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

The International Committee of the Red Cross said on Wednesday that it had successfully facilitated the release and transfer of 16 captives  held in Gaza by Hamas. 

The group of civilians included Israelis, dual nationals and Thai citizens, officials said.

As part of an exchange deal under the temporary truce, Israel is also set to release 30 Palestinian prisoners - 16 children and 14 women on Wednesday night, Qatar foreign ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari said in a statement.
 

In exchange for the release of Israeli hostages by Hamas on Wednesday evening, Israel will free 30 Palestinian prisoners this evening, according to Israeli media.

A spokesman for Qatar’s foreign ministry said the Palestinians include 16 children and 14 women.

The Qatari spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs provided further details on the Israeli hostages released from Gaza on Wednesday evening.

He said the captives released included five minors and five women.
 

The Israeli Army Radio reported on Wednesday that 10 Israeli hostages held in Gaza have been handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross. 

Israeli sources familiar with the hostage-release negotiations said on Wednesday that the delay in carrying out the sixth round of the deal and releasing the hostages is due to technical problems.

They added that they are expected to be resolved.
 

France said on Wednesday that the European Union should consider sanctions on Israeli settlers who have targeted Palestinians in the West Bank as an option and that talks at the EU to impose sanctions on Hamas commanders were progressing.

United Nations figures show that daily settler attacks have more than doubled since the start of the war on 7 October. More than 200 Palestinians have been killed in the violence this year in the occupied West Bank, including in attacks by settlers.

"We believe that the international community has a role to play to end these acts of violence which are extremely destabilising for the region, but also harm the prospects for a two state-solution," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Anne-Claire Legendre told a weekly news briefing.

She said no options were excluded, including European Union sanctions on violent individuals.
 

Two Israeli-Russian hostages released from captivity in Gaza arrived in Israel on Wednesday, Israeli authorities said, ahead of the expected release of another 10 hostages before the scheduled expiry of a temporary truce agreement with Hamas.

The two, named by the Israeli government as Yelena Trupanov, 50, and Irena Tati, 73, were released under a separate agreement between Hamas and Russia, Israeli officials said.
 

An independent international investigation committee must be established to look into the deaths of five newborn Palestinian children, Euro-Med Monitor said on Wednesday.

The statement was issued following the news that five premature Palestinian babies were discovered dead when the temporary truce was announced. 

According to Euro-Med Monitor’s documentation, the five infants were abandoned for three weeks before being found dead. Their bodies were discovered in a decomposing state in al-Nasr hospital's nursery.

The hospital’s director, Dr Mustafa al-Kahlot, told Euro-Med Monitor that he had tried to save the lives of the five children before it was too late by requesting help from international organisations including the Red Cross, but he never received a response. 

The rights group has called for the Israeli army to be held accountable for the deaths of the babies and that the Red Cross should also be held responsible for suspicions of negligence in responding to calls to save the lives of children and patients in Gaza.

The Geneva-based organisation stressed the importance of ending Israel’s siege and the targeting of medical facilities.

 

During Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to communities near the Gaza frontier on Wednesday, a meeting was held with several communities, however, many representatives did not attend, according to Haaretz.

Representatives from Kibbutzim of Kfar Azza, Be'eri, Nir Oz, Nahal Oz, Re'im, Or Hanar, Ein Hashlosha and Kerem Shalom refused to join the meeting. 
 

Israeli troops detained a 12-year-old Palestinian child after storming his family home in a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday. 

The boy, Karim Ghawanmeh, vomited out of fear when he realised the army wanted to arrest him, his brother Othman told Middle East Eye.

Othman said Israeli forces blew open the family’s old house in the Jalazone refugee camp, north of Ramallah, at dawn. 

The family had recently moved out of the house, so the soldiers phoned Karim’s father when they didn’t find anyone there. 
An officer told him that he had to immediately hand over his son to the army. 

“We were in great shock. My mother started crying and screaming,” Othman told MEE.

“When we woke Karim up, he immediately started vomiting out of fear,” he added.

Read more: Army detains 12-year-old Palestinian child after house raid 

The handover of more Israeli hostages by Hamas is under way in Gaza, a Palestinian official familiar with the truce efforts told Reuters on Wednesday, the final day of a two-day extension of a temporary truce.

In Gaza’s port area, a once vibrant beachfront location filled with cafes and restaurants, has been turned to rubble following at least seven weeks of Israeli bombing. 

Photos reveal the extent of the destruction to the buildings in the area.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday that he would work with the Israelis during his trip to Israel in the coming days to see if the temporary truce could be extended. 

Speaking at a press conference in Brussels following a Nato meeting, Blinken said the continuation of the pauses would mean more hostages could be freed and more assistance could get into Gaza.

"Clearly, that's something we want. I believe it's also something that Israel wants," he said.
 

The Israeli army confirmed on Wednesday that Hamas has released two hostages held in Gaza, who have Russian citizenship.

The hostages were handed over to the Red Cross.

The two were identified as 50-year-old Elena Trupanov and her 73-year-old mother Irena Tatti.

“According to the information provided by the Red Cross, two Israeli hostages were transferred to them and are on their way to Israeli territory,” the Israeli army said in a short statement.

Hamas said earlier that the release of the two women was a gesture to Russian President Vladimir Putin for his efforts during the war.

Another 10 Israeli hostages are due to be handed over to the Red Cross tonight.

Ramzi al-Abbasi, a Palestinian prisoner who was released from an Israeli jail, described conditions inside the prisons in a video published on Wednesday.

“We have not seen sunlight for sixty days. We have had sixty days of beatings, in the morning, afternoon and evening. In the Negev, the prison has 3,000 Palestinians in it and has turned into a cemetery. Many of the prisoners have broken bones, some have broken hands or heads,” he said. 

“Mentally, and physically we are in a terrible state. This morning, I found I was being released today and I did not believe it, I still don’t,” he added.

He called on the Red Cross to visit the prisons and see for themselves the “beatings, broken bones and sexual assault, verbal abuse, urinating on the Quran, sleeping naked on the bare floor in the cold, no water and no food.”

“We weren't able to shower for 15 days, and I have been wearing the same top for 50 days, we had no hygiene items,” he added.