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

Good evening,

It is just past midnight in Gaza. Here is your latest evening update on the situation.

The Palestinian health ministry said Israel had killed at least 13,300 Palestinians in Gaza, with the death toll including 5,600 children and 3,550 women, since fighting began on 7 October.

A spokesperson from the Palestinian health ministry said they had evacuated at least 200 patients from the Indonesian Hospital. The evacuations come as Israeli tanks encircle the Indonesian Hospital - the last remaining medical facility in northern Gaza.

The World Health Organisation condemned the attacks on the Indonesian Hospital, with WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus saying he was “appalled” at the situation.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) also raised concerns over the safety of its staff, after MSF revealed that due to heavy fighting, they were trapped in a clinic run by the NGO. One MSF staff member said they saw an Israeli tank outside its facility.

A lot of chatter has taken place on the issue of Israeli hostages this evening.

US President Joe Biden told reporters that he “believes” Israel and Hamas are close to brokering a deal to release the hostages without giving any further details.

The president of the International Red Cross (ICRC) also met with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Doha on Monday to discuss the possibility of releasing hostages it took on 7 October from southern Israel.

Locally in Israel, families of the hostages said far-right Israeli ministers were endangering their loved ones in Gaza by proposing the death penalty for Hamas members captured on 7 October.

Elsewhere, Israel’s foreign ministry said it had withdrawn its ambassador to South Africa “for consultations” after the ruling African National Congress Party said it backed a parliamentary motion to close down the Israeli embassy in South Africa.

Yemen’s Houthis also released footage showing the moment a squad of rebels stormed an Israeli-owned vessel in the Red Sea.

The International Red Cross president travelled to Qatar on Monday to meet with the leader of Palestinian group Hamas to "advance humanitarian issues" related to the group's conflict with Israel, the Geneva-based body said in a statement.

President Mirjana Spoljaric met with Ismail Haniyeh, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said, and also met separately with Qatari authorities which are acting as mediators in the conflict.

The ICRC, a neutral intermediary that is providing aid to Gaza and has helped escort hostages and patients from the enclave, said that the meeting was part of discussions with all sides to the conflict to improve respect for international humanitarian law.

It added that it was not part of negotiations aimed at releasing more than 200 hostages seized by Hamas during their deadly incursion into Israel on 7 October.

The Iranian-backed Houthi group captured an Israeli-owned vessel off the coast of Yemen.

Footage posted by the Houthis showed its soldiers landing on the Galaxy Leader in the Red Sea on Sunday. 

Wearing a headband emblazoned with the Palestine flag and a picture of Hamas spokesperson Abu Obeida, Houthi soldiers storm the cockpit of the ship. 
 

Since the war broke out around 800 Americans, permanent residents, and family members have left Gaza via the Rafah crossing into Egypt, according to the US State Department.

In a briefing on Monday, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said there were still 1,200 left in Gaza to evacuate.

The department added that six Americans have died since 7 October, comprising five Israeli troops and a police officer.

Ashraf al-Qudra, a spokesperson for the Palestinian health ministry in Gaza, said it had to evacuate at least 100 patients from the Indonesian Hospital as Israeli forces close in on the medical facility. 

“One hundred patients were evacuated from the Indonesian hospital with the help of the ICRC,” Qudra told AFP. 

The spokesperson added that medical staff would take 100 more patients overnight to another facility in the southern town of Khan Younis. 

A group of lawmakers led by Senators Tammy Baldwin, Tim Kaine and Chris Van Hollen wrote a letter to US President Joe Biden to immediately work toward the sustained delivery of water, food, fuel and other basic necessities.

“Eliminating the threat posed by Hamas and protecting civilians are not mutually exclusive aims. Indeed, International Humanitarian Law requires that civilians be protected during armed conflict,” the group wrote in a letter sent on Monday.

The letter also urged reopening the Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and Gaza as well as the protection of civilians and ensuring civilians’ access to medical attention.

The letter was signed by at least eight other Senate Democrats.

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said the United States believes a deal to release the hostages held by Hamas is "getting closer", as Israel intensifies its bombardment of Gaza.

Kirby did not specify how many hostages Hamas would release if the deal is successful but said more aid is slowly trickling into Gaza from Egypt. 

"Six trucks have crossed into Gaza with approximately 18,000 gallons of fuel," said Kirby. 

"[And] almost 100 trucks have entered Gaza over the weekend for a total of more than 1,260 trucks so far." 

The White House spokesperson added that the US had also moved out a total of 800 US citizens from Gaza. 

Palestinian journalists paid tribute to veteran correspondent Belal Jadallah, the chairman of the Gaza Press House, an organisation dedicated to training the region's future journalists. 

An Israeli strike killed Jadallah in Gaza on Sunday. Known locally as the "godfather of Palestinian journalists", Jadallah established the Gaza Press House in 2014. 

Ali Jadallah, Belal's brother, said he was determined to stay in Gaza City, believing he had a "moral duty to tell the world about what he was seeing".

"He spared no effort to support all freelance journalists, protecting them, arranging safety courses for them, and providing them with protective gear," he added. 

During the war, Jadallah worked hard to ensure the Press House offered support for journalists covering the bombardment of Gaza, including providing safety and technical equipment. 

Tor Wennesland, the United Nations special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, called Jadallah a “professional, knowledgeable and passionate journalist who dedicated his life for the freedom of journalism & protection of journalists”.

Husam Zumlot, the Palestinian ambassador to the UK, called his death “devastating” and called on “his killers to be brought to justice”.

READ MORE: 'Godfather' of Palestinian journalism Belal Jadallah killed in Israeli shelling

Israel's foreign ministry confirmed it had recalled its ambassador to South Africa for consultations after a series of "statements from South Africa". 

Last Thursday, South Africa's ruling African National Congress Party said it would support a parliamentary motion calling for the Israeli embassy in South Africa to be closed. 

Since 7 October, South Africa has been heavily critical of Israel's operation in Gaza and recalled its ambassador to Israel. 

The Palestinian health ministry said at least 13,300 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its assault on the besieged enclave.

The ministry said the death toll includes 5,600 children and 3,550 women. 

It added that at least 6,500 people are still reported missing, with the vast majority of them being women and children. 

The World Health Organisation confirmed that a dozen premature babies had been evacuated from Gaza and flown to Cairo with their families. 

Earlier on Monday, the Palestinian Red Crescent said medics had transferred 28 premature babies out of 31, across Gaza's border with Egypt after being rescued from the al-Shifa hospital. 

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said establishing a UN protectorate in Gaza would not solve the unrest in the besieged enclave. 

On Monday, Guterres said a "transition period" involving Arab nations and the United States would work better and lead to the potential of a two-state solution. 

"[It is] important to be able to transform this tragedy into an opportunity...in a determined and irreversible way to a two-state solution," said Guterres. 

" I do not think that a UN protectorate in Gaza is a solution.

"Everybody needs to come together to create the conditions for the transition, allowing for a strengthened Palestinian Authority to assume responsibilites in Gaza."

Guterres also ruled out the idea of potentially bringing the Palestinian Authority into Gaza. 

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said its staff and 20 family members are trapped inside one of its clinics in Gaza after it was fired upon.  

MSF said its its staff saw an Israeli tank outside the clinic this morning when it came under fire, and that a wall was torn down, with part of the building "engulfed in flames". 

The NGO added the vehicles it had tried to use to evacuate staff was also destroyed by the fighting, with 50 other people, including MSF staff in nearby buildings, needing medical attention. 

The head of the World Health Organisation said he was "appalled" by an attack on the Indonesian Hospital in Gaza that he said had killed 12 people, including patients, citing unspecified reports.

"Health workers and civilians should never have to be exposed to such horror, and especially while inside a hospital," Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus said on the social media platform, X.

Mohammed Ali Saeed Owais, a 25-year-old from the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, was pronounced dead by the Palestinian Ministry of Health on Monday. 

Owais succumbed to his wounds after being shot by Israeli forces around two weeks ago, the ministry added.