Israel-Palestine live: US and Israel air differences over Gaza strategy

Israel is considering how to create a new government in the Gaza Strip that would be backed by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

The report says that Israel’s military think tank has drafted a paper detailing "Hamas-free safe zones" that could be created in Gaza and managed by an authority backed by Riyadh and Abu Dhabi.

The article says that Israel and the US have also floated an idea to expel rank-and-file Hamas fighters from the Gaza Strip, by potentially offering them safe passage. 

The idea to give “low-level” fighters in Gaza safe passage out of Israel stems from a 1982 agreement that saw Yasser Arafat and about 11,000 Palestinian fighters belonging to the Palestinian Liberation Organization leave Beirut for Tunisia, after Israel laid siege to the city, according to the WSJ. 

Israel has said it doesn’t want the Palestinian Authority (PA) to govern the Gaza Strip if and when it defeats Hamas. The US has said it wants Gaza and the occupied West Bank to be governed by the PA.

Hamas said that Israel rejected its offer to receive seven women and child hostages and the bodies of three others who the group said were killed during Israeli strikes on Gaza in return for extending the truce.

"This is despite confirming through mediators that this group is all the (Hamas) movement has in terms of detainees in the agreed-upon category," Hamas said in a statement.

Israel has not commented on the claim.

Israel has repeatedly said it intends to resume its offensive in Gaza after the exchange of hostages, but Qatari and Egyptian mediators expressed hope the truce could be extended.

Netanyahu has come under pressure from far-right lawmakers in his government to resume fighting, according to media reports.

Israel and Hamas are signalling they are ready to return to battle as the final hours of a six-day truce approach. 

Hamas' armed wing issued a statement telling its fighters to be ready to resume combat with Israel if the temporary truce expires on Thursday at 7 am local time.

"The Al-Qassam Brigades asks its active forces to maintain high combat readiness in the last hours of the truce," the group said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Israeli media has reported that Israel threatened to “resume battle” if it doesn’t receive an “improved list” of Israeli captives to be released by Hamas in the next stage of the truce. 

Israel’s war cabinet met on Thursday without reaching a decision to extend the truce, Israel’s national public broadcaster, Kan, reported.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is in Israel to discuss extending the truce.

Meanwhile, mediators from Qatar and Egypt have been pushing Hamas and Israel to extend the agreement which has allowed some desperately needed aid to enter Gaza and captives to be released. 

A young Palestinian man was shot dead by Israeli forces outside Ofer Prison on Thursday. 

The Palestinian news agency, Wafa, identified the victim as 21-year-old Fadi Muayyad Badran, from the village of Beit Ur al-Tahta, west of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank. 

Badran was shot in the chest by Israeli forces in the town of Beitunia during a “confrontation” with Israeli forces, Wafa reported.

Four other Palestinians were shot in the limbs by Israeli forces.

Israeli forces arrested at least 10 Palestinian females from the Gaza Strip and transported them to jail two days before the truce between Israel and Hamas was reached, according to a freed female prisoner.

Lama Khater, a writer who was released with the sixth batch of Palestinian prisoners as part of the truce agreement, said the women had been arrested by Israeli forces while they were fleeing from northern to southern Gaza. 

The prisoners came from Jabalia and Sheikh Radwan, Khater said, adding that Israel appeared to target mothers, forcing them to separate from their children.

"We saw the way Israeli officers brought in female hostages from Gaza,” Khater told Al Jazeera Arabic. “They had their scarves removed, and were given ‘war prisoner’ clothing…they were blindfolded and they were confined and isolated from the rest of the prisoners."

Khater also said that Israeli guards threatened to rape her and burn her children. Middle East Eye previously reported that Khater had been threatened with rape by 20 Israeli soldiers.

“Today, the male and female prisoners are living in what can be considered as forced starvation, in complete isolation,” she said. 

“We were all isolated in our rooms, and were not allowed to go outside except for 15 to 30 minutes  in the bathrooms."

A released Palestinian female prisoner has claimed that female prisoners faced threats of sexual assault and that some were subjected to beatings which at times occurred when they were naked in prison bathrooms.

Ruqayah Amra, one of the Palestinian prisoners released as part of the truce agreement between Hamas and Israel, made the allegations during an interview with Al Jazeera Arabic TV.

She said Israeli guards would threaten prisoners, stating, “They would show us fabricated videos, but the girls would refuse to look at them. [The Israeli guards would say] look what we are going to do to you,” Amra added. “It’s something I can’t even talk about.”

Amra's allegations add to previous testimonies reported by Middle East Eye that say Israeli guards have threatened sexual assault against female inmates and assaulted them inside their cells. 

READ MORE: Palestinian writer threatened with rape in Israeli prison

High-profile Palestinian activist Ahed Tamimi has arrived in Ramallah after being released as part of the truce between Israel and Hamas.

Tamimi was detained earlier this month over what her family said was an Instagram post she didn't make  that referenced Hitler and the “slaughter” of settlers.

Tamimi has often been referred to as an icon of the Palestinian resistance.

She garnered widespread media attention in 2017 when she was arrested following an altercation with Israeli soldiers who refused to leave her home in Nabi Saleh, a village in the occupied West Bank. Tamimi was just 16 years old at the time she was sentenced to eight months in an Israeli prison. 

The Biden administration is not seeking to impose any conditions on military aid to Israel, a senior US official told Democratic lawmakers on Tuesday, according to a top Democratic Senator. 

Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen said on Wednesday that National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told him and other lawmakers there would be no conditions on aid to Israel.

“[Sullivan] made it clear that the White House is not asking for any conditionality in aid. So I want to leave that very clear,” Van Hollen told the Associated Press. 

Van Hollen has taken he lead among Democratic senators pressing the White House to ensure that Israel does more to restrict civilian casualties and allow humanitarian aid into Gaza as it receives US military assistance.

Sullivan met with about 20 Democratic senators on Tuesday to address their concerns about how Israel is waging war in Gaza. 

Biden said last week that imposing conditions on military aid to Israel was a “worthwhile thought”, leading to some speculation that his administration was open to the idea. Sullivan's remarks to lawmakers appear to show the White House is not shifted to that position. 

On Wednesday, Van Hollen released a statement along with Democratic Senators Brian Schatz and Jack Reed calling for the administration to do more to protect civilians in Gaza.

The lawmakers said they were particularly concerned about Israel’s plans to take its offensive to Khan Younis in southern Gaza, noting that the city’s population had nearly doubled to as many of the 1.7 million Palestinians after they were forcibly displaced from northern Gaza by Israel. 

“We are gravely concerned that a resumption in fighting threatens to once again renew the high rate of civilian casualties and further deepen the humanitarian crisis,” they wrote.

The lawmakers said they continued to support military aid to Israel, but the assistance “must be consistent with our interests and values and used in a manner that adheres to international humanitarian law, the law of armed conflict, and US law.

“We need to find a better path toward helping Israel achieve legitimate military and security objectives. U.S. assistance has never come in the form of a blank check – regardless of the recipient,” they wrote.

Good evening Middle East Eye readers,

A sixth captive exchange between Israel and Hamas has taken place. A few hours ago, ten Israeli hostages and four Thai nationals were released by Hamas to the International Committee of the Red Cross. Two Russian-Israeli citizens were released earlier.

After a delay of a few hours, 30 Palestinian civilians were also released. Qatar said earlier the prisoners  included 16 children and 14 women. 

There are reports that Palestinian families are again being warned by Israeli security officials not to celebrate the release of family members and have conducted raids on their houses.

In other updates:

• The US said it shot down a drone fired from Houthi-controlled Yemen heading towards its warship
• US President Joe Biden said a 49 year-old dual Israeli-American national was released from Gaza as he vowed to work to free ‘every hostage’ 
• Mediators are gathering in Qatar as they push to extend the truce between Israel and Hamas that is set to expire early on Thursday morning 
• France said that the European Union should consider sanctions on Israeli settlers who have targeted Palestinians in the West Bank and that talks at the EU to impose sanctions on Hamas commanders were progressing
• Ramzi al-Abbasi, a Palestinian prisoner who was released from an Israeli jail, recounted how inmates had been subjected to beatings and sexual assault in Israeli prisons
• Jordan plans to host an international conference to coordinate humanitarian aid to war-devastated Gaza

Israel said early on Thursday it had freed 30 Palestinians in the sixth batch of prisoner releases under a truce arrangement with Hamas. 

The Palestinians were released from prison facilities in Israel, the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, Israel said. 

The release comes after Palestinian media had reported a confrontation between Israeli forces and Palestinians near Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank had delayed the release. 

Qatar said on Wednesday that Israel was set to release 30 Palestinian prisoners including 16 children and 14 women. 

Palestinian media is reporting that Israeli troops stormed the town of Beitunia in the occupied West Bank, delaying the release of Palestinian prisoners as part of a truce with Hamas. 

Beitunia lies between Israel's Ofer prison and the city of Ramallah.

Israel is set to release 30 Palestinian prisoners on Wednesday — 16 children and 14 women — according to Qatar, as part of the truce agreement with Hamas.

One man was injured by Israeli gunfire near the prison, Al Jazeera reported citing the Palestinian Red Crescent.

It added that the release of Palestinian prisoners had been delayed because of a confrontation between Israeli forces and locals. 

An American destroyer shot down a drone on Wednesday that was launched from a part of Yemen controlled by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels, the US military's Central Command said.

"At approximately 1100 (Sanaa time), while in the South Red Sea, the Arleigh-Burke Class Guided Missile Destroyer USS Carney (DDG 64) shot down an Iranian-produced KAS04 unmanned aerial vehicle launched from Huthi-controlled areas of Yemen," CENTCOM said in a statement on social media platform X. 

It added that while the target was not known, the drone was heading towards the ship. 

There has been a notable drop in attacks on US military assets in the region over the last six days amid a truce between Israel and Hamas.

The announcement comes as the truce is set to expire, with mediators in Doha, Qatar pushing to extend the agreement.

US President Joe Biden said he intends to secure the release of every person taken hostage by Hamas, in a clear signal that the White House hopes the truce set to expire Wednesday morning can be extended.

Biden said in a statement released by the White House that a 49-year-old dual Israeli-US national held hostage in Gaza was among 16 hostages in Gaza released on Tuesday. 

“Liat Beinin is safe in Egypt. She’s crossed the border. I talked to her mother and father; they’re very appreciative,” he told reporters earlier.

Negotiations are taking place in Doha, Qatar to extend the truce bewteen Israel and Hamas before it expires on Wednesday. 

A Palestinian teenager, 14-year-old Ahmed Salaima, recently freed from Israeli prison as part of a Hamas-Israel prisoner exchange in Gaza, describes witnessing 'repression and violence' in Israeli prison on 7 October.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Tel Aviv, his third trip to the region since the start of the war on 7 October.

Blinken is set to meet with Israeli leaders to discuss extending the temporary truce that has seen Gaza free captives and Israel release Palestinians from its jails, and how to further boost humanitarian aid into Gaza.

During his trip, Blinken is also expected to visit the occupied West Bank and will likely meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, a Palestinian official said.