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ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR
🔴 Live: ‘Imperative’ to ensure civilian protection in southern Gaza, Blinken says in Tel Aviv
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday called on Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to ensure that civilians were safe in southern Gaza during his latest visit to the Middle East. Israel and Hamas on Thursday agreed to extend the temporary pause in fighting for one more day but Israel has said it intends to resume military operations against the Palestinian militant group. Follow our live blog for all the latest developments. All times are Paris time (GMT+1).
Issued on: 30/11/2023 – 04:13
2 min
Le secrétaire d’État américain, Antony Blinken, le 30 novembre 2023, à Tel Aviv.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at a meeting with the Israeli president in Tel Aviv on November 30, 2023. © Saul Loeb, AFP
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FRANCE 24
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Summary
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netantahu in Tel Aviv on Thursday and stressed it was “imperative” to protect civilians in the besieged Gaza Strip should fighting resume. Blinken also held talks with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
Two Hamas gunmen killed three people at a Jerusalem bus stop Thursday morning. Security has been tightened across the city.
Israel and Hamas agreed on Thursday to extend the ceasefire in their war by at least one more day, minutes before the six-day truce was due to expire. The Qatari Foreign Ministry said the truce was being extended under the same terms as in the past, under which Hamas has released 10 Israeli hostages per day in exchange for the release of 30 Palestinian prisoners.
Two Israeli hostages were freed from Hamas captivity in Gaza on Thursday afternoon, said the Israeli military. More hostage releases were expected later Thursday in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.
Thirty Palestinian prisoners were freed Wednesday after 16 hostages were released by Hamas. Among them was prominent Palestinian activist Ahed Tamimi, a 22-year-old activist who gained worldwide fame in 2017 when she slapped an Israeli soldier who raided her West Bank village.
Hamas attacked southern Israeli communities on October 7, killing 1,200 people and taking about 240 hostages, according to the Israeli government. Since then, more than 14,800 people, including about 6,000 children, have been killed in Israel’s ensuing assault on the Gaza Strip, Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry says.
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Last Update: 12 minutes ago
12 minutes ago
From an outdoor music festival to captivity – and now freedom
More on Mia Schem, the French-Israeli young woman released from captivity in Gaza.
The 21-year-old was at an outdoor music festival in southern Israel when she, along with several others, were seized in the Hamas attack.
In an interview with FRANCE 24’s Assiya Hamza last month, Schem’s mother called on French President Emmanuel Macron and other world leaders to help secure her daughter’s release.
For more on Keren Schem’s efforts to get her daughter home, click here.
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Hamas airs video of French-Israeli hostage: ‘No mother wants to be in my place, believe me’
Hamas militants broadcast a video late Monday of 21-year-old Mia, one of the almost 200 hostages the group has been holding since its October 7 attack. FRANCE 24 spoke to Mia’s mother, Keren Schem, who…
Read the article on https://www.france24.com
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22 minutes ago
Hamas releases French-Israeli hostage Mia Schem, says IDF
Israel has named the two Hamas hostages released from Gaza as Mia Schem, a French-Israeli national, and 40-year-old Amit Sosana.
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an hour ago
Two Israeli hostages handed to Red Cross in Gaza, says IDF
The Israeli military has said two Israeli hostages were handed over to the Red Cross in Gaza Thursday.
The two women “are on their way to Israeli territory”, it said in a statement. “In the next few hours, additional Israeli hostages are expected to be transferred to the Red Cross,” it added.
Earlier Thursday, a Hamas source told AFP that the 10 Israeli hostages slated for release today included two dual Russian nationals.
On Wednesday, Hamas released two Israeli-Russian women in Gaza hours before ten other Israeli and four Thai nationals were handed over to the Red Cross.
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2 hours ago
Israel summons Spanish ambassador over PM’s ‘shameful’ Gaza war comments
Israel summoned has Spain’s ambassador for a reprimand after Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Thursday that he doubted Israel was respecting international humanitarian law in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said he instructed his foreign minister to call in Spain’s ambassador for a reprimand “after the shameful statement by the Spanish prime minister on the same day that Hamas terrorists are murdering Israelis in our capital Jerusalem.”
Netanyahu was referring to Thursday’s deadly shooting at a Jerusalem bus stop, where two Hamas gunmen killed three people.
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3 hours ago
Blinken in Ramallah to meet Palestinian President Abbas
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has arrived in the West Bank city of Ramallah to meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
Blinken arrived in an armoured convoy at the headquarters of the Palestinian Authority, which has partial administrative control in the West Bank, shortly after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem.
During his meeting with Netanyahu, the US top diplomat stressed the need to protect civilians in southern Gaza, the State Department said.
Blinken “stressed the imperative of accounting for humanitarian and civilian protection needs in southern Gaza before any military operations there”, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement, adding he “urged Israel to take every possible measure to avoid civilian harm”.
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3 hours ago
Hostages taken to Gaza suffered ‘three distinct traumas’
Many of the hostages released during the Gaza truce have been rushed to hospitals out of sight in a country still reeling from the shock of their abduction.
For more on the state of the Israeli victims taken hostage by Hamas, FRANCE 24’s Angela Diffley was joined Thursday by Dr. Jonathan M. Metzl, a psychiatrist and sociologist at Vanderbilt University.
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4 hours ago
Hamas says attackers in deadly Jerusalem shooting were its members
Hamas claimed as its members two gunmen who carried out a deadly attack on Thursday at a bus stop at the entrance to Jerusalem.
The shooting came “as a natural response to the unprecedented crimes of the occupier in the Gaza Strip and against children in Jenin” in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the Islamist movement said in a statement.
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4 hours ago
Egyptian, Qatari negotiators pushing for new two-day extension of truce, says Egypt state media official
Egyptian and Qatari negotiators are pushing for a new two-day extension to the truce in Gaza along with more prisoner releases and an increase in the delivery of humanitarian aid, a statement from Egypt’s state media body said on Thursday.
The efforts follow the last-minute extension of the truce for a seventh day on Thursday.
Thursday’s extension includes the release of 10 Israelis captured by Hamas and 30 Palestinian prisoners, as well as the provision of the same levels of humanitarian relief as during the previous six days, the head of Egypt’s state information service, Diaa Rashwan, said in a statement.
“Egypt will continue to exert its utmost efforts to ensure the continued flow of humanitarian aid to the north and south of the Gaza Strip,” the statement said.
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5 hours ago
Israeli army says two soldiers hurt, assailant ‘neutralised’ in West Bank ramming attack
Two Israeli soldiers were slightly injured on Thursday in a ramming attack on a checkpoint in the occupied West Bank, the Israeli army said, adding that the assailant had been “shot and neutralised”.
The military was “searching the area for additional suspects”, it added in a statement. The attack came after a truce pausing fighting between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip was extended for an additional day.
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5 hours ago
Truce in Gaza extended at last minute as talks over remaining Hamas captives get tougher
FRANCE 24’s Luke Shrago reports from Tel Aviv on the down-to-the-wire negotiations of the latest 24-hour extension to the Israel-Hamas truce, and why future truce talks are likely to get even more difficult as time goes by.
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5 hours ago
Thai hostages from Gaza return home, mourn fellow workers
When the first group of Thai nationals held hostage by Hamas in Gaza arrived at a Bangkok airport, they asked for a moment of silence to mourn the Thai labourers who were killed.
“I’m saddened that my 39 fellow workers who died and would like everybody to take a moment to mourn their loss,” the group’s representative Uthai Saengnuan told reporters on Thursday.
Hamas gunmen from Gaza killed 39 Thais and abducted 32 Thai labourers during the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, according to the Thai government.
The first group of 17 returned on Thursday from a total of 23 who have been released in Gaza, with nine remaining in captivity.
The returnees stood calmly in a line, some wearing shirts with the Thai and Israeli flags.
“I would like to thank the Israeli and Thai authorities who helped us … and hope that the others will come back,” he said.
Before the war, around 30,000 Thai labourers worked in the agriculture sector, making the group one of Israel’s largest migrant worker groups.
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6 hours ago
All parties in Israeli-Palestinian conflict must be ‘part of the solution’
Negotiations between Israel and Hamas to extend the Gaza cease-fire appear to be growing tougher, as most of the women and children taken hostage by Hamas during the deadly October 7 attack on Israel have already been freed.
FRANCE 24’s Angela Diffley is joined by Oliver McTernan, co-founder and director of NGO Forward Thinking, to break down what we know about the negotiations.
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6 hours ago
What’s the alternative? Israel vows return to Gaza offensive after current truce
With the Gaza ceasefire continuing into its seventh day, it will soon be more than a week since the daily pounding of the Gaza Strip came to an uneasy halt. Pressure from hostages’ families has forced Israel’s government to prioritise the return of loved ones above revenge for the bloodiest day in the country’s history.
FRANCE 24 talks about what has been happening since the guns fell silent, and what the road ahead could look like for the besieged enclave.
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6 hours ago
Russia ‘grateful’ to Hamas for Gaza hostage release, foreign ministry says
Russia on Thursday thanked Hamas for freeing two Russian women hostages from Gaza outside a truce deal with Israel.
“We are grateful to the leadership of the Hamas movement for the positive response to our constant appeals,” Moscow’s foreign ministry said. “We will continue to strive for the quick release of the remaining Russians held in the Gaza Strip.”
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6 hours ago
UNIFIL says Israel retaliated to cross-border fire from Lebanon
The Israeli military retaliated on Thursday to cross-border fire from southern Lebanon, the United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) told Reuters.
Witnesses heard blasts along the south eastern Lebanese frontier with Israel, Reuters reported.
The Israel-Lebanon border has seen tit-for-tat exchanges, mainly between the Israeli army and Hamas ally Hezbollah, since the Palestinian militants launched a shock attack on Israel on October 7, stoking fears of a regional conflagration.
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7 hours ago
Spain PM Sanchez says he doubts Israel is respecting international humanitarian law
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Thursday that, given the number of casualties among civilians in Gaza, he doubts Israel is respecting the international humanitarian law.
“The footage we are seeing and the growing numbers of children dying, I have serious doubt (Israel) is complying with international humanitarian law,” he said in an interview with Spanish state-owned broadcaster TVE.
“What we are seeing in Gaza is not acceptable,” he added.
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7 hours ago
Thai hostages freed by Hamas return to Bangkok, foreign ministry says
A plane carrying 17 Thai hostages freed by Hamas after being held for weeks in the Gaza Strip landed in Bangkok on Thursday, the foreign ministry said.
Family members waited to greet the freed captives at the Thai capital’s main airport. Nine Thais are still being held by the Palestinian militants.
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8 hours ago
Death toll in Jerusalem shooting rises to three people
The death toll of a shooting at a bus station at the entrance to Jerusalem has risen to three people, with several more wounded in the attack.
According to police, the two gunmen drove toward the bus stop armed with a handgun and an M16 rifle and opened fire. Both were killed at the scene by two soldiers who were near the bus stop.
“The bus station was very crowded, which is why so many people were wounded,” Magen David Adom ambulance service spokesperson Zaki Heller told Army Radio.
One 24-year-old woman was pronounced dead at the scene and another man died later at the hospital. Jerusalem police chief Doron Turgeman said in a news conference at the scene that police believe both attackers are from east Jerusalem.
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8 hours ago
Blinken says truce between Israel-Hamas is producing results
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday said that the temporary truce between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas had produced results and that the United States hoped that it would continue.
Sitting beside Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Blinken said Washington was focused on helping to secure freedom for hostages taken to Gaza during an October 7 attack during which Israel says Hamas killed 1,200 people and kidnapped 240. Herzog said about 150 hostages remained in Gaza.
“We have seen over the last week the very positive development of hostages coming home, being reunited with their families. And that should continue today. It’s also enabled an increase in humanitarian assistance to go to innocent civilians in Gaza who need it desperately,” Blinken said.
“So this process is producing results. It’s important, and we hope that it can continue,” Blinken said.
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9 hours ago
Israel president to discuss hostages on COP28 sidelines
Israeli President Isaac Herzog is due to attend the UN climate talks in the United Arab Emirates Thursday where he will hold talks with diplomats on the release of hostages held by Hamas.
His visit comes seven weeks into the Israel-Hamas war and coincides with a day-long extension of truce that had been due to expire on Thursday, amid ongoing attempts to release more hostages.
At COP28, which will also be attended by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Herzog will hold a “series of diplomatic meetings on the importance of releasing the hostages held by Hamas”, the Israeli presidency said in a statement.
He “intends to engage world leaders in a high-level humanitarian effort to return the hostages”, the statement said.
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Key developments of Wednesday, November 29:
Ten Israeli hostages and four Thai nationals have been released from Gaza, Israel’s army confirmed late Wednesday. Qatar’s foreign ministry said those released included Dutch, German and American dual nationals.
Two Russians were released by Hamas earlier in the day.
With the temporary truce set to expire at 7am local time in Gaza, a Hamas source said the group was not yet satisfied with Israel’s proposals for another two-day extension.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he would work on extending the pause in fighting as he visits Israel.
Gazans are “in the midst of an epic humanitarian catastrophe before the eyes of the world”, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday.
Two minors were killed by the Israeli army during a raid in the West Bank city of Jenin on Wednesday, according to the Palestinian Authority.
For more, read yesterday’s blog here.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)
