bahrain’s Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa opened a summit last week in the kingdom with a call for a swap between Hamas and Israel for the hostages and a halt in the bloodshed.
The Bahraini government did not immediately respond to a request for comment. State media in Bahrain did not acknowledge the incident.
Jordan said on Tuesday Israel had ordered the evacuation of a Jordanian field hospital in Gaza, but added that it would not heed the order.
Prime Minister Bisher al Khasawneh also said Jordan's army was beefing up its presence along the border in view of the developments in Gaza, in comments carried on state media.
The EU on Tuesday gave the green light to continuing development aid to Palestinians after a review found no funds had gone to Hamas, but said tighter controls would be imposed going forward.
"The review found no indications of EU money having directly or indirectly benefited the terrorist organisation Hamas," European Commission vice president Valdis Dombrovskis said.
The EU, UK, US and other countries classify Hamas as a terrorist organisation.
Scotland's First Minister Humza Yousaf has reiterated calls for a ceasefire in war-torn Gaza, saying that he has written to both UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Labour Party leader Keir Starmer in the hopes that calls for a truce, as well as the recognition of the State of Palestine are backed.
Yousaf said he has also made calls for the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate whether war crimes are being committed.
Later on Tuesday, the First Minister will open the debate on the situation in Gaza on a government motion that condemns the Hamas cross-border attacks on 7 October, calls for the release of those kidnapped, and for all parties to agree to an immediate ceasefire.
First Minister @HumzaYousaf has written to the Prime Minister and UK Leader of the Opposition calling for:
— First Minister (@ScotGovFM) November 21, 2023
🔵An immediate ceasefire in Gaza
🔵@IntlCrimCourt to investigate whether war crimes are being committed
🔵Recognition of a Palestinian state
➡️https://t.co/NhXKjNBU6W pic.twitter.com/SNEqemkTrd
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that "we are making progress" on the return of hostages captured by Hamas on October 7, after mediators said a truce deal was in sight.
"I hope there will be good news soon," Netanyahu told Israeli soldiers at a military base in the north of the country.
Shortly afterwards, his office released a statement saying that "in light of the developments regarding the release of our hostages," the war cabinet, security cabinet and the government will meet in succession on Tuesday evening.
Two young Palestinians were shot and injured today by Israeli forces amid confrontations in the village of al-Fandaqomiah, south of Jenin, to local sources told the Palestinians official news agency Wafa.
Soldiers and settlers from the illegal Homesh settlement reportedly broke into the village as snipers were deployed on rooftops near the school, witnesses said.
Troops opened fire and shot tear gas canisters at the Palestinians, injuring two with live bullets and many others suffered suffocation.
Russian President Vladimir Putin called on for a political solution on Tuesday to the Israel's war in Gaza and said regional states and members of the BRICS group of countries could be involved in efforts to reach such a settlement.
In televised comments to a virtual BRICS summit, Putin once again blamed the Middle East crisis on the failure of US diplomacy in the region.
"We call for the joint efforts of the international community aimed at de-escalating the situation, a ceasefire and finding a political solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. And the BRICS states and countries of the region could play a key role in this work," Putin said.
He did not elaborate on how such an effort might be organised.
In the wake of Israel's current war on Gaza, @GiorgioCafiero examines Joe Biden's foreign policy failure in the Middle East: https://t.co/9JWa1GGApq
— The New Arab (@The_NewArab) November 5, 2023
In previous comments he has repeatedly attacked US policy, urged Israel to show restraint and has expressed sympathy for the plight of Palestinians, who have been killed in their thousands since October 7.
Last month he warned Israel against laying siege to Gaza in the same way that Nazi Germany besieged Leningrad during World War Two, saying a ground offensive there would lead to an "absolutely unacceptable" number of civilian casualties.
On Tuesday he said it was "terrible" that Palestinian children were dying in large numbers, adding that the sight of operations being performed on children without anaesthetics "evokes special feelings".
Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry accused Israel of deliberately trying to expel Palestinians from the Gaza Strip by bombing the enclave's south.
"Continued bombing targeting displaced people in the south has a clear objective, and that's to force Gaza’s residents to leave the Strip. Egypt has clearly declared its utter rejection of any enforced displacement attempt of Palestinians," he wrote on X.
- Continued bombing targeting displaced people in the South has a clear objective, and thats to force Gaza’s residents to leave the Strip. Egypt has clearly declared its utter rejection of any enforced displacement attempt of Palestinians.
— Egypt MFA Spokesperson (@MfaEgypt) November 21, 2023
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa accused Israel of war crimes and "genocide" in Gaza, as he chaired an extraordinary summit of the BRICS group of nations on Tuesday.
"The collective punishment of Palestinian civilians through the unlawful use of force by Israel is a war crime. The deliberate denial of medicine, fuel, food and water to the residents of Gaza is tantamount to genocide," he said.
One person who was injured in an Israeli raid on the Blata camp on Tuesday succumbed to his wounds, the Palestinian health ministry said.
The European Union faces growing animosity across the Muslim world and beyond due to accusations of pro-Israel bias and double standards over the war in Gaza, the bloc's foreign policy chief has warned.
Josep Borrell said he feared such acrimony could undermine diplomatic support for Ukraine in the Global South and the EU's ability to insist on human rights clauses in international agreements.
He said the EU had to show "more empathy" for the loss of Palestinian civilian lives in Israel's war against Hamas, launched in response to the deadly Oct. 7 cross-border assault by the Palestinian militant group.
His comments came in interviews with Reuters during a five-day trip that took him to the Israeli kibbutz of Be'eri, the occupied West Bank, a regional security conference in Bahrain and royal audiences in Qatar and Jordan.
On the trip, which ended on Monday evening, Borrell heard Arab leaders and Palestinian civil society activists complain that the 27-nation EU was not applying the same standards to Israel's war in Gaza that it applies to Russia's war in Ukraine.
"All of them were really criticising the posture of the European Union as one-sided," Borrell said.
Waving his mobile phone, he said he had already received messages from some ministers signalling they would not support Ukraine next time there was a vote at the United Nations.
"If things continue a couple of weeks like this, the animosity against Europeans (will grow)," he added.
A World Health Organization spokesperson said on Tuesday that three hospitals in Israeli-besieged Gaza had requested help with evacuating patients and that planning had started.
WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier said evacuations were a last resort. "It's robbing the entire population of the north of the means to seek health (care)," he told a Geneva press briefing.
The three hospitals were Al Shifa, from which a group of babies has already been rescued, Indonesian Hospital and Al Ahli Hospital, he said.
Why is Israel attacking hospitals in Gaza during its war on the besieged enclave? 👇https://t.co/ibIsMqhj5a
— The New Arab (@The_NewArab) November 19, 2023
"So far it's only in planning stages with no further details," he added.
At the same briefing, the U.N. children's agency (UNICEF) warned of the risk of "mass disease outbreak" that could cause child death rates to mount in the densely populated enclave where thousands of people are crammed into overcrowded shelters.
"If children’s access to water and sanitation in Gaza continue to be restricted and insufficient, we will see a tragic – yet entirely avoidable – surge in the number of children dying," said UNICEF spokesperson James Elder.
Two premature babies being cared for at the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza died before the evacuation of 31 others, the UN said Tuesday, adding that most of those who reached Egypt were "unaccompanied".
WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday that the Al-Shifa hospital had been caring for 33 premature babies just the evening before the evacuation.
"Two of these premature infants died only on that night because of the lack of care available to them," he said.
Four people were killed when their car was targeted in an Israeli drone strike in south Lebanon on Tuesday.
Sources told Alaraby TV that those killed were members of Hamas' armed wing, Al-Qassam Brigades. The New Arab could not immediately verify this.
The vehicle was reportedly travelling on a secondary road about five miles south of Tyre city and seven miles north of the border with Israel, the National News Agency reported.
Images shared online showed smoke billowing from the scene of the attack, as well as the car on the fire.
It came after four others, including two journalists, were killed earlier Tuesday.
المشاهد الأولية للغارة الإسرائيلية على السيارة على طريق المالكية - الشعيتية ، صور pic.twitter.com/RKYgqZRZSi
— Leb Now (@leb_now) November 21, 2023
مسيّرة إسرائيلية استهدفت سيارة من نوع رابيد على طريق فرعية بين الشعيتية والمعلية جنوبي صور pic.twitter.com/KpN7TpM6IF
— Al Jadeed News (@ALJADEEDNEWS) November 21, 2023
Israeli police claimed on Tuesday they had arrested two Palestinians from Gaza, including a Hamas fighter, found hiding in southern Israel after infiltrating the area during the October 7 attacks.
The arrests in early November were first reported by Israeli media with the details confirmed to AFP by a spokesman for the border police.
He said the pair were arrested in Rahat, a town in southern Israel mostly populated by Bedouin Arabs, following an operation by an undercover border police unit. The town lies about 30 kilometres (18 miles) from the Gaza border.
Both were unarmed and found in an empty house, and were taken for investigation.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees said out of the more than 13,000 people killed by Israeli bombardment in Gaza so far, 75% of them are women, children and elderly persons.
🔺 Several overnight Israeli Security Forces operations reported across refugee camps in📍#WestBank, 1 Palestinian with special needs killed in Jenin camp
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) November 21, 2023
🔺13,000 people have been killed in📍#GazaStrip; 75 % reportedly children, women & elderly personshttps://t.co/dLVJ6TOjMb pic.twitter.com/dyBJU3VN3z
An Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank left at least five Palestinians wounded, including minors, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.
Israeli forces and vehicles deployed in the Blata camp, east of Nablus, clashing with residents.
تغطية صحفية: قوات الاحتلال تنتشر في محيط مخيم بلاطة تزامناً مع المواجهات. pic.twitter.com/6APnv7KcXt
— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) November 21, 2023
تغطية صحفية: الطواقم الطبية تنقل طفلاً أصيب برصاص قوات الاحتلال خلال اقتحام مخيم بلاطة. pic.twitter.com/Ur9SteVPxL
— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) November 21, 2023
Negotiations to free hostages being held by Hamas are at their "closest point" to a deal and have reached the "final stage," mediator Qatar said Tuesday.
"We are at the closest point we ever had been in reaching an agreement," foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari said, adding negotiations have reached a "critical and final stage."
المتحدث باسم الخارجية القطرية ماجد الأنصاري: الوساطة القطرية وصلت إلى مرحلة نهائية وفي أقرب نقطة للتوصل لهدنة@majedalansari pic.twitter.com/fJQBky81uq
— التلفزيون العربي (@AlarabyTV) November 21, 2023
"We are very optimistic, very hopeful," Al-Ansari told a briefing. "But we are also very keen for this mediation to succeed in reaching a humanitarian truce," he said.
The United States said Saturday it was still working to secure a deal between Israel and Hamas after the Washington Post reported there was a tentative agreement to free women and children hostages in exchange for a pause in fighting.
Citing unnamed sources, the newspaper said all parties would halt combat operations for at least five days while some hostages were to be released in batches.
The White House quickly responded on Saturday evening with a message on X, formerly Twitter, to deny any major breakthrough.
"We have seen a lot of the leaks or the statements here and there but we would prefer to keep our statements until we have a final decision on the agreement," Al-Ansari said.
المتحدث باسم الخارجية القطرية ماجد الأنصاري: ليس لدينا اتفاق نهائي بشأن الهدنة إلى الآن وسنعلن عن التفاصيل فور التوصل إليها@majedalansari pic.twitter.com/dBbM2N8OfX
— التلفزيون العربي (@AlarabyTV) November 21, 2023
Fuel shortages and the worsening sanitation situation in the Gaza Strip is shaping up to be the perfect storm for tragedy through the spread of disease, the United Nations warned Tuesday.
"Without enough fuel, we will see the collapse of sanitation services. So we have then, on top of the mortars and the bombs, a perfect storm for the spread of disease. It's a perfect storm for tragedy," UNICEF spokesman James Elder told a press briefing in Geneva.
At least two journalists and a civilian were killed when an Israeli drone strike targeted a group of reporters in southern Lebanon.
The attack took place between the villages of Tayr Harfa and Jebbayn in southern Lebanon, about a mile from the Israeli border.
The journalists from Beirut-based Al Mayadeen TV were identified as reporter Farah Omar and photojournalist Rabih Maamari. Al-Mayadeen director Ghassan bin Jiddo said the third civilian killed with the two journalists was a "contributor" to the channel.
This raises the number of journalists killed in southern Lebanon by Israel since October 7 to three, with several others wounded.
الجيش الإسرائيلي يقصف نقطة لتجمع الصحافيين عند تقاطع طيرحرفا في الجنوب اللبناني، ما أدى إلى مقتل طاقم قناة "الميادين" الذي ضم المراسلة فرح عمر، والمصوّر ربيع معماري. pic.twitter.com/kTuJG7nyuQ
— Samir Kassir Eyes (@SK_Eyes) November 21, 2023
Russian President Vladimir Putin will discuss the Gaza war with the leaders of the BRICS bloc in a video conference on Tuesday, after which the group is expected to issue a joint statement, the Kremlin said.
The voice of the BRICS needed to be heard in the world, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
An Israeli strike killed an elderly woman and wounded her granddaughter in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, state-run media reported.
"Enemy aircraft raided inhabited houses in Kfarkela, leading to the death of citizen Laiqa Sarhan, 80, and the wounding of her granddaughter," the official National News Agency said.
مراسل المنار :
— علي شعيب || Ali Shoeib 🇱🇧 (@alishoeib1970) November 21, 2023
نجاة عدد من الأطفال من أحفاد الشهيدة لائقة سرحان كانوا في المنزل الذي قصفه العدو الصهيوني في بلدة كفركلا و الذي أدى أيضا إلى جرح شقيقتهم الاء . pic.twitter.com/8t6YhqbWYn
Seventeen Palestinians were killed in Israeli bombardment of Nuseirat camp in Gaza at midnight, the Palestinian official news agency Wafa said early on Tuesday.
A newly formed group made up of senior officials from several Muslim countries will visit the United Nations Security Council's five permanent members and others to urge an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, a Turkish foreign ministry source said on Tuesday.
The source said the group had started talking with the permanent U.N. Security Council members - the United States, China, Russia, Britain, and France - with a visit to Beijing on Monday, and would also visit other countries.
"The primary goal of the contact group is for a ceasefire to be announced as soon as possible and for humanitarian aid to be sent to Gaza," the source said.
"As an end goal, (the group) aims to contribute to the two-state solution within the framework of internationally accepted parameters; to Palestinians living in their own country safely, with stability and prosperity," the person said.
Israeli troops battled Hamas fighters in a dense, urban refugee camp on Tuesday as the army expanded operations across northern Gaza, where residents have been without electricity, water or access to humanitarian aid for weeks.
The front line of the war has shifted to the Jabaliya camp, which Israel has struck several times since the start of the war on 7 October.
The Israeli military said forces are "preparing the battlefield" in the area of Jabaliya. It claimed to have struck three tunnel shafts where fighters were hiding and destroyed rocket launchers, adding that "dozens" of Hamas members have been killed in recent days.
There was no immediate comment from Hamas, and it was not possible to independently confirm details of the fighting.
(AP)
