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Third batch of 39 Palestinians released from Israeli prisons

Third batch of 39 Palestinians released from Israeli prisons
By Arwa Ibrahim, Lyndal Rowlands, Usaid Siddiqui and Umut Uras
Published On 25 Nov 2023
  • Israeli prison officials say a third batch of 39 Palestinian prisoners have been released after Hamas handed over 13 Israelis and four foreign nationals to the Red Cross.
  • At least six Palestinians have been killed in Israeli raids in the occupied West Bank since last night.
27 Nov 2023 - 00:00
 (00:00 GMT)

Thanks for joining us

This live page is now closed. Follow the latest on the Israel-Gaza war on our new live page here.

To read more about the captives released on the second day of the truce agreement between Israel and Hamas, read our story here.

For a story about the Palestinian men shot in Vermont, read our story here.

“It is time the US considers Hamas’s survival in Gaza,” writes Samer Badawi. Read his thoughts in this opinion piece.

26 Nov 2023 - 23:50
 (23:50 GMT)

Here’s what happened today

We will soon be closing this live page. Here’s a recap of Sunday’s key events:

  • A third batch of 39 Palestinian prisoners has been freed as the exchange of captives between Hamas and Israel continued for a third day under the four-day truce deal.
  • Hamas handed over 13 Israeli captives and four foreigners in central Gaza.
  • US President Joe Biden says four-year-old American hostage Abigail Edan was released by Hamas.
  • Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told Biden that Israel will resume its campaign in Gaza with full force once the temporary truce comes to an end.
  • Hamas announced it was seeking to extend its four-day truce with Israel should serious efforts be made to increase the number of Palestinian detainees released from Israel, according to a report by the Reuters news agency.
  • Three young Palestinian men have been shot near a university campus in Vermont in the US as anti-Palestinian sentiments rise in the country.
  • US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters he did not rule out the possibility of Biden sending aid to Israel “with conditions”.
26 Nov 2023 - 23:47
 (23:47 GMT)

WATCH: Hope Gaza truce can be extended – Qatari minister

Lolwah Rashid al-Khater, Qatar’s minister of state for international cooperation, spoke to Al Jazeera from the Gaza Strip.

She says she hopes there is an increase in the quantity of humanitarian aid being delivered into the enclave.

26 Nov 2023 - 23:30
 (23:30 GMT)

‘Hunger, desperation, and destruction’: UN team on northern Gaza

Samer AbdelJaber, the head of the World Food Program (WFP) in Palestine, has recounted a UN mission to provide food to Al-Ahli Hospital and surrounding areas.

AbdelJaber said that while being able to deliver food to the hospital in Gaza City was a “promising step”, the UN team saw “hunger, desperation, and destruction”.

“The [UN] team recounted painful stories from the people who haven’t received any aid in weeks,” he said.

Central and northern Gaza, including Gaza City, the largest city in the Gaza Strip, have been largely cut off from humanitarian aid since Israel claimed it cut the Gaza Strip in two in early November.

26 Nov 2023 - 23:15
 (23:15 GMT)

Current Gaza truce only addressing release of captives: Colombian Jewish leader

Marcos David Peckel, the head of the Confederation of Jewish Communities of Colombia, told the NTN24 cable news channel that “it is a great joy to see that children and women, who should never have been kidnapped, are regaining their freedom”.

But he also said that the current truce between Israel and Hamas does not seek to “solve the conflict, but rather to free the kidnapped people”.

While Israel received “a lot of solidarity” after the October 7 attack, some organisations have remained in “a shameful silence”, added Peckel, who is also a lecturer in international relations at the Universidad del Rosario in Colombia.

26 Nov 2023 - 22:55
 (22:55 GMT)

Attack on UNRWA sites in Gaza ‘disregard of int’l humanitarian law’

In an interview with CBS’s Face the Nation, Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner-general of the UN relief and humanitarian agency in Gaza, says 108 UN staff members have been killed in the besieged enclave since October 7.

He wondered why the death toll is so high, adding that about 70 of UNRWA locations that shelter more than 1 million people have been hit since the beginning of the conflict.

“This is definitely devastating news, and the United Nations never ever lost as many staff in such a short period in the conflict,” he told the host of the programme, Margaret Brennan.

“We had about 200 people who have been killed and … injured. And this despite the fact that we’re constantly deconflicting and notifying the Israeli authorities, but also … Hamas about our location.”

“But clearly here, this has been a blatant disregard of international humanitarian law, a blatant disregard of UN premises, and a blatant disregard of a civilian population,” he added.

A pit formed in the back yard of UNRWA school used as a sheltering place for displaced Palestinians after Israeli air strikes in Gaza on November 12 [Fadi Alwhidi/Anadolu via Getty Images]
26 Nov 2023 - 22:30
 (22:30 GMT)

Ex-HRW chief warns of more civilian deaths if truce not extended

In a statement on X, Kenneth Roth, the former executive director of Human Rights Watch (HRW), says if Israel resumes the fighting in Gaza after the four-day truce, “it risks double the civilian casualties, because most of Gaza’s northern population has now been crammed into the south”.

He pointed out that the southern part of the besieged enclave, where Israel ordered residents of northern and central Gaza to evacuate, “was supposed to have been safer”.

Parts of southern Gaza, however, also experienced relentless bombardment, including the Khan Younis and Rafah areas.

26 Nov 2023 - 22:10
 (22:10 GMT)

US Navy responded to distress call from seized tanker: Officials

A US Navy vessel has responded to a distress call from the chemical tanker Central Park and ensured that it was safe and free, two US officials said.

One of the officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told the Reuters news agency that the USS Mason had helped ensure the tanker was safe.

Unidentified armed individuals had seized a tanker carrying a cargo of phosphoric acid in the Gulf of Aden on Sunday.

26 Nov 2023 - 21:40
 (21:40 GMT)

Hamas delivered third batch of captives in central Gaza

Unlike the first two days of the four-day truce, Israeli captives held by Hamas were delivered in central Gaza, where the fighting until recently had been intense.

On the previous two days, the captives were handed over to the Red Cross in southern Gaza.

International Red Cross vehicles, carrying Israeli hostages released from Gaza. [Abed Rahim Khatib /Anadolu Agency]
26 Nov 2023 - 21:40
 (21:40 GMT)

Palestinians on Ramallah streets welcome freed prisoners

A Palestinian prisoner is welcomed by a relative after being released from an Israeli jail in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank [Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP]
Palestinian prisoners, wearing grey jumpers, after being released from Israeli jails [Fadel Senna/AFP]
Palestinian prisoners are welcomed by a crowd in Ramallah [Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP]
Palestinian prisoners are welcomed by a crowd in Ramallah [Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP]

26 Nov 2023 - 21:35
 (21:35 GMT)

Israel’s war cabinet discusses possibility of extending truce

Israel’s war cabinet has discussed the possibility of extending the temporary truce with Hamas when it met on Sunday evening, an Israeli source has told the CNN network.

The source said conditions for an extension remain unchanged from the original agreement, which means Hamas needs to release an additional 10 hostages for each additional day’s pause in the fighting.

26 Nov 2023 - 21:25
 (21:25 GMT)

Elon Musk to meet Israeli president, captive families

Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, accused by civil rights groups of amplifying anti-Jewish hatred on his X social media platform, will meet Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Monday along with Israelis whose relatives have been held by Hamas in Gaza.

Herzog’s office announced the meeting, saying, “In their meeting, the president will emphasise the need to act to combat rising antisemitism online.”

26 Nov 2023 - 21:02
 (21:02 GMT)

Moroccans march for permanent ceasefire in Gaza

Moroccans demonstrate in Casablanca, calling for a permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip [AFP]
Thousands of Moroccans demonstrate, calling also for the suspension of diplomatic ties with Israel [AFP]
Moroccans hold Palestinian flags and posters during the march [AFP]
A masked child holds a toy gun as Moroccans demonstrate in Casablanca [AFP]

26 Nov 2023 - 21:00
 (21:00 GMT)

LISTEN: What will it take to keep a fragile truce alive in Gaza?

Calls grow louder to extend the fragile truce and allow more aid into Gaza.

Hamas and Israel have been exchanging detainees and captives since Friday. But what will it take to keep an agreement like this alive, let alone extend it beyond four days?

Listen to the latest episode of The Inside Story Podcast here or below:

26 Nov 2023 - 20:50
 (20:50 GMT)

More Palestinian prisoners freed as Israel-Hamas truce holds into third day

A third batch of 39 Palestinian prisoners has been freed as the exchange of captives between Hamas and Israel continues for a third day under the four-day truce deal.

Large crowds of Palestinians took to the streets in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank on Sunday night as they waited for Red Cross buses carrying the prisoners.

Some waved Palestinian flags alongside the flags of the two main Palestinian political parties, Hamas and Fatah. Some youth climbed on top of a white bus transporting mostly young men and some female prisoners.

Read more here.

Mohammed Al-Awar, left, kisses his father’s forehead upon return to his home in occupied East Jerusalem [Ahmad Gharabli/AFP]
26 Nov 2023 - 20:40
 (20:40 GMT)

France hopes truce lasts until all captives released

The comments by France add to growing calls for an extension to the four-day truce agreement between Israel and Hamas.

“We demand the release of our hostages and all the hostages. It would be good, helpful and necessary for the truce to be extended to this end,” French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna told BFMTV.

No French captives have been freed yet, but Colonna said she had “good hope” that would change.

“There are lists drawn up during the negotiations through Qatar” but “Hamas makes its choices within these lists”, she said.

26 Nov 2023 - 20:30
 (20:30 GMT)

Thousands block New York bridge demanding Gaza ceasefire

Protesters have blocked Manhattan Bridge in New York City, demanding a permanent Gaza ceasefire, days after dozens of protesters glued themselves to the pavement and blocked the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, also in New York.

26 Nov 2023 - 20:20
 (20:20 GMT)

Netanyahu tells Biden will resume Gaza operation after truce

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he told US President Joe Biden that Israel will resume its campaign in Gaza with full force once a temporary truce comes to an end.

However, Netanyahu also said he would welcome extending the truce if the move facilitated the release of 10 additional hostages every day, as agreed under the original truce deal.

26 Nov 2023 - 20:15
 (20:15 GMT)

Biden pushes for two-state solution

In a post on X, US President Joe Biden says a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict is the only way to ensure “Israelis and Palestinians alike can live in equal measures of freedom and dignity”.

His comments come after 39 Palestinians, 13 Israelis, three Thais and one Russian-Israeli dual national were released on the third day of the four-day truce between Israel and Hamas.

26 Nov 2023 - 20:06
 (20:06 GMT)

‘Devastated’: Families of Palestinians shot in US call for probe

The families of three Palestinian students who were shot in the US state of Vermont are urging law enforcement authorities to conduct a thorough investigation into the incident, “including treating this as a hate crime”.

“We need to ensure that our children are protected, and this heinous crime is not repeated,” they said in a joint statement.