Israel-Hamas war: Ceasefire continues, more hostages to be exchanged

Israel-Hamas war: Fewer hostages to be swapped on Saturday – IDF

Hamas is set to release 13 Israeli hostages on Saturday, bringing the number down from the planned 14.

That’s according to an Israeli military spokesman who was speaking to France’s BFMTV.

In return, Israel will release 39 Palestinian prisoners in return..

Those figures are the same as the amount of hostages released on Friday.

Under this new agreement, Hamas will likely continue to release one Israeli hostage for every three Palestinian prisoners freed.

London march: Protester arrested for ‘carrying placard with Nazi symbols’

London’s Metropolitan Police have announced they have arrested a protester in the capital on suspicion of inciting racial hatred.

Thousands of people are taking to the streets of London for the National March for Palestine, organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

In a statement posted on X – formerly Twitter – the Met wrote: “We have arrested a man on suspicion of inciting racial hatred near the start of the protest. Officers spotted him carrying a placard with Nazi symbols on it.”

The announcement comes as police have been handing out leaflets to protesters – telling them how to avoid “ending up in our cells”. 

Red Crescent delivers ‘largest’ batch of aid to north Gaza since war began

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) have announced that it has delivered a convoy of 61 trucks carrying aid to “Gaza [City] and the North governorates”.

Posting on X – formerly Twitter – they say it’s the largest such delivery since the war began on 7 October.

Also on the social media platform, PRCS added that the trucks were “loaded with food and non-food items, water, primary health care medicines, and emergency medical supplies.” 

London’s police force sends ‘clear message’ to pro-Palestine demonstrators

London’s Metropolitan Police have sent what they are calling a “clear message” to protesters ahead of a pro-Palestinian demonstration in the capital today.

In a video clip shared on X – formerly Twitter – the Met listed a number of actions, including supporting Hamas or any other banned organisation, inciting hatred and promoting acts of terror, which would result in the perpetrators being arrested.

Tens of thousands of people will likely descend on London for the rally and the met have deployed some 1,500 officers ahead of time.

Israeli-owned ship was targeted in suspected Iranian attack in Indian Ocean

A container ship owned by an Israeli billionaire came under attack by a suspected Iranian drone in the Indian Ocean as Israel wages war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip, an American defence official said on Saturday.

The attack on the CMA CGM Symi comes as global shipping increasingly finds itself targeted in the weeks-long war that threatens to become a wider regional conflict – even as a truce has halted fighting and Hamas exchanges hostages for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

The defence official, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, said the Malta-flagged vessel was suspected to have been targeted by a triangle-shaped, bomb-carrying Shahed-136 drone while in international waters. The drone exploded, causing damage to the ship but not injuring any of its crew.

“We continue to monitor the situation closely,” the official said. The official declined to elaborate on what intelligence the US military gathered to assess Iran was behind the attack.

Al-Mayadeen, a pan-Arab satellite channel that is politically allied with the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, reported that an Israeli ship had been targeted in the Indian Ocean. The channel cited anonymous sources for the report, which Iranian media later cited.

CMA CGM, a major shipper based in Marseille, France, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. However, the vessel’s crew had been behaving as though they believed the ship faced a threat.

The ship had its Automatic Identification System tracker switched off since Tuesday when it left Dubai’s Jebel Ali port, according to data from MarineTraffic.com analysed by the AP. Ships are supposed to keep their AIS active for safety reasons, but crews will turn them off if it appears they might be targeted. It had done the same earlier when travelling through the Red Sea past Yemen, home to the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels.

During the conflict, the Houthis have seized a vehicle transport ship in the Red Sea off Yemen. Iranian-backed militias in Iraq also have launched attacks on American troops in both Iraq and Syria during the war, though Iran itself has yet to be linked directly to an attack.

Hostage swap to go ahead on Saturday

Fourteen hostages held in Gaza by Hamas will be released on Saturday in exchange for 42 Palestinian prisoners, on the second day of an agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement which includes a truce in the Gaza Strip, according to Israeli officials.

The slated swap comes on the second day of a ceasefire that has allowed critical humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip and given civilians their first respite after seven weeks of war.

On the first day of the four-day ceasefire, Hamas released 24 of the about 240 hostages taken during its 7 October attack on Israel that triggered the war, while Israel freed 39 Palestinians from prison.

Those freed from captivity in Gaza were 13 Israelis, 10 Thai nationals and a citizen of the Philippines.

During the four days, Hamas is set to release at least 50 Israeli hostages – and Israel 150 Palestinian prisoners.

Israel has said the truce can be extended an extra day for every additional 10 hostages freed – something United States President Joe Biden said he hoped would come to pass.

The start of the truce on Friday morning brought the first quiet for 2.3 million Palestinians reeling and desperate from relentless Israeli bombardment that has killed thousands, driven three-quarters of the population from their homes and levelled residential areas. Rocket fire from Gaza militants into Israel went silent as well.

The United Nations said the pause enabled it to scale up the delivery of food, water, and medicine to the largest volume since the resumption of humanitarian aid convoys on 21 October.

It was also able to deliver 129,000 litres (34,078 gallons) of fuel – just over 10% of the daily pre-war volume – as well as cooking gas, a first time since the war began.

For the first time in over a month, aid reached northern Gaza, the focus of Israel’s ground offensive. A UN convoy delivered flour to two facilities sheltering people displaced by fighting.

The UN said it and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society were also able to evacuate 40 patients and family members from a hospital in Gaza City, where much of the fighting has taken place, to a hospital in Khan Younis.

The relief brought by the ceasefire has been tempered, however, for both sides – among Israelis by the fact that not all hostages will be freed and among Palestinians by the brevity of the pause. The short truce leaves Gaza mired in humanitarian crisis and under the threat that fighting could soon resume.

Israel has vowed to resume its massive offensive once the truce ends. That has clouded hopes that the deal could eventually help wind down the conflict, which has fueled a surge of violence in the occupied West Bank and stirred fears of a wider conflagration across the Middle East.