The truce continues to hold with more captive and prisoner swaps expected, as Gaza receives limited but much-needed humanitarian aid.
Trucks carrying humanitarian aid enter Gaza Strip from Egypt to Rafah as a temporary truce went into effect Friday, November 24 [Hatem Ali/AP]
Here is what to know about the situation on Saturday, November 25, 2023:
Hostage and prisoner swap
- Hamas fighters are set to release a second group of captives in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, according to officials.
- Egypt says it has received a list from Hamas of 14 captives to be released from Gaza.
- Forty-two Palestinians held in Israeli jails were set to be released, including 18 women and 24 teenage boys.
- Hamas has already released 13 Israeli women and children, including some dual citizens.
- The group has also freed 10 Thais and one Filipino citizen.
- Thirty-nine Palestinian women and children were released from Palestinian prisons.
- The Israeli military says the released captives will go through a medical assessment in Israel before being reunited with their families.
Hamas-Israel truce deal:residents return to scenes of devastation
Truce
- Four-day truce largely holds in Gaza into its second day with only a small plume of grey smoke reported over northern Gaza, the focus of Israeli attacks.
- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says for every additional 10 captives who are released, there will be an additional day of truce.
- Under the truce deal, Hamas is expected to free a total of 50 captives in exchange for 150 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.
Humanitarian aid
- A UN convoy has reached two facilities of the international organistion’s refugee agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) sheltering internally displaced people in the north, where it delivered flour.
- Four tankers of fuel and another four containing cooking gas have entered the southern Gaza Strip via the Rafah crossing.
- The Palestine Red Crescent Society says 196 trucks carrying food, water and medical supplies have entered Gaza through the Rafah crossing, becoming the biggest such aid delivery since the conflict started.
- According to the Israeli defence ministry body that handles Palestinian civil affairs, 200 aid trucks in total have entered Gaza after the truce.
39 Palestinian women and children were sent home
Other developments
- An Israeli-owned cargo ship has been damaged in a suspected drone attack by Iran in the Indian Ocean, according to a US defence official.
- The Israeli army says it has shot down a surface-to-air missile fired from Lebanon and targeting an Israeli drone.
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES
