Israel-Palestine live: Israel and Palestinians agree to truce, hostage deal

Dr Mohammed Abu Silmeyya, the general director of the al-Shifa Hospital, says the Israeli military is still raiding the hospital, including the pharmacy, operations room and x-ray ward.

“Many of the hospital’s buildings have been partially or fully damaged, Israeli forces are shooting live fire randomly,” he said. 

He also said the hospital is still without any electricity or water.

Ismail al-Ghoul, a journalist inside al-Shifa Hospital, told Al Jazeera Arabic that the hospital is ceasing to function as a result of Israel’s raid and there is widespread fear among Palestinians sheltering there. 

Qatari mediators were on Wednesday seeking to negotiate a deal between Hamas and Israel that includes the release of around 50 civilian hostages from Gaza in exchange for a three-day ceasefire, an official briefed on the negotiations told Reuters.

The deal, under discussion, which has been coordinated with the US, would also see Israel release some Palestinian women and children from Israeli jails and increase the amount of humanitarian aid allowed into Gaza, the official said.

Hamas has agreed to the general outlines of this deal, but Israel has not, and it is still negotiating, the official said.

It is not known how many Palestinian women and children Israel would release from its jails as part of the agreement under discussion.

A more comprehensive release of all hostages is not currently under discussion, the official said.

There was no immediate response from Israeli officials, who have previously declined to provide detailed comment on the hostage negotiations.

Israeli minister Benny Gantz, who is in the war cabinet, said at a news conference on Wednesday: "Even if we are required to pause fighting in order to return our hostages, there will be no stopping the combat and the war until we achieve our goals."

Asked to elaborate on what is hindering the hostage deal, Gantz declined to give any details.
 

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez demanded on Wednesday an "immediate ceasefire" in Gaza and called on Israel to put an end to the "indiscriminate killing of Palestinians" during his inauguration speech to the Chamber of Deputies.

“We demand an immediate ceasefire from Israel in Gaza and strict respect for international humanitarian law which today is clearly not respected,” he said. 

“Let there be no doubt, we are with Israel in the rejection and responses to the terrorist attack that this country suffered in October…we demand the immediate release of the hostages. But with equal clarity, we reject the indiscriminate killing of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank,” he added. 
 

The Islamic Jihad group said on Wednesday that they had downed an Israeli drone in Gaza. 

“We shot down a Zionist [Israeli] Skylark drone and took control of it,” said Islamic Jihad’s al-Quds Brigades.
 

Palestinian civilians and volunteers have been forced to retrieve the bodies of survivors and the dead from under the rubble following Israeli bombing. 

Emergency services have largely ceased their operations due to Israel cutting off fuel to the besieged enclave and heavy bombing, which has destroyed at least 55 ambulances. 
 

A rocket has hit the highway in the southern Israeli city of Asheklon, Israeli media reported on Wednesday.

No casualties were reported.
 

Phillips Lazzarini, the United Nations Unwa agency chief said on Wednesday: “Our entire operation is now on the verge of collapse.

“By the end of today, around 70 percent of the population in Gaza won’t have access to clean water,” he added.

“To have fuel for trucks only will not save lives anymore. Waiting longer will cost lives.”

Assem Alnabih, a journalist in Gaza told Al Jazeera Arabic on Wednesday that the situation in the besieged enclave is “catastrophic”.

While people are dehydrated, all basic services have collapsed due to Israel’s siege and continued bombing. 

“Sewage is covering the streets, flies can be seen everywhere. The only solution now is a ceasefire and for aid to be delivered,” he said.

“Describing the situation does not do justice to how bad it is now,” he added.
 

In a televised live press conference, the director of al-Shifa Hospital said that the Israeli army is “expelling children and patients” from the hospital.

“There are some children left on oxygen machines. The al-Shifa Hospital is one of the biggest in the Strip, there are 650 patients, 2,000 displaced people, as well as our staff,” he said.

The director said that he holds Israel responsible for the lives of civilians, children and wounded patients.

He also called for a safe corridor for patients to be able to enter Egypt safely and seek treatment. 

“For the wounded the situation is getting worse; there are no services, and it can be dangerous for those in intensive care. The intensive care unit has sustained damage due to the bombing and dead bodies are decaying,” he added. 

The United Nations agency Unrwa said that “fuel is being used as a weapon of war” on Wednesday, after a UN official said that Israel is restricting the supply of fuel destined for Gaza.

According to the UN official, only nine percent of what is needed for life-saving activities per day is being allowed in, through Egypt.

In response, Unrwa posted on X: “This is the equivalent of half a truck! Not at all enough. Much more is needed. Fuel is being used as a weapon of war, this must stop.”

Israeli requests for gun permits have skyrocketed since the start of the war on 7 October, Israel’s National Security Ministry says.

More than 236,000 new requests for permits have been filed since the start of the war, a figure equal to the number filed in the past 20 years, the statement says.

Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has set out on a mission to establish hundreds of civilian security squad groups across Israel and purchased 10,000 rifles to meet this goal.

Some 1,700 permits are being issued daily after the National Security Ministry eased restrictions, the statement says.

Meanwhile, a recent poll found that less than four percent of the Jewish Israeli public believe Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a reliable source of information on the ongoing war, according to Israeli media. 

The survey by Bar Ilan University and polling company iPanel examined the consumption of news and information in the first four weeks of the war. The poll questioned 505 Israelis who were representative of the Jewish population. 
 

Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, said that Israel is waging a war “against the existence of the Palestinians, against the Palestinian national identity, the identity of the land and the identity of its inhabitants,” on Wednesday.

In his speech, which marked the 35th anniversary of the Palestinian declaration of independence in Ramallah, he added: “Palestine is our only homeland that we will not accept as an alternative, and if there is anyone who must leave our land, it is the occupation, and only the occupation.”
 

Euro-Med Monitor said on Wednesday that two of its field team members are trapped in the area where the al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza is located and are unable to escape due to heavy Israeli gunfire.

“We hold the Israeli military responsible for any harm caused to our staff members and volunteers across the strip,” they said on social media platform X.
 

Gaza's two main telecommunications companies, Paltel and Jawwal, warned on Wednesday of a "complete telecom blackout in the coming hours" in the Gaza Strip.

"Main data centres and switches in the Gaza Strip are gradually shutting down due to fuel depletion," the companies said in a joint statement.

Two Palestinian members of the Knesset have been suspended from party meetings, and have received a two-week suspension of their salary by Israel’s Knesset Ethics Committee on Wednesday, according to Haaretz.

Aida Touma-Sliman, from the Hadash-Ta'al party, and Iman Khatib-Yassin, from the United Arab List party, will be banned from party and committee meetings for a period of two months and one month, respectively.

The ban was imposed because of a post on X by Touma-Sliman which read: “And they still insist: The 'most moral army in the world' does not harm innocents and does not attack hospitals!" 

The comment was in response to reports and testimonies from Gaza that the Israeli army was attacking al-Shifa Hospital and using white phosphorus.

Touma-Sliman maintained that she made the comments under "the right of freedom of speech given to members of Knesset".

Khatib-Yassin was suspended for saying the footage from the 7 October Hamas attack showed "no babies were slaughtered, as per the film, and no women were raped”.

She apologised for her comments. However, the Ethics Committee said "it would not suffice to have the MKs simply retract their accusations or apologise for them".