 "Hostage, Hostages")
Hamas set free two more civilian hostages on Monday, but negotiations over a possible release of a group of 50 captives stumbled over the militant group’s demand that Israel allow fuel deliveries into Gaza, according to officials familiar with the talks.
Hamas said it was releasing the two hostages on humanitarian grounds. Egyptian officials confirmed that the two hostages were released at Gaza’s Rafah border crossing.
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On Tuesday, Israel said it had launched 400 airstrikes over the past day, killing Hamas commanders, hitting militants as they were preparing to launch rockets into Israel and striking command centres and a Hamas tunnel shaft.
The previous day, Israel reported 320 strikes. Witnesses and health officials said many of the airstrikes hit residential buildings, some of them in southern Gaza where Israel had told civilians to take shelter.
An overnight strike hit a four-story residential building in the southern city of Khan Younis, killing at least 32 people and wounding scores of others, according to survivors.
The United Nations urged Israel to allow more aid into Gaza, trapped in a humanitarian crisis after two weeks of intense Israeli attacks, saying the aid let in so far met a tiny fraction of the needs, and fuel, still blocked, was crucial.
“We are on our knees asking for that sustained, scaled up, protected humanitarian operation,” said Rick Brennan, WHO regional emergencies director for Eastern Mediterranean Region.
There appeared to be little prospect of a ceasefire any time soon in the bloodiest episode in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in decades. Scores of Palestinian civilians were killed or wounded overnight, medical officials in Gaza said.
The Palestinian health ministry said more than 5,000 people have been killed in Gaza by two weeks of Israeli air strikes unleashed in response to a devastating Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7. The Islamist militant group killed more than 1,400 people — mostly civilians — in a single day.
Hamas on Monday freed two Israeli women who were among the more than 200 hostages taken during the assault. They were the third and fourth hostages to be released.
Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, she was well-treated during her two-week captivity in Gaza but beaten by militants as she was seized on October 7, and had difficulty breathing. “I’ve been through hell,” she said.
Wide areas of Gaza have been flattened by Israeli bombs, forcing more than one million residents to seek shelter elsewhere in the territory. Food, clean water and medicine and fuel are fast running out.
Medical officials in Gaza said dozens of Palestinians were killed or wounded overnight across the enclave, mostly in southern Gaza, due to the Israeli bombing. At least 15 houses were destroyed, the officials said.
More than 40 medical centers stopped operations after they ran out of fuel and after some of them were damaged by Israeli bombing, Gaza health ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qidra said.
NO green light
Foreign governments have expressed concern that the conflict could ignite the whole of the Middle East. Already clashes have taken place in the West Bank and along the Lebanon-Israel border.
The ruling emir of Qatar, which has tried to mediate between Israel and Hamas, urged the international community to rein in Israel in its fight against Hamas.
Support for Israel came from French President Emmanuel Macron, who landed in Tel Aviv on Tuesday and was meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other members of Israel’s war cabinet in Jerusalem.
Macron said France would not leave Israel isolated in its fight against Hamas but warned against the risks of a regional conflict.
Speaking alongside him, Netanyahu said after the conflict no one would live “under Hamas tyranny” but warned the war would take time.
US President Joe Biden welcomed the release of the two hostages, and also underscored the need to sustain “a continuous flow” of humanitarian assistance into Gaza in a telephone call with Netanyahu, the White House said.
In public, the United States has said Israel has the right to defend itself, but two sources said the White House, Pentagon and State Department have stepped up private appeals for caution in conversations with the Israelis.
China’s shifting stance
China acknowledged that Israel has the right to self defence against Hamas after being criticised over its stance on the war.
“Every country has the right to self-defence but should abide by international humanitarian law and protect civilians,” Wang told his Israeli counterpart Eli Cohen in a telephone call Monday, according to China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency. China’s president, Xi Jinping, called last week for an immediate cease-fire while offering to coordinate with Egypt and other Arab nations “to push for a comprehensive, just and lasting solution to the Palestinian issue as soon possible.”
Google Maps disables live traffic data in Israel
Alphabet’s Google is disabling live traffic conditions in Israel and the Gaza Strip for its Maps and Waze apps at the request of the Israeli military, ahead of a potential ground invasion into Gaza.“As we have done previously in conflict situations and in response to the evolving situation in the region, we have temporarily disabled the ability to see live traffic conditions and busyness information out of consideration for the safety of local communities,” a Google spokesperson said in a statement. Google is removing real-time crowding data in Israel and Gaza at the request of the Israel Defense Forces, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.
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