Four Thais were released late on Wednesday after two on Tuesday, having spent seven weeks in captivity
Thailand’s foreign minister has met Thai hostages in an emotional welcome after their release by Hamas from seven weeks of captivity, saying he hoped for freedom soon for the remaining hostages from his country.
Four Thai workers were released late on Wednesday, bringing the total released to 23.
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Foreign ministers of the Group of Seven countries have said in a joint statement that they support the further extension of the truce and future pauses in order to increase assistance and facilitate the release of all hostages.
The group urged Hamas to release all the hostages “immediately and unconditionally”.
Continue reading...STC says actors’ demonstration ‘hurt many in our community’ while long-time fundraising board member resigns
The Sydney Theatre Company has issued an apology after the resignation of one of its longstanding foundation board members over an on-stage pro-Palestinian protest by three of its actors.
Judi Hausmann, founder and chair of Sydney public relations company the Haus, announced her resignation from the STC’s fundraising arm, the foundation board, on Tuesday after a 15-year tenure.
Continue reading...About 40 branches in New South Wales have now passed motions demanding a full ceasefire
The Albanese government is coming under significant and increasing pressure from within to take a stronger line on a full ceasefire in Gaza.
About 40 Labor party branches in New South Wales have now passed motions demanding a full ceasefire.
Continue reading...Tamimi, 22, on list released by justice ministry as ceasefire deal with Hamas extended for another two days
Another 50 Palestinian prisoners and detainees in Israeli jails have been put forward as candidates for release after the hostage swap and ceasefire deal with Hamas in the Gaza Strip was extended for another two days – including the high-profile activist Ahed Tamimi.
Tamimi, 22, was on the list released by Israel’s justice ministry on Tuesday. The writer, part of a prominent family from the West Bank village of Nabi Salih, has been a symbol of resistance against the Israeli occupation for protest action and confronting Israeli soldiers since she was about 11 years old.
Continue reading...Recently released Eitan Yahalomi, 12, suffered ‘horrors’ at the hands of militant Palestinian group, according to family member
A 12-year-old boy who was held hostage in Gaza for 52 days was forced in captivity to watch videos of the 7 October atrocities, his aunt has claimed.
Eitan Yahalomi, a French-Israeli national, was kidnapped from the Nir Oz kibbutz with his father, Ohad Yahalomi, who remains captive.
Continue reading...Heads of Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania and Massachusetts Institute of Technology will be questioned
The presidents of Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, three of the country’s most prestigious universities, are set to testify before a congressional committee next week on claims that antisemitic protests have taken place on their campuses, marking the latest window into ongoing tensions sparked by the Israel-Hamas war.
Next Tuesday, Harvard’s Claudine Gay, Penn’s Liz Magill and MIT’s Sally Kornbluth will stand before the House education and workforce committee, a body chaired by Virginia Foxx, a Republican from North Carolina.
“Over the past several weeks, we’ve seen countless examples of antisemitic demonstrations on college campuses. Meanwhile, college administrators have largely stood by, allowing horrific rhetoric to fester and grow,” said Foxx in a statement introducing the hearing, which is titled Holding Campus Leaders Accountable and Confronting Antisemitism.
Officer who reviewed intelligence considered risk of big attack ‘an imaginary scenario’, leak suggests
Israel’s military and intelligence officials were given a highly detailed warning that Hamas was actively training to take over kibbutzim on the Gaza border and overrun military posts with the aim of inflicting substantial fatalities, according to reports in the Israeli media.
The claim made by Israel’s Channel 12 on Monday evening was based on leaked emails from the Israeli military’s 8200 cyber-intelligence unit discussing the warnings.
Continue reading...Israel says Palestinians have been freed after nine women, a child and two foreign nationals were handed to the Red Cross
Another batch of 10 Israeli hostages are expected to be released by Hamas today, in line with the extension of the ceasefire. The Guardian has been keeping track of those released so far here:
A London surgeon has described witnessing a “massacre unfold” during 43 days spent under bombardment in Gaza, saying the destruction of the Palestinian health system was a military objective of the war.
Continue reading...Celebrations as Hamas releases 11 hostages from Gaza in exchange for 33 Palestinians in Israeli jails as truce extended by two days
Eleven more Israeli hostages have been freed from Gaza in return for dozens of Palestinians held in Israeli jails, as the two sides agreed to extend the existing ceasefire by two days.
Hamas released the hostages – nine children and two women – late on Monday, with all of them from the Nir Oz kibbutz, according to officials from the community. A further release in return for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails is scheduled to take place later on Tuesday.
Continue reading...Activists including Cynthia Nixon say they are launching five-day fast ‘to showcase the actions of President Biden’
Leftwing activists including the actor Cynthia Nixon, famous for her role in Sex and the City, have begun a hunger strike outside the White House aimed at pressing Joe Biden into demanding a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
The five-day fast was launched to coincide with what had been the scheduled end of a four-day truce in Israel’s military offensive into the Palestinian coastal territory, during which the Palestinian group Hamas released dozens of hostages. Israel has also released several batches of Palestinian prisoners, most of them women and minors. The truce was later extended by a further two days following mediation from Egypt and Qatar.
Continue reading...President says ‘there is no place for violence or hate in America’ after suspect arrested on Sunday
Joe Biden has expressed horror at the shooting of three Palestinian students in Burlington, Vermont and, amid heightened tensions with the crisis in Israel and Gaza reverberating in the US, reiterated on Monday that “there is no place for violence or hate in America”.
A suspect was arrested on Sunday after the shootings the night before that wounded the men, police said, adding that contrary to media reports the shooter did not speak before firing.
Edward Helmore and Chris Stein contributed reporting
Continue reading...Jewish Voice for Peace estimates more than 1,500 protesters calling for permanent ceasefire blocked cars amid holiday traffic
New York peace activists calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza staged their most dramatic action to date on Sunday, closing down the Manhattan Bridge for three hours as people were returning from the Thanksgiving break.
Organizers with the anti-Zionist group Jewish Voice For Peace (JVP) estimate more than 1,500 protesters blocked traffic on the bridge connecting lower Manhattan to Brooklyn as they chanted “let Gaza live” and other messages calling for a permanent ceasefire in the Palestinian territory where Israel and Hamas have warred since October.
Continue reading...Concern voiced over deeper humanitarian crisis that may follow if Israel resumes attack on Hamas
Aid agencies have welcomed the two-day extension of the truce in Gaza but voiced concern that the anticipated resumption of Israel’s attack on Hamas would lead to an even deeper humanitarian crisis among Palestinians.
Save the Children said it would try to continue to provide what it described as basic relief aid – bottled water, food and essential medicines – some of which it had been able to help deliver during the first four days of the truce.
Continue reading...Palestinian group says it has agreed to continuation of truce with same conditions, but Israel has not commented
A deal to extend the current ceasefire between Israel and Hamas by two days has been agreed after a frantic dash by mediators with just over 12 hours remaining before hostilities in Gaza were due to resume.
Hamas said it had agreed to the extension of the four-day truce by 48 hours after the intervention of Qatar and Egypt, the principal mediators for the initial agreement, and with the same conditions.
Continue reading...Prof Ghassan Abu-Sittah claims destruction of Palestinian health system was an Israeli objective
A London surgeon has described witnessing a “massacre unfold” during 43 days spent under bombardment in Gaza, saying the destruction of the Palestinian health system was a military objective of the war.
Speaking at a press conference in London, Prof Ghassan Abu-Sittah, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon, who will later give evidence to Scotland Yard, told of horrific scenes at al-Ahli Arab and Dar al-Shifa hospitals as they ceased to function and said he witnessed the use of white phosphorus munitions. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have denied using such weapons.
Continue reading...Nofuz Hammad, 16, was on the list of those to be freed, but when her father went to meet her, she did not emerge
Palestinian families, as well as Israelis, have been celebrating reunions, as loved ones held in Israeli prisons return home under the ceasefire deal with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. But for the Hammad family, from occupied East Jerusalem, this week has brought more questions than answers – and more worry than joy.
Their daughter, 16-year-old Nofuz Hammad, was on the list of imprisoned women and children to be released on Saturday, the second day of an agreed four-day truce. Only one member of each family was allowed to go to collect the detainees, some of whom, including Nofuz, were supposed to be released at the notorious West Jerusalem detention and interrogation facility known as the Russian Compound.
Continue reading...Covid tier system introduced in October 2020 and imposed different restrictions on English regions in effort to contain spread of virus. This live blog is closed
At the Covid inquiry Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, said that he was not getting information from the government in February about Covid. He said he was “disappointed” by that.
In late February and early March he was getting information from other cities around the world instead, he said. He said this happened even though his foreign affairs team consisted of just three people.
The government generally does give us information about a variety of things happening. I’m disappointed the government weren’t giving us information in February about what they knew then.
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Hani Mahmoud, reporting for Al Jazeera from Khan Younis inside Gaza, says that people there consider it “an incomplete and unfair truce” as they are being forbidden from travelling from the south back to their homes and families in the north.
He says Palestinians are “taking this opportunity to secure necessities such as food and water. It’s also an opportunity to grieve properly and to hold proper funerals”.
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