According to Politico, the US arranged a deal between Israel and Hamas to release some captives held in Gaza in exchange for a four or five day break in combat, citing two current and one former US official with knowledge of the talks.
Israel and Hamas war:
On November 21, 2023, Israeli forces transport arrested Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip, amid ongoing clashes between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement.
The head of Hamas hinted earlier on Tuesday that a truce agreement with Israel was close, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he hoped for good news soon about prisoners, the most optimistic signals of a deal to halt hostilities and liberate detainees thus far.
Hamas officials were “close to reaching a truce agreement” with Israel, and the party had given its response to Qatari mediators, according to an aide to Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.
As troops fought Hamas militants in an urban refugee camp in northern Gaza and surrounding overcrowded hospitals housing patients and families, Israel’s cabinet reportedly considered a hostage agreement with Hamas.
Notably, no military personnel were released as part of the hostage negotiations. If enforced, it would only apply to civilians.
Reuters reports that Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated earlier today, “We are making progress.” “I don’t think it’s worth saying too much, not even now, but I hope there will be good news soon,” said Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in statements issued by his office.
Israel has vowed to smash Hamas after its extraordinary October 7 onslaught, which killed around 1,200 Israelis and took 240 prisoners, according to official numbers.
Netanyahu promised on Monday that there will be no pause in the battle, which has killed more than 13,300 Palestinians in Gaza, according to Hamas officials.
Qatar, a mediator in the deal’s negotiations with Egypt, said Tuesday that the talks were at “a critical and final stage.”
The death toll in Gaza is rising:
According to the Palestinian Health Ministry in the West Bank, about 12,700 Palestinians have been murdered in Gaza. Another 4,000 people are missing, according to officials. Their figures do not distinguish between civilians and soldiers. Israel claims to have killed thousands of terrorists.
The ministry’s claim is based on data acquired by its counterpart in Hamas-ruled Gaza, which has been unable to completely update casualty figures for more than ten days due to a breakdown in services and communications in the north.
During the October 7 incident, around 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians, were killed.
In Lebanon, an IDF strike kills four Hamas terrorists; a separate strike kills two reporters.
A Palestinian source and a Lebanese security official said Tuesday that an Israeli drone strike in southern Lebanon killed four members of the Hamas terror group.
According to authorities who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release military intelligence, the strike took place in the town of Chaatiyeh near the Mediterranean coast.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency stated four persons were murdered in a vehicle, but provided no other information.
According to the Palestinian official, the four were members of Hamas’ military arm, the al-Qassam Brigades. The four were members of Hamas, according to a Lebanese security officer, without indicating whether they were from the military wing. The Israeli military made no statement about the strike.
Hours earlier, an Israeli strike in south Lebanon killed two journalists and a civilian, according to official Lebanese media, just hours after the Israel Defiance Forces claimed to have struck several Hezbollah anti-tank missile squads in southern Lebanon and other locations in response to missile fire towards Metula, in northern Israel.
In response, the Israeli Defence Forces said it hit multiple installations belonging to the Iran-backed terror group, as well as three Hezbollah missile teams preparing to launch new strikes.
The Metula incident, which resulted in no fatalities, was the latest of over 1,000 missile, rocket, and drone attacks carried out by Hezbollah and associated Palestinian factions in Lebanon since Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza began.
A number of rockets were launched early Tuesday evening towards the Western and Upper Galilee, sending off sirens in Kiryat Shmona and other villages. In response, the IDF shelled the source of the fire in southern Lebanon.
Later, the IDF announced it had shot interceptor missiles at a number of “suspicious aerial targets” — presumably drones — that had infiltrated Israeli airspace from Lebanon. It also hit a launch site for anti-tank missiles in southern Lebanon.
Despite the IDF’s claim that it solely targeted Hezbollah objectives, Lebanon’s pro-Hezbollah Al-Mayadeen television station said on Tuesday that two journalists and a civilian were killed in an Israeli hit.
According to the news outlet, “correspondent Farah Omar and cameraman Rabih Maamari were killed by an Israeli attack,” while the state-run National News Agency (NNA) claimed the same, adding that “the death of three citizens” was caused by “enemy bombing” in the Tair Harfa neighborhood.
Ghassan bin Jiddo, the director of Al-Mayadeen, stated that the third person slain alongside the two journalists was a “contributor” to the channel.
“It was a direct attack, it was not by chance,” bin Jiddo said in an interview with the channel, noting that it followed an Israeli government decision earlier this month to block access to Al-Mayadeen’s website after Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi determined that the broadcaster “serves the interests of Israel’s enemies.”
The ongoing clashes between Israeli forces and Hezbollah have resulted in widespread evacuations of Israeli residents of areas near the Lebanon border, either state-mandated or self-imposed, and residents of some 29 northern communities make up a sizable proportion of the estimated 200,000 internally displaced Israelis.
They have also led in three civilian deaths and the deaths of six IDF soldiers on the Israeli side.
More than 100 people had been slain on the Lebanese side. At least 77 Hezbollah members, 12 Palestinian terrorists, 14 civilians, and three journalists have been killed.
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