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The Washington Post reported early this morning that the United States, Israel and Hamas have reached a pact to allow the release of women and children held hostage in exchange for a temporary suspension of fighting. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and two U.S. officials have denied the deal, which was negotiated for weeks in Qatar under U.S. auspices and is still being finalized. Earlier in the day, two Israeli airstrikes killed about 80 people in the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The Israeli army has bombed, first, a UN school, causing fifty deaths. The second attack killed 32 members of the same family, including 19 children, in the refugee camp itself. In the occupied West Bank, an Israeli warplane strike has killed five militants from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party. The Israeli army has confirmed the bombardment, which represents a substantial escalation in the offensive against the occupied territory.
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El País
Israel, the U.S. and Hamas finalize an agreement for the release of hostages, according to 'The Washington Post'
Israel, the United States and Hamas have reached a tentative agreement to release dozens of women and children held hostage in Gaza in exchange for a five-day pause in fighting, The Washington Post reported, citing sources close to the negotiations.
However, both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. officials said no deal has yet materialized.
The release of the hostages could begin in the coming days, barring any last-minute setbacks, according to people familiar with the detailed six-page agreement, the newspaper reported late Saturday.
The information comes at a time when Israel appears to be preparing to expand its offensive against Hamas militants in southern Gaza, after airstrikes killed dozens of Palestinians, including civilians who sources said were sheltering in two schools.
Under the agreement, all sides would freeze combat operations for at least five days while 50 or more hostages are released in groups every 24 hours, the Post reported. Hamas took about 240 hostages during its Oct. 7 attack in Israel, which killed 1,200 people.
The pause is also intended to allow a significant amount of humanitarian aid to enter, according to the newspaper, adding that the outline for the deal was worked out during weeks of talks in Qatar.
But Netanyahu said at a news conference on Saturday night: "As for the hostages, there are a lot of unfounded rumors, a lot of incorrect information. I want to make it clear: so far there has been no agreement. But I want to promise you, when there's something to say, we'll let you know."
A White House spokesman also said Israel and Hamas had not yet agreed on a temporary ceasefire, adding that the United States was still working toward it. A second U.S. official also said no deal had been reached. (Reuters)
ACT.19 NOV 2023 - 07:08
El País
Israeli Airstrike Kills Five Palestinian Fighters in West Bank
An Israeli airstrike killed five Palestinian fighters and wounded two others in the occupied West Bank on Saturday, the faction to which the victims belonged, medical personnel and the Israeli army said. Palestinian media said the attack in Balata, near the northern city of Nablus, appeared to have been carried out by a warplane, marking an escalation of the Israeli offensive in the West Bank. The military did not immediately confirm this.
The West Bank has seen an increase in violence in parallel with Israel's six-week war against Hamas Islamists in the Gaza Strip. In a statement, the army said it had targeted "a number of terrorists [in Balata] and prevented terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians." The attack was carried out by one of its planes, the text adds, without specifying the type.
An armed wing of Fatah, the party of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, has claimed responsibility for the five fatalities as its fighters.
At least 186 Palestinians from the West Bank, including 51 children, have been killed by Israeli forces since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that triggered the Gaza war, according to U.N. figures. Eight others have been killed by Israeli settlers, while four Israelis have been killed by Palestinians. (Reuters)
ACT.19 NOV 2023 - 07:08
El País
GAZA WAR
Hostage families redouble pressure on Netanyahu with march to Jerusalem: "The government doesn't even look us in the face"
Trinidad Deiros Bronte
A march on foot by the relatives of the approximately 240 hostages in Gaza, joined by thousands of Israelis, has managed to extract from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday an invitation to the War Cabinet and a commitment to keep the families informed of the negotiations for the release of the hostages. Earlier in the day, a crowd estimated at 25,000 by organizers gathered in front of parliament and the headquarters of the government after walking the 66 kilometers from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in five days.
At the heart of Israel's political power, demonstrators chanted the slogan that has become the mantra of the captives' loved ones and a thinly veiled rebuke to the Israeli War Cabinet, which they accuse of abandoning them: "Bring them home now." Shortly after, Netanyahu made his invitation and pledged to keep the families informed. "I've seen the march to Jerusalem. I want to say to the families: we are marching with you. I march with you," he said at a press conference.
Thousands of people arrive at the heart of Israel's political power after five days on foot from Tel Aviv. The prime minister responds by inviting representatives of the families to the war cabinet and promising to keep them informed of the negotiations on the hostages
ACT.19 NOV 2023 - 01:48
El País
Biden: "The two-state solution is the only path to security in Israel and Palestine"
"The two-state solution is the only way to ensure the long-term security of both Israelis and Palestinians." This was stated by the President of the United States, Joe Biden, in an article published this Saturday in the US newspaper The Washington Post. The president assures that "although it may now seem that that future has never been so far away, this crisis," referring to the conflict between Israel and Hamas, "has made it more imperative than ever." Biden affirms that the path to peace must lead to a two-state solution, "two peoples living side by side with equal measures of freedom, opportunity, and dignity."
The U.S. president does not contemplate the forced displacement of the population, nor the reoccupation of Gaza by Israel, nor the siege or blockade, nor the reduction of territory. "Gaza and the West Bank must be brought together under a single governance structure, ultimately under a revitalized Palestinian Authority," the president said. "Extremist violence against Palestinians in the West Bank must stop" and "those who commit violent acts must be held accountable," he states in his article.
ACT.19 NOV 2023 - 07:09
El País
Israeli Foreign Minister Says Israel Will Control Post-War Strip "At All Times"
Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said in an interview with local Israeli television that the Palestinian Authority's mandate in Gaza is not a viable solution for the future governance of the Strip, and that Israel will control the territory once the conflict ends: "There will be Israeli security control from the Jordan [River] to the [Mediterranean] Sea at all times." Said.
Cohen has criticized that, so far, the Palestinian Authority "has not condemned the October 7 attack." "This authority continues to pay salaries to the murderers of Jews," he added, according to the local Israeli daily Haaretz.
This morning, the EU's High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, argued that only the Palestinian Authority will be able to govern Gaza after the war between Israel and Hamas. "Hamas can no longer be in control of Gaza," he told a conference in Manama, the capital of Bahrain.
ACT.19 NOV 2023 - 07:09
El País
Six Palestinian Red Crescent ambulances stop working due to lack of fuel
The Palestinian Red Crescent has announced through a message on the social network X that six of its ambulances have stopped working because they have run out of fuel. Hours earlier, the organization announced that part of its emergency medical teams are trapped in Al Alhi hospital, due to "intense shelling and gunfire by Israeli soldiers."
ACT.18 NOV 2023 - 19:44
Marc Spanish
Von der Leyen and al-Sisi oversee humanitarian aid shipments to Gaza
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, travelled to Egypt on Saturday to discuss the Israeli offensive on Gaza with the country's president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, and to follow up on the operations to send humanitarian aid to the Strip. At the end of the meeting, both sides expressed their rejection of the forced displacement of Gazans and stressed that the only long-term solution to the Palestinian question was the establishment of their own state alongside Israel. Al-Sisi has also reiterated the need to announce an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, according to his spokesman, Ahmed Fahmy, but von der Leyen has not echoed this call.
After meeting with al-Sisi in Cairo, the President of the European Commission travelled to the airport in the city of Al Arish, designated by the Egyptian authorities as a logistics centre for the shipment of humanitarian aid to Gaza. There he has received a new shipment of supplies sent by the EU to Gaza, and said Brussels has so far organised 15 such flights. Von der Leyen has stated, however, that the volumes of aid reaching the Strip "must increase" – although she has avoided pointing out the obstacles put in place by Israel – and has indicated that one option to do so would be to open a maritime corridor from Cyprus.
"I am happy to be able to deliver EU aid to the Egyptian Red Crescent," he told reporters. "We all agree that more aid needs to reach the Palestinian people in Gaza. We are providing additional logistical support to Egypt and supporting efforts to find additional routes," he added. The EU leader assured that among the material sent there is "medical equipment to treat wounded civilians in Gaza" and recalled that "Team Europe is the largest donor of aid for the Palestinian people".
Von der Leyen's visit to Egypt comes at a time when both sides are negotiating on migration control and to increase financial support for Cairo, which is suffering from serious economic problems with a marked social impact and which the crisis in Gaza could aggravate. The President of the Commission spoke of a "mutually beneficial strategic and comprehensive partnership" between the two.
Von der Leyen's trip to Egypt and her visit to Jordan scheduled for Sunday are also significant because the Commission president has been the EU's most criticised figure in the region for her unconditional support for Israel.
ACT.18 NOV 2023 - 18:03
El País
Russia sends 190 tons of humanitarian aid to Gaza population
Russia has sent 190 tons of humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza. The last batch of the shipment arrived in Egypt during the day to be transferred to the Egyptian Crescent and from there to Gaza through the Rafah border crossing, the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations announced.
The shipment sent includes mattresses, pillows, personal hygiene products and groceries. "The shipment will be handed over to representatives of the Egyptian Red Crescent. They will deliver Russian aid to the civilian population of the Gaza Strip," the Russian ministry added. This is the sixth batch of humanitarian aid sent by Russia to the people of Gaza. (Image: EFE)
ACT.18 NOV 2023 - 17:34
El País
The U.N. says it has received "horrific" images of those killed and wounded in the attack on one of its schools in Jabalia
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has announced that it has received "horrifying images and videos" of the dozens of Gazans killed and wounded in the Israeli bombing of one of its schools in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, which killed more than 50 people on Saturday.
"We have received horrifying images and videos of dozens of people killed and injured at another UNRWA school, which houses thousands of displaced people in the northern Gaza Strip. These attacks cannot become commonplace; they must cease. A humanitarian ceasefire cannot wait any longer," the agency's director-general said in a message on Twitter.
ACT.18 NOV 2023 - 17:30