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

An NBC News poll found that 70 percent of voters aged 18-34 disapprove of US President Joe Biden's handling of Israel's war on Gaza.

Across all voters, the Biden administration has 34 percent approval, while 56 percent of all voters disapprove. 

At least 51 percent of Democrats say they approve of Biden's handling of Israel's bombardment, but the same percentage of Democratic voters say they believe Israel has gone too far, versus 27 percent who say Israel's military actions are justified.

Meanwhile, 59 percent of independents and 69 percent of Republicans say they disapprove of Biden's handling of Israel's bombardment of the Gaza Strip. 

Regarding military aid, 49 percent of Democrats oppose providing further funds to Israel.

Thirty-one premature babies have arrived at Tal Alsultan Hospital in Rafah, in southern Gaza, the Palestinian health ministry confirmed on Sunday.

The babies will be sent to Egyptian hospitals with their families tomorrow, it added.

A Palestinian man fleeing from northern to southern Gaza described the grim situation to Middle East Eye on Sunday. 

From Salah al-Din street, the major highway in the enclave, he said:

"I left the Wafa hospital in Gaza City yesterday, and I'm walking south to Khan Younis, where my whole family is currently sheltering, including my wife, kids, parents and siblings.

Some of the wounded are still in the hospital, while we evacuated the ones we could. Some were taken to their homes, others to schools. We also carried a number of dead bodies, some on stretchers and some on people's shoulders because a cart that was carrying them broke down. It was chaos.

We were being humiliated - we had no water, no food, no electricity.

Last night was the worst night of my life. The sound of bombing was intense and terrifying. As you see now on the road, it's nothing but humiliation.

I will go to a school in Khan Younis where half of my family is sheltering."

The Israeli military said on Sunday that Yemen's Houthis had seized a cargo ship in the southern Red Sea sailing from Turkey to India, calling it "a very grave incident on a global level".

The military added that the vessel was not Israeli-owned and had no Israelis among its crew.

At least 11 Palestinians were killed on Sunday by an Israeli air strike that hit a house in Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, Palestinian health officials said.

In a column for Middle East Eye, researchers Hamdullah Baycar and Ali Bakir argue that UK and EU leaders' policy on Israel is "repeating many of the mistakes" from the past 20 years, including in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

They write: "Two decades after the 9/11 attacks on US soil, which ended with the disastrous invasion of two countries, Afghanistan and Iraq, costing the lives of hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians and sending the region into turmoil that persists to this day, western states seem ready again to make more deliberate mistakes.

The mistakes European leaders are making this time around are remarkably similar to those of 20 years ago. First, they are again ignoring huge domestic anti-war protests and public demands for a ceasefire. Second, they are ignoring widespread public calls to stop their unconditional support for the US (and, today, for Israel)."

You can read the full opinion piece below. 

Opinion: Europe is following the US into another disastrous war

Israeli soldiers deliberately sabotaged equipment at al-Shifa Hospital, including ECG and MRI machines, according to Palestinian health ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qudra. 

Qudra said in a statement on Sunday that 259 patients remained at al-Shifa, unable to move.

He added that 31 premature babies were evacuated from the facility to southern Gaza, from where they will be transferred to Egypt with their families.

The spokesperson said that hospitals were overwhelmed in both the north and south, and that makeshift hospitals were needed to treat the huge numbers wounded by Israeli attacks. 

Large numbers of people were sheltering at hospitals, he added, leading to unhygienic conditions and the risk of disease outbreaks. 

Just a few weeks ago, carts drawn by donkeys and horses were a rare sight in the Gaza Strip.

But as the Israeli military wreaked destruction across Gaza and besieged an already blockaded territory, a suffocating lack of fuel has made it impossible for people to move around the strip in their cars.

People have suddenly found themselves forced to rely on animal-led carts as the main means of transport.

"Prior to the war, we practically only used carts to roam the neighbourhood and sell vegetables, fruits and certain products. Today, people need them as a means of transportation," Abu Mohammed Azaiza, an owner of a cart and a horse, told Middle East Eye. 

MEE journalist Maha Hussaini reports from Gaza on how carts have become the main mode of transport.

Read more: In Gaza, people replace cars with animal-drawn carts

The Cricket World Cup final in the Indian city of Ahmedabad was temporarily halted on Sunday after a pro-Palestinian protester took to the pitch. 

The protester wore a t-shirt with "Stop bombing Palestine" on the front and "Free Palestine" on the back. 

He approached Indian star Virat Kohli, before being taken away by security guards. 

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) announced on Sunday that 31 premature babies have been evacuated from al-Shifa Hospital - Gaza's largest medical facility - to a hospital in southern Gaza. 

It said that the evacuation was done in coordination with the World Health Organisation and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. 

"They were transported by PRCS ambulances to the south, preparing for their transfer to the Emirates Hospital in Rafah," the Red Crescent wrote on X. 

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has urged Muslim states to "at least cut off political ties with Israel for a limited period of time", the Tasnim news agency reported on Sunday.

Earlier this month, Khamenei called on Muslim-majority countries to block oil and food exports to Israel. 

During a joint summit between members of the Organisation for Islamic Cooperation and the Arab League in Saudi on 11 November, Muslim-majority states did not agree to impose sanctions on Israel as requested by Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi.

Jordan's King Abdullah said the international community should push for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza to stop a humanitarian catastrophe caused by Israel's "ugly war against civilians".

In remarks made during a meeting with European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen on Sunday, King Abdullah said global powers should force Israel to comply with international law to protect civilians.

He added that the international community must ensure Israel heeds calls to allow the uninterrupted flow of aid into the besieged enclave.

Qatar's prime minister has said that the main sticking points in a deal for the release of dozens of Israeli hostages in Gaza were now "very minor" and mainly practical and logistical issues.

It followed a report in the Washington Post stating a deal for the release of 50 hostages had been agreed. The White House denied that such an agreement had been reached yet.

"The challenges facing the agreement are just practical and logistical," Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani said at a joint press conference with EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell in Doha.

"The deal is going through ups and downs from time to time throughout the last few weeks. But I think that you know I'm now more confident that we are close enough to reach a deal that can bring the people safely back to their home."

The Washington Post, citing people familiar with the deal, reported that Israel, the US and Hamas had reached a tentative agreement to free dozens of women and children held hostage in exchange for a five-day pause in fighting.

But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denied that a deal had been reached yet.

A survey carried out by Israel's Channel 12 has found considerable support among Israelis for the re-establishment of illegal Israeli settlements in Gaza. 

Given a direct choice as to whether they favoured settlements, 44 percent said they were in favour, while 39 percent were against. The poll surveyed 502 people.

Asked what they think should happen after the war, 32 percent said that "Israel should remain permanently [in Gaza] and renew Jewish settlement", 30 percent favoured handing Gaza "to international trusteeship", 14 percent said Israel should "maintain a permanent military presence", while 10 percent said it should be "handed over for rule by the Palestinian Authority".

Fourteen percent said they did not know.

In 2005, Israel relocated around 8,000 Jewish settlers and Israeli soldiers living in 21 settlements around Gaza to the occupied West Bank.

Yahya Sarea, a spokesperson for Yemen's Houthis, has said the group will target all ships operated or owned by Israeli companies or carrying the Israeli flag, according to the group's Telegram channel on Sunday.

Sarea called on all countries to withdraw their citizens working on any such ships.