Israel-Hamas war updates: More Palestinian prisoners released

This live page is now closed. Follow the latest on the Israeli war on Gaza, and the wider Israeli-Palestinian conflict, on our new live page, here.

People in Gaza, desperate to buy food supplies and winter clothes, have expressed anger at a hike in prices. Read more in our story here.

For photos and testimonies of civilians in Gaza returning to their destroyed homes as the truce approaches an end, see our article here.

Israel should not be allowed to greenwash its war on Gaza, writes Ameera Kawash. Read more about her perspective in this opinion piece.

We will soon be closing this live page. Here’s a recap of today’s key events.

• Israeli authorities are expected to free 30 Palestinian prisoners after eight Israeli captives were handed over by Hamas in Gaza.
• US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has met Israeli and Palestinian leaders and said he urged Israel to have “civilian protection plans” before the resumption of war.
• At least four people have been killed and 16 wounded in a shooting at a West Jerusalem bus station. Hamas says the two gunmen, who were also killed, were its members. One Israeli civilian was shot dead by Israeli security forces, in an apparent case of mistaken identity.
• A Palestinian man has succumbed to wounds sustained from Israeli gunfire a day earlier near Tubas in the occupied West Bank.
• Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels have said they will resume military operations against Israel if it decides to carry on with the war on Gaza.

A UN resolution in 1947 ended Britain’s occupation of Palestine and partitioned it into two states, one Jewish and one Palestinian.

That plan never went into effect.

Watch our explainer on how the borders of Israel and Palestine have moved since then:

In the wake of the Hamas attack, the Frankfurt Book Fair “indefinitely postponed” an appearance by Palestinian author Adania Shibli, who was due to receive a prize for her novel Minor Detail on October 20.

On November 13, Haitian-born curator Anais Duplan was left “speechless” after his Afrofuturism exhibition at Germany’s Museum Folkwang was abruptly cancelled by the museum’s director Peter Gorschluter.

Gorschluter said Duplan’s social media posts “do not acknowledge the terroristic attack of the Hamas and consider the Israeli military operation in Gaza a genocide”.

Meanwhile, several artists have resigned from their posts at the renowned German modern art exhibition, Documenta, in a showdown that has dominated Europe’s cultural headlines for weeks.

Read more here.

We’ve been seeing confrontations taking place between Palestinians and Israeli forces, as is the norm.

The Israeli forces usually raid Beitunia [near Israel’s Ofer Prison] ahead of the release of prisoners to kind of prevent scenes of celebration that we’ve been seeing across the past week here in Ramallah as people gather from all across the occupied West Bank to take their sons home.

Humanitarian groups, including the International Committee of the Red Cross, should look into the “horrible” treatment of Palestinians being held in Israeli prisons, a mother of one of the Palestinian prisoners said.

In an interview with Al Jazeera, Maysa Ayyash, mother of 18-year-old Mohammad, one of the detainees expected to be released by Israel, said that her son has been deprived of his basic necessities, including food and clothing, while in detention.

Mohammad, has been in administrative detention (held without charge) for the last five months, and his detention would have been extended if no deal had been reached between Israel and Hamas, Ayyash said.

“They took him in the middle of the night while we were sleeping. For 10 days, the Israeli authorities subjected him to interrogation and solitary confinement, and we didn’t know where he was those 10 days,” she recalled.

“I was running after him barefoot as he was taken away by Israeli forces. Now I am very joyful for the release of my son. But this also comes at the cost of the destruction of Gaza and its people. So I can’t really describe my feelings, if I should feel sad or happy.”

The Israelis have not made any formal announcement or confirmation about another extension of the [truce].

The Israeli military spokesperson, Daniel Hagari, at his nightly press conference said that if the deal continues as planned, they are looking to release more captives tomorrow, which would indicate another day of pause in the fighting.

But for all these extensions we have seen, the Israelis have not made any formal announcement themselves. It was rather made through mediators and the Qataris who announced it on their behalf.

However, early Thursday morning, about 40 minutes before the [truce] was about to expire, the Israeli army released a statement saying there would be an additional day of the [truce] – which is today – as mediators were continuing their efforts to release the captives.

So, while all signs could be pointing towards an extension, there is still no confirmation at this time – at least not from the Israelis.

An investigation conducted by +972 Magazine and Local Call has revealed that a loosening of restrictions on the bombing of civilian targets in Gaza, as well as the use of artificial intelligence, have been contributing factors in the huge loss of life in the enclave.

The magazine, through interviews with current and former members of Israel’s intelligence community, as well as Palestinian testimonies and other sources, found that the bombing of private residences, public buildings, high-rise blocks and similar civilian infrastructure was deliberate and intended to “create a shock” that would “lead civilians to put pressure on Hamas”, the report said, quoting one of the intelligence sources.

The sources also told the authors of the report that the Israeli army has information on most homes in Gaza, including how many civilians live in them, and yet continued to deliberately approve the killing of – in one case, hundreds of Palestinian civilians – in an attempt to assassinate one Hamas commander.

“When a three-year-old girl is killed in a home in Gaza, it’s because someone in the army decided it wasn’t a big deal for her to be killed – that it was a price worth paying in order to hit [another] target,” one intelligence source was quoted as saying. “We are not Hamas. These are not random rockets. Everything is intentional. We know exactly how much collateral damage there is in every home.”

The AI system used to generate targets, meanwhile, was described by one source as a “mass assassination factory”.

Mexico’s Foreign Ministry has announced in a statement that one of the two Mexican nationals held by Hamas in Gaza, Ilana Gritzewsky Camhi, has been released.

“The release of our compatriot involved multiple efforts by the Mexican authorities and the intervention of friendly countries,” the statement in Spanish said.

“The Government of Mexico wishes to record its deep gratitude to the Government of the State of Qatar for its fundamental mediation work to achieve the release of Gritzewsky Camhi,” it continued, adding that efforts are also under way to secure the release of Orion Hernandez Radoux, the second Mexican national still held captive in Gaza.

In a separate social media post on X, Mexican Foreign Minister Alicia Barcena also confirmed the release and the continuing diplomatic efforts to release the remaining captive and thanked the Qatari government for its “invaluable mediation”.

📄 México se congratula por la liberación de la mexicana Ilana Gritzewsky Camhi, retenida en Gaza.https://t.co/1QjtKoLF09 pic.twitter.com/HG62sRSf7L

— Relaciones Exteriores (@SRE_mx) November 30, 2023

[Translation: Mexico welcomes the release of Mexican Ilana Gritzewsky Camhi held in Gaza.]

The ministry’s spokesman Majed Al Ansari said on X that included in the captives released today are two minors and six women “of dual nationality”.

Among them are a Russian, a Mexican and a Uruguayan, all of whom hold dual citizenship with Israel.

The Israeli hostages who were released include 2 minors & 6 women of dual nationality:
⁃A Mexican
⁃A Russian
⁃An Uruguayan
They We’re handed over to the ICRC.

— د. ماجد محمد الأنصاري Dr. Majed Al Ansari (@majedalansari) November 30, 2023

Sabrin Darwish, mother of 14-year-old Saif el-Din, says the first thing she is going to do upon her son’s imminent release from Israeli prison is “boost his morale”.

“He’s a child. I’m not sure how he’s feeling. I’m not sure what his mentality is like. Hopefully … he will still be resilient and steadfast despite everything that he has been through,” Darwish told Al Jazeera.

She said this is the second time her son has been arrested. The first time was back in June for around three months. He was “hit” and wounded 10 days after his initial release, she said.

“They [Israeli forces] waited for him to recover and then they came home and re-arrested him,” she said.

In the last five months since her son’s last arrest, Darwish said she was only able to visit him once.

“I was worried that his wound would fester or that he would not receive proper treatment but … things did not get to that stage.”

The families of the released captives – aged between 17 and 41 – have been informed of their return, the Israeli prime minister’s office said in a social media post.

During a meeting with Israel’s war cabinet, Blinken reportedly said that the US would back Israel if it continued its war on Gaza, but warned that the longer the campaign goes on, “the more international pressure will build on both the US and Israel to stop it,” Axios reports.

Netanyahu and other officials told Blinken that they expected a ground operation in southern Gaza to result in fewer civilian casualties. The Israeli military’s chief of staff, General Herzi Halevi, also told Blinken that the planned operation in southern Gaza would take “more than a few additional weeks”, three sources told Axios.

Spokesman Majed al-Ansari confirms on X that 30 Palestinian prisoners will be released today in exchange for 10 captives held in Gaza.

He also clarified that the 10 Israeli captives released on the seventh day of the pause include two Russian-Israeli dual nationals released last night.

In accordance with the terms of the 7th day of the humanitarian pause agreement, 30 Palestinians, will be released today in exchange for the release of 10 hostages in Gaza. The 2 Russian citizens released yesterday were counted on this list.

— د. ماجد محمد الأنصاري Dr. Majed Al Ansari (@majedalansari) November 30, 2023