Connect with us

Published

on

Israel’s government has agreed to back a deal with Hamas for the release of some hostages in Gaza and a temporary pause in the fighting.

The agreement involves swapping the hostages for Palestinian prisoners being detained in Israel.

The prime minister’s office said the deal involves the release of 50 women and children being held in Gaza by Hamas over a period of four days during which there will be a pause in the fighting.

The government said it would extend the lull by an additional day for every 10 hostages released.

Israel-Gaza latest: Israel approves ceasefire and hostage release with Hamas

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

‘We will not relent until hostages released’

Hamas said it and Israel had agreed to a four-day pause in hostilities in Gaza.

The group said it agreed to release around 50 women and children hostages from Gaza in exchange for Israel releasing 150 Palestinian women and children from Israeli jails.

Key points of the deal according to statements by Israel and Hamas:
• 50 Israeli women and children held by Hamas in Gaza to be released over four days during which there will be a pause in the fighting
• For every additional 10 hostages released thereafter there will be another day’s pause in the fighting
• 150 Palestinian women and people under the age of 19 held in Israeli prisons to be freed
• Humanitarian relief, medical and fuel aid to be allowed into all areas of the Gaza Strip
• Aerial surveillance by Israel to halt for four days in the south of the Gaza Strip
• Aerial surveillance by Israel to halt for six hours a day from 10am to 4pm for four days in the north of the Gaza Strip
• During the truce period, Israel is committed not to attack or arrest anyone in all areas of the Gaza Strip

Analysis: Vote is a major step in the right direction, but it remains a very fragile situation

It is the most significant diplomatic breakthrough since the conflict began on 7 October.

Under the deal air traffic would stop daily for six hours in the north of Gaza during the four-day ceasefire and Israel committed not to attack nor arrest anyone in all parts of Gaza during the truce period.

In a statement the Israeli government said: “The government of Israel is obligated to return home all of the hostages.

“Tonight, the government has approved the outline of the first stage of achieving this goal, according to which at least 50 hostages – women and children – will be released over four days, during which a pause in the fighting will be held.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened his special war cabinet earlier – followed by planned meetings of the broader security cabinet and then the full cabinet to discuss “the issue of the release of hostages”.

The various bodies are required to approve important government decisions.

Ahead of the vote Mr Netanyahu said Israel would resume its offensive against Hamas after the ceasefire expires.

He said the intervention of US President Joe Biden had helped improve the tentative agreement so it included more hostages and fewer concessions.

But he said Israel’s broader mission had not changed: “We are at war and we will continue the war until we achieve
all our goals. To destroy Hamas, return all our hostages and ensure that no entity in Gaza can threaten Israel.”

Smoke rises after Israeli air strikes in Gaza, as seen from southern Israel, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, November 20, 2023. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko
Image:
Gaza has been devastated in the fighting

Gaza war has devastated territory and left hundreds of thousands displaced

For weeks, Qatar had been mediating talks between Israel and the Palestinian militant group that governs the Gaza Strip.

Israel says Hamas took 242 hostages during its attack on 7 October and killed 1,200 people.

Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry says more than 13,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel retaliated in an offensive that has devastated swathes of the territory and left hundreds of thousands displaced.

Among the hostages in Gaza are about 37 children, according to The Hostage and Missing Families Forum – a group set up to demand the return of those kidnapped by Hamas.

Up until now, Hamas has released four hostages, Israel has rescued one, and the bodies of two others were found near al Shifa hospital.

Israel expands operations across northern Gaza

On the ground, Israeli troops have been battling Hamas militants as they expanded their operations across northern Gaza, where residents have been without electricity, water or access to humanitarian aid for weeks.

Tens of thousands of others have fled south through corridors announced by the military.

The frontline of the war, now in its seventh week, has shifted to the Jabaliya camp, a dense warren of concrete buildings near Gaza City.

Israel has been bombarding the area for weeks, and the military said Hamas fighters have regrouped there and in other eastern districts after being pushed out of much of Gaza City.

Continue Reading

World

Just 36 aid trucks entered Gaza yesterday, Palestinian officials claim – short of 600 needed

Published

on

By

Just 36 aid trucks entered Gaza yesterday, Palestinian officials claim - short of 600 needed

Just 36 aid trucks entered Gaza on Saturday – despite the humanitarian situation in the enclave worsening, Palestinian officials have warned.

According to the Gazan government’s media office, most of the humanitarian supplies were looted and stolen – “as a result of the state of security chaos that the Israeli occupation systematically and deliberately perpetuates”.

Officials say at least 600 truckloads of aid are required on a daily basis, adding: “The needs of the population are worsening.”

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Gaza nurse: ‘We’re rationing care’

A statement released late last night called for “the immediate opening of crossings, and the entry of aid and infant formula in sufficient quantities” – and “condemned in the strongest terms the continuation of the crime of starvation”.

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, refuted this – and accused Hamas of “stirring up a slanderous propaganda campaign against Israel”.

He said: “The cruelty of Hamas has no boundaries. While the State of Israel is allowing the entry of humanitarian aid to the residents of Gaza, the terrorists of Hamas are deliberately starving our hostages and document them in a cynical and evil manner.

“The terrorists of Hamas are deliberately starving the residents of the Strip as well, preventing them from receiving the aid.”

More on Gaza

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Aid drops continue over Gaza

It comes as the Palestinian Red Crescent in Gaza said its headquarters in Khan Younis were hit by an Israeli strike, killing one staff member and injuring three others.

Footage posted on social media shows a fire broke out in the building.

Indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel for a 60-day ceasefire, and a deal for the release of half the hostages still held in Gaza, ended in deadlock last week.

US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy told the families of the hostages yesterday that he was working with the Israeli government on a plan that would end the war.

Steve Witkoff, front centre, arrives to meet families of hostages in Tel Aviv, Israel. Pic: AP/Ariel Schalit
Image:
Steve Witkoff arrives to meet families of hostages in Tel Aviv. Pic: AP

Steve Witkoff claimed that Hamas was willing to disarm to stop the conflict, despite the group’s repeated statements that it would not do so.

In response, Hamas said it would not disarm unless an independent Palestinian state is established with Jerusalem as its capital.

Read more from Sky News:
Rescuers searching for five trapped miners find body
Man tries to detonate 14 explosive devices while being arrested

After Mr Witkoff’s meeting with the families of the hostages, Hamas released two videos of an emaciated Israeli hostage, Evyatar David, who was abducted from the Nova music festival on 7 October 2023 and has been held in captivity in Gaza since.

The 24-year-old looked skeletal, with his shoulder blades protruding from his back. He was heard saying that he had not eaten for three days. The distressing videos show him digging his own grave, he said in the footage.

Continue Reading

World

Videos of emaciated Israeli hostage Evyatar David released by Hamas

Published

on

By

Videos of emaciated Israeli hostage Evyatar David released by Hamas

Two videos of an emaciated Israeli hostage, Evyatar David, have been released by Hamas, after US special envoy Steve Witkoff this week met with the families of the hostages.

The now 24-year-old looks skeletal, with his shoulder blades protruding from his back, and says he has not eaten for three days.

The distressing videos show him apparently digging his own grave.

He worked in a restaurant, according to a video posted by Labour Friends of Israel, before he was abducted from the Nova music festival on 7 October 2023.

Since then, he has been held in captivity in Gaza, and the videos suggest he is being kept in dark tunnels and surviving on scarce portions of lentils and beans.

Gaza itself is suffering “man-made mass starvation” because of Israel’s blockade on aid to the enclave, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has previously said.

More on Gaza

Evyatar David before he was captured by Hamas. Pic: Hostages and Missing Families Forum
Image:
Evyatar David before he was captured by Hamas. Pic: Hostages and Missing Families Forum

In the video, Evyatar David writes on a hand-made calendar on the wall of a tunnel
Image:
In the video, Evyatar David writes on a hand-made calendar on the wall of a tunnel

In the second video, released on Saturday, Mr David – according to the English subtitles – says: “I haven’t eaten for three days.”

The captions continue as he speaks while in an underground tunnel: “There’s no [sic] enough food. I barely get drinking water.”

The video shows him talking through what he ate in July, which has been recorded on a handmade calendar hung up on the side of an underground Gaza tunnel.

Speaking while under captivity and under duress, he adds: “They give me what they can get.”

At the end of the video, he is digging a hole. The subtitle reads: “This is the grave where I think I’m going to be buried in. Time is running out.”

He then appears to break down, crouching on the floor and leaning his head on his arm while still clinging to the shovel.

A poster released by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum with photos of Evyatar David released in 2023, February this year and July
Image:
A poster released by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum with photos of Evyatar David released in 2023, February this year and July

In a statement, his family said: “We are forced to witness our beloved son and brother, Evyatar David, deliberately and cynically starved in Hamas’s tunnels in Gaza – a living skeleton, buried alive.

“Our son has only a few days left to live in his current condition.”

They added: “Israel and the international community must oppose Hamas’s cruelty and ensure that our Evyatar immediately receives proper nutrition.

“The intentional starvation, torture, and abuse of Evyatar for propaganda purposes violate even the lowest standards of humanitarian law and basic human decency.”

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Gaza nurse: ‘We’re rationing care’

‘Famine’ looms in Gaza

On Friday, US special envoy Steve Witkoff visited a site where the US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) has been distributing food in Gaza.

Read more: ‘Little confidence’ US Gaza delegation would see full picture

The controversial GHF scheme has been widely condemned, including by the UK government, after fatal shootings ever since it was set up earlier this year.

According to the United Nations’ human rights office, at least 859 people have been killed “in the vicinity” of GHF aid sites since late May.

The Israel Defence Forces has repeatedly said it “categorically rejects the claims of intentional harm to civilians” and has blamed Hamas militants for fomenting chaos and endangering civilians.

Meanwhile, the UN’s Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IFSPC) this week said a “worst-case scenario of famine” was sinking in across the besieged enclave.

It has also said more than 20,000 children have been treated for acute malnutrition since April.

Families of the 50 hostages still in Gaza are concerned they are also starving, and blame Hamas.

On Saturday, Gaza’s health ministry said a further seven Palestinians had died of malnutrition-related causes in the past 24 hours, including a child.

Continue Reading

World

Search for five trapped Chilean miners suffers setback

Published

on

By

Search for five trapped Chilean miners suffers setback

Rescue crews searching for five trapped Chilean miners have discovered a body.

A section of the copper mine had collapsed on Thursday following a strong, 4.2-magnitude tremor.

The remaining four miners are still missing – and rescuers are vowing to continue their search with “strength and hope”.

A man reacts during a vigil at an entrance to El Teniente mine complex. Pic: Reuters/Pablo Sanhueza
Image:
A man reacts during a vigil at an entrance to El Teniente mine complex. Pic: Reuters/Pablo Sanhueza

Andres Music, general manager of El Teniente mine, said: “This discovery fills us with sadness, but it also tells us that we are in the right place, that the strategy we followed led us to them.”

Crews are trying to drill through 90m (295ft) of rock to reach the trapped miners, but Mr Music said they had not yet made contact with the workers.

Just over a fifth of the blocked underground tunnels have been cleared, with teams hoping to get through about 15m to 20m (49ft to 66ft) every 24 hours using heavy machinery.

He said rescue efforts would continue with increased caution, which could slow progress.

More on Chile

Read more from Sky News:
Inside a North Korean tourist resort
Israeli hostage seen emaciated in video

Two people are now known to have died as a result of the collapse.

Another miner, Paulo Marin Tapia, was found dead on Thursday shortly after the incident.

Codelco, which owns the mine, said the identity of the second man is yet to be confirmed.

Nine other miners were injured.

Continue Reading

Trending