Summary of the day so far …
Here are the latest headlines …
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The truce between Israel and Hamas entered its final 24 hours on Monday, with the militant group saying it was willing to extend the pause after it freed more hostages, including a four-year-old orphaned by its 7 October attack. The pause that began on Friday has seen dozens of hostages freed, with more than 100 Palestinian prisoners released by Israel in return.
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The 17 hostages Hamas freed on Sunday included a four-year-old Israeli-American girl, three Thai nationals and a Russian national, and all the Israelis were women or children, Israel said. Prison authorities said 39 Palestinian prisoners, also women and children, were freed from Israeli jails. Israel’s government confirmed on Monday it had received a list of the proposed people to be released today.
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Delegations from European Union member states and Middle Eastern and north African countries are meeting Monday in Barcelona, Spain, to discuss the crisis in Gaza. The EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell said “One horror cannot justify another horror” at the meeting, while Jordanian foreign minister Ayman Safad said “Europe has a crucial role to play. The two-state solution cannot remain a talking point”. Israel has declined to attend the meeting.
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78-year-old Margalit Moses, one of the hostages released by Hamas over the weekend, has been discharged from hospital. However, the son of Elma Avraham has said his 84-year-old is in a serious condition and fighting for her life in hospital after being released from captivity.
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A Muslim group in Thailand that spoke directly with Hamas has said their efforts were the driving force securing the release of Thai hostages from Gaza, countering reports that gave credit to the foreign ministry and other negotiators.
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China’s foreign minister Wang Yi will go to New York on 29 November to host the UN security council session on the Israel-Hamas conflict, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Monday.
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Ireland’s further education minister, Simon Harris, has said Israel’s decision to summon the Irish ambassador for a reprimand over taoiseach Leo Varadkar saying an “an innocent child who was lost has now been found” about Emily Hand was “a bit of an overreaction”.
Key events
The daughter of Elma Avraham, the 84-year-old in a serious medical condition after her release by Hamas, has criticised the International Red Cross for, she said, failing to take care of her mother.
The Times of Israel quotes Tali Amano saying:
My mother didn’t deserve to return like this. My mother was medically neglected. The Red Cross refused to bring her her medications. She arrived with a heart rate of 40bpm and a body temperature of 28 degrees Celsius, on the verge of losing consciousness and injured all over.
She was abandoned twice – once on 7 October, and a second time by all the organisations that should have saved her. I hope they haven’t managed to defeat her.
Reuters, citing Egyptian security sources, has reported that negotiators are close to agreeing an extension to the truce in Gaza. It says negotiators are working on differences over the length of the extension and the list of Palestinian detainees to be released.
More details soon …
While residents in Gaza wait to see if the truce will be extended, some are still moving south within the Gaza Strip while the Israeli military carries on its activity there.
The thas also allowed for the limited delivery of more much-needed aid into the Gaza Strip.
An Israeli government spokesperson said on Monday that the total number of hostages still held in Gaza was now 184, including 14 foreigners and 80 Israelis with dual nationality.
Israel and Hamas are both reported to have raised issues with the lists provided for the potential releases today. Reuters reports an official briefed on the talks said: “The Qataris are working with both sides to resolve it and avoid delays.”
Israel has said it has shown willingness to extend the truce if Hamas will continue to release hostages. An Israeli official told Reuters the onus was on Hamas to produce a new list of 10 hostages it could free on Tuesday in exchange for that becoming an additional truce day. That process would continue for a maximum of five additional days to the current truce, the official added.
Al Jazeera reports that more than 60 Palestinians were arrested by Israeli forces overnight in the occupied West Bank. The news network says that more than 3,000 Palestinians have been detained by Israeli forces there since 7 October.
Haaretz reports that Germany’s president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, has announced his country will contribute €7m ($7.6m / £6m) to the reconstruction of the Be’eri Gallery at kibbutz Be’eri, after it was destroyed during the Hamas 7 October attack.
On a visit to the kibbutz, one of the worst affected by the violence on that day, Steinmeier said:
It is not easy to find the words to describe what we heard from those who know and those who witnessed the actions, the murders, the killings, and the Hamas violence here on 7 October. In these days of mourning, days when we think about the victims, we also think about the future.
Nato’s secretary-general, Jens Stoltenberg, called on Monday for an extension of the four-day truce between Israel and Hamas, now in its final day, to allow for the release of more hostages.
Speaking to reporters, Reuters reports he also said Iran should rein in its “proxies”.
Qatar, Egypt, the United States, the European Union and Spain are working to extend the temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian Authority’s foreign minister said on Monday, Reuters reports.
After calling for a lasting ceasefire to avoid an increase in civilian deaths, Riyad Al-Maliki said the current truce could be extended for “one, two, three days” but added that no one knew for how long.
Al-Maliki was addressing a news conference alongside Spanish foreign minister José Manuel Albares during the Forum for the Union of the Mediterranean in Barcelona.
The truce is expected to come to an end tomorrow under the present arrangements. Israel and Hamas have exchanged lists of hostages and detainees expected to be released today, although Israeli media is reporting that both sides of the deal have issues with the list provided by the other today, and that mediators are working to bring the sides together.
Summary of the day so far …
Here are the latest headlines …
-
The truce between Israel and Hamas entered its final 24 hours on Monday, with the militant group saying it was willing to extend the pause after it freed more hostages, including a four-year-old orphaned by its 7 October attack. The pause that began on Friday has seen dozens of hostages freed, with more than 100 Palestinian prisoners released by Israel in return.
-
The 17 hostages Hamas freed on Sunday included a four-year-old Israeli-American girl, three Thai nationals and a Russian national, and all the Israelis were women or children, Israel said. Prison authorities said 39 Palestinian prisoners, also women and children, were freed from Israeli jails. Israel’s government confirmed on Monday it had received a list of the proposed people to be released today.
-
Delegations from European Union member states and Middle Eastern and north African countries are meeting Monday in Barcelona, Spain, to discuss the crisis in Gaza. The EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell said “One horror cannot justify another horror” at the meeting, while Jordanian foreign minister Ayman Safad said “Europe has a crucial role to play. The two-state solution cannot remain a talking point”. Israel has declined to attend the meeting.
-
78-year-old Margalit Moses, one of the hostages released by Hamas over the weekend, has been discharged from hospital. However, the son of Elma Avraham has said his 84-year-old is in a serious condition and fighting for her life in hospital after being released from captivity.
-
A Muslim group in Thailand that spoke directly with Hamas has said their efforts were the driving force securing the release of Thai hostages from Gaza, countering reports that gave credit to the foreign ministry and other negotiators.
-
China’s foreign minister Wang Yi will go to New York on 29 November to host the UN security council session on the Israel-Hamas conflict, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Monday.
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Ireland’s further education minister, Simon Harris, has said Israel’s decision to summon the Irish ambassador for a reprimand over taoiseach Leo Varadkar saying an “an innocent child who was lost has now been found” about Emily Hand was “a bit of an overreaction”.
Here are some of the latest pictures from the Israel-Hamas conflict sent to us over the news wires from Israel, Gaza and the UAE.
with Israel’s president Isaac Herzog. Photograph: Ronen Zvulun/EPA
Irish minister: Israel’s decision to summon Irish ambassador for reprimand ‘bit of an overreaction’
Ireland’s further education minister, Simon Harris, has said Israel’s decision to summon the Irish ambassador for a reprimand was “a bit of an overreaction”.
Speaking to RTÉ radio on Monday, Harris said Ireland is “utterly elated” at the release of 9-year-old Emily Hand. “This is a complete distraction. The little girl is free. She’s been 50 days in captivity.”
Asked if the relationship with Israel had been further strained, PA Media reports he said: “Israel have decided to summon a number of ambassadors from a number of European countries in recent days, it’s their prerogative to do that.
“I think it is a bit of an overreaction, being honest, and I think the taoiseach’s statement was extraordinarily clear. The main thing is Emily Hand is back with her family.”
Israel took issue with taoiseach Leo Varadkar saying an “an innocent child who was lost has now been found.”
Israel’s foreign minister, Eli Cohen, said the child had been kidnapped and the comments were an attempt to “legitimise and normalise terror”. Cohen suggested Varadkar had lost his moral compass.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald told the BBC:
The child, young Emily, was kidnapped, she was held hostage and she has now been released to her family, and other hostages, and of course Palestinian women and children that were also held under administrative detention.
I think, in fairness, the taoiseach’s position has been very consistent and very clear on these matters.
Remember that Gaza has had 50 days of bombardment, the place has been levelled, we are faced with thousands and thousands of deaths, thousands and thousands of innocent children dead.
I think we should not play to any move to distract from that reality and the absolute necessity that we have a permanent ceasefire and a process of peace and dialogue.
As mentioned, delegations from European Union member states and Middle Eastern and north African countries are meeting Monday in Barcelona, Spain, to discuss the crisis in Gaza.
The Associated Press reports that 42 delegations are scheduled to gather at the event hosted by the Union for the Mediterranean, a forum for cooperation between the EU and the Arab world, with many represented by their foreign ministers. Israel is not attending.
The meeting is chaired by the EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, who said he “regretted” the absence of Israel, alongside Jordanian foreign minister Ayman Safad.
He repeated his condemnation of the Hamas attack, while calling on Israel to permanently end its assault. “One horror cannot justify another horror,” Borrell said. “Peace between Israel and Palestine has become a strategic imperative for the entire Euro-Mediterranean community and beyond.”
Safad urged the officials attending the meeting to back a two-state solution that would recognise a Palestinian state. “My friends, Europe has a crucial role to play,” Safadi said. “The two-state solution cannot remain a talking point.”
A small pro-Palestinian group rallied before the gathering.
The Union for the Mediterranean is an intergovernmental organization formed by the 27 members of the EU and 16 from the southern and eastern Mediterranean including Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan.
The EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, has this morning castigated Israel on social media for planning to fund further settlements.
In a post on social media, Borrell said:
I’m appalled to learn that in the middle of a war, the Israeli gov is poised to commit new funds to build more illegal settlements. This is not self-defence and will not make Israel safer. The settlements are grave IHL breach, and they are Israel’s greatest security liability.
I’m appalled to learn that in the middle of a war, the Israeli gov is poised to commit new funds to build more illegal settlements.
This is not self-defence and will not make Israel safer. The settlements are grave IHL breach, and they are Israel’s greatest security liability.
— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) November 27, 2023
Israel’s government is due to discuss its budget today amid a simmering row about where funds should be directed during the war. Minister Benny Gantz has described the budget plans as “a finger in the public’s eye”, while finance minister Bezalel Smotrich has accused critics of “recycling the same false campaign”.
Emily Foster is a globe-trotting journalist based in the UK. Her articles offer readers a global perspective on international events, exploring complex geopolitical issues and providing a nuanced view of the world’s most pressing challenges.
