Israel Hamas war LIVE: Mediators work to extend truce deal as pause in fighting enters final 24 hours – after Hamas hands over 12 more hostages

Israel believes there are 161 hostages still being held captive in Gaza.

Around 240 people were dragged into Gaza by Hamas terrorists on October 7, according to the Jewish state.

Speaking to CNN, Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that it now believes 161 of those people are still in Gaza after five days of hostage exchanges.

After the release of more hostages last night, 81 people have been freed by Hamas – suggesting that if 161 are still in captivity, Hamas captured 242 on October 7.

Mediators are still scrambling to extend the truce between Hamas and Israel.

The terror group is preparing to release a last batch of hostages under the existing deal in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

Hamas says it is willing to extend the truce by four days and release more Israeli hostages, a source close to the militant group said.

The current truce is scheduled to expire early Thursday after a two-day extension that was agreed on Monday and went into effect on Tuesday morning.

Hamas ‘informed the mediators that it is willing to extend the truce for four days’, a source close to the militant group told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The Israeli government has received a list of the new hostages to be freed, Israeli media reported. There was no official confirmation.

Israel has agreed to release three Palestinian prisoners for every hostage freed.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said he would work to prolong a pause in the fighting in Gaza on an upcoming visit to Israel.

‘Looking at the next couple of days, we’ll be focused on doing what we can to extend the pause so that we continue to get more hostages out and more humanitarian assistance in,’ Blinken said after a NATO meeting in Brussels.

Israel has indicated it is unwilling to extend the ongoing truce agreement with Hamas beyond Sunday, according to Haaretz.

The Israeli newspaper cited ‘an official familiar with the ceasefire negotiations’.

The Jewish state has previously said it would be willing to extend the truce by one day for every 10 hostages released by Hamas from Gaza.

Fighting between the two sides paused on Friday for four days, and was extended for a further two, meaning the current agreement is set to end tomorrow.

Negotiations are continuing in Qatar.

• A senior Hamas official said ‘several’ Russian hostages would be released today from the Gaza Strip.
• The agreement only covers women and children, and Hamas official Mussa Abu Marzuq posted on X, formerly Twitter, that only one man, a Russian-Israeli dual citizen, had been freed so far.
• ‘Today, several others will be released separately from the truce agreement in appreciation for the stance of President Putin,’ he wrote.

Four-year-old Abigail Edan was discharged from hospital late on Tuesday night, following her release after more than 50 days as a hostage in Gaza, a spokesperson for Schneider Children’s Medical Center in Petah Tikvah said.

The Israeli-American dual citizen was the first US hostage to be released under the cease-fire. Abigail marked her fourth birthday in captivity.

Both of her parents were killed in the Hamas attack that started the war on October 7. During the rampage, she ran to a neighbor’s home for shelter.

The Brodutch family took her in before terrorists took the family to Gaza.

Hagar Brodutch and her three children were also released on Sunday. President Joe Biden celebrated her release, telling reporters, ‘I wish I were there to hold her.’

• Israel has said it will ‘settle accounts’ with Qatar after the war is over, a foreign ministry official has said.
• In an interview on Israeli army radio, Joshua Zarka, deputy director general for strategic affairs at Israel’s Foreign Ministry, said that while Israel needs Qatar for mediation talks, he has questions over the country’s ‘role in everything related to hosting and legitimising Hamas’s activities’.
• ‘Right now we need them. But when this thing passes from the world, we will settle accounts with them,’ he said, according to Al Jazeera.

Earlier, we brought you the update that Hamas has said it is willing to extend the ongoing truce with Israel for more days.

You can read our full story by clicking the link below…

Meanwhile in the UK, BBC staff who defied the corporation’s ‘ban’ on attending last Sunday’s March Against Antisemitism have slammed bosses who ‘got it badly wrong’ and showed insensitivity towards us that will be hard to repair’.

Dozens of Jewish employees in news and current affairs attended the demonstration in London despite being referred to impartiality rules that say editorial staff ‘should not participate in public demonstrations about controversial issues’.

Follow the link below to read our full story…

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has branded Benjamin Netanyahu ‘the butcher of Gaza’ and accused him of spawning anti-Semitism across the world.

Erdogan has lashed out repeatedly at Israel for the scale of destruction caused by its response to Hamas militants’ unprecedented October 7 cross-border attack.

He has branded Israel a ‘terrorist state’ and called Hamas ‘a liberation group’ in inflammatory comments which have threatened to rupture Turkey’s budding relations with Israel.

Erdogan redoubled those attacks during an appearance before his Islamic-rooted ruling party members in parliament.

‘Netanyahu has already written his name in history as the butcher of Gaza,’ Erdogan said in nationally televised remarks.

‘Netanyahu is endangering the security of all Jews in the world by supporting anti-Semitism with the murders he committed in Gaza.’

The Gaza war prompted Israel to recall all diplomatic staff from Turkey and other regional countries as a security precaution.

Turkey has also withdrawn its Tel Aviv envoy in protest at Israel’s approach.

The family of Kfir Babis, a baby who was snatched and taken into Gaza by Hamas terrorists during their October 7 attack on Israel, has said he and his brother are not among the hostages set to be freed tonight.

Follow the link below to read our full story…

White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said on Tuesday that the US has airlifted over 54,000 pounds of Gaza-bound medical items and food aid to a staging area in Egypt.

Two more airlifts are planned in the coming days, Sullivan said.

Since October 21, more than 2,000 trucks have delivered aid to Gaza, he said.

Pope Francis has called for the continuation of the ongoing truce in the Gaza Strip, for the release of all hostages and for humanitarian aid access into the territory.

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‘We call for peace,’ he said during his Wednesday weekly audience, saying he was concerned by the lack of water, bread and by the suffering of ordinary people in Gaza.

The World Health Organisation’s chief Tedros Ghebreyesus has detailed the number of cases of different diseases in Gaza, home to around 2.3 million people.

‘Given the living conditions and lack of health care, more people could die from disease than bombings,’ he warned on X.

The father of a young girl who was held hostage by Hamas for 50 days has vowed to do ‘whatever it takes’ to help her recover.

To read the full story, follow the link below…

The US-based Institute for the Study of War has said that the ability for Hamas to govern the Gaza Strip ‘appears to be breaking down’.

In its daily update on the conflict, the think tank said this was even in the case in southern Gaza, ‘which will complexify Israeli clearing operations.’

It pointed to Oxfam saying that the situation in the Gaza Strip was ‘absolute chaos’ and without the ‘rule of law’, and a report by the Associated Press that said civilians in the south of the strip were challenging Hamas’s rule.

The ISW also said that both Israel and Hamas had reported at least ‘one violation of the temporary truce agreement in the Gaza Strip, but neither side escalated the situation to more general fighting across the strip.’

You can read the think tank’s full report below:

The Israeli army raided the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank, according to the head of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).

Dr Christos Christou, international president of Médecins Sans Frontières, said he and his team were trapped in a hospital for two hours during the raid.

‘Israeli military vehicles blocked the entrance of the hospital and the road, preventing ambulances from leaving,’ he wrote on X, adding that two Palestinians died from their wounds while ‘ambulances could not reach them’.

Clashes in the West Bank have increased dramatically since October 7.

United States President Joe Biden has said that to continue down the path of ‘terror, violence, killing and war’ is to play into the hands of Hamas.

Writing on X (formerly Twitter) he said: ‘Hamas unleashed a terrorist attack because they fear nothing more than Israelis and Palestinians living side by side in peace.

‘To continue down the path of terror, violence, killing and war is to give Hamas what they seek. We can’t do that.’

• A US official said yesterday that the White House had told Israel that it could not employ the same methods in southern Gaza as it had used in the north.
• Hundreds of thousands of civilians have fled from northern Gaza since the war began on October 7, when Hamas terrorists killed 1,200 people in Israel.
• In response, Israel launched an air and ground offensive that has killed more than 15,000 people, according to officials in Hamas-run Gaza.
• There are concerns that when the truce comes to end, Israel will launch an offensive into southern Gaza to continue its mission to destroy Hamas.

A source close to Hamas has the Islamist movement was willing to extend by an additional four days a Gaza truce that has seen Israeli hostages exchanged for Palestinian prisoners, AFP news agency reports.

‘Hamas has informed the mediators that it is willing to extend the truce for four days and that the movement would be able to release Israeli prisoners that it, other resistance movements and other parties hold during this period, according to the terms of the existing truce,’ the source told AFP.

A series of satellite images captured on Novebmer 26 have been released, showing vehicles transporting aid into Gaza and the area around hospitals.

In one picture, dozens of trucks carrying aid are seen waiting at the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza during the on-going temporary truce.

Another shows the area around Gaza’s Al Shifa hospital, which has been at the centre of much international attention during the conflict.

Israel’s goal of destroying Hamas could be slipping out of reach.

While the IDF’s bombardment had destroyed swathes of Gaza and killed thousands of civilians, it seems to have had little effect on Hamas’s rule, AP reports.

This is evidenced by the terror group’s ability to conduct complex negotiations, enforce the cease-fire among other armed groups, and orchestrate the release of hostages who were dragged into Gaza from southern Israel on October 7.

Hamas’ leader in Gaza, Yehya Sinwar, and other commanders have likely relocated to the south of the strip, along with hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians who have packed into overflowing shelters after fleeing from the north.

An Israeli ground invasion of the south could eventually ferret out Hamas’ leaders and demolish the rest of its militant infrastructure, including miles of tunnels, but at a cost in Palestinian lives and destruction.

This is a cost the United States, Israel’s main ally, seems unwilling to bear.

The Biden administration has told Israel that if it resumes the offensive it must operate with far greater precision, especially in the south.

That approach is unlikely to bring Hamas to its knees any time soon, and international pressure for a lasting cease-fire is mounting.

Hamas yesterday handed over a fifth group of Israeli and foreign hostages, Israel’s Defence Forces confirmed, with negotiators now working to hash out another extension of the ongoing ceasefire set to expire later today.

The Israelis in the group were named as 36-year-old Rimon Kirsht, whose husband remains a hostage, Gabriela Leimberg, 59, and her daughter Mia, 17, who was filmed clutching her pet dog Bella as she was flanked by Hamas fighters.

The group also includes Mia’s aunt Clara Merman, 63, Argentina-born Ofelia Roitman, 77, Ditza Herman, 84, Tamar Metzger, 78, Merav Tal, 53, Philippines-born Noralin Babdilla, 60, and Ada Sagi, 75, whose British son Noam has been campaigning in Israel and London for her release.

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Good morning and welcome to MailOnline’s live blog covering the 54th day of the war between Israel and Hamas.

Here’s what you need to know:

• International mediators are working to extend the truce in Gaza, hoping the territory’s Hamas rulers will keep freeing hostages in return for the release of Palestinian prisoners and further respite from Israel’s offensive.
• Israel has welcomed the release of dozens of hostages in recent days and says it will maintain the truce if Hamas keeps freeing captives.
• After a 48-hour extension of an initial four-day truce, a new group of 12 hostages was freed from Gaza on Tuesday, with 30 Palestinians released by Israel.
• The final 24 hours of the extended agreement began on Wednesday, with one more exchange of hostages for prisoners expected.
• Mediator Qatar said it was hoping for a more durable arrangement.
• The Israeli hostages freed were all women, including 17-year-old Mia Leimberg, who returned to Israel with her mother and aunt.
• The three were all abducted from kibbutz Nir Yitzhak, and the teenager was seen after her release holding her dog Bella.
• Meanwhile, The World Food Programme warned Tuesday that Gaza’s population faced a ‘high risk of famine if WFP is not able to provide continued access to food.’
• Conditions in the territory are ‘catastrophic,’ the agency’s Middle East director said, while a spokesman for the UN children’s agency UNICEF said aid entering Gaza under the truce deal was ‘not even enough for triage.’
• The dire humanitarian situation has piled on pressure for a more lasting pause or even an end to the fighting, though Israel has made clear it sees the truce as a brief interlude to ensure hostage releases before its war continues.