By This was CNBC’s live blog tracking developments on the Israel-Hamas war. Click here for the latest updates.
Qatar’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday announced a temporary Israel-Hamas cease-fire will begin at 7 a.m. local time on Friday (12 a.m. ET), with the first group of 13 hostages to be released at 4 p.m. on the same day.
The truce will last for four days, the Qatari spokesperson said, adding that they expect the warring parties to adhere to the terms of the agreement.
Along with Egypt and the U.S., Qatar helped mediate negotiations, which was initially expected to see an exchange of hostages taking place on Thursday.
Tzachi Hanegbi, Israel’s national security adviser, said late Wednesday that the hostage release has been delayed until at least Friday.
“The contacts on the release of our hostages are advancing and continuing constantly,” Hanegbi said in a statement translated by NBC News. “The start of the release will take place according to the original agreement between the sides, and not before Friday.”
Israel and Hamas have agreed to a pause in fighting in Gaza to allow for the release of 50 hostages held by the militant group in exchange for 150 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons and also to allow for more aid to enter the enclave.
What are the details?
Under the deal, the two sides agreed to a four-day truce so that 50 women and children under the age of 19 taken hostage could be freed in return for 150 Palestinian women and teenagers in Israeli detention.
The 50 hostages, among about 240 taken by Hamas in their Oct. 7 raid on Israel, are expected to be released in batches, probably about a dozen a day, during the four-day ceasefire.
Sides to the deal have called the break in hostilities “a humanitarian pause”. The pause will be extended by a day for each additional batch of 10 hostages released, Israel said in a statement.
Hamas said Israel had agreed to halt air traffic over the north of Gaza from 10 a.m. (0800 GMT) until 4 p.m. (1400 GMT) each day of the truce and to halt all air traffic over the south for the entire period. The group said Israel agreed not to attack or arrest anyone in Gaza, and people can move freely along Salah al-Din Street, the main road along which many Palestinians have fled northern Gaza where Israel launched its ground invasion.
Qatar’s chief negotiator in ceasefire talks, Minister of State at the Foreign Ministry Mohammed Al-Khulaifi, said that under the deal there would be “no attack whatsoever. No military movements, no expansion, nothing.” He said Qatar hoped it would “be a seed to a bigger agreement and a permanent cease of fire.”
Who are the hostages being released?
Hamas has not released a full list of names of those being held in Gaza. A U.S. official said the group had said it needed a pause “to locate and determine where people are”. Not all the hostages taken on Oct. 7 were being held by Hamas fighters.
Among the 50 women and children under the age of 19 being released by Hamas are three U.S. citizens, including a girl who turns 4 on Friday, the U.S. official said.
Who negotiated the deal?
Qatar played a large mediation role. Hamas has a political office in Doha and the Qatari government has kept channels of communication open with Israel, even though unlike some other Gulf Arab states it has not normalised ties with Israel.
The United States also played a crucial role, with U.S. President Joe Biden holding calls with Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the weeks leading up to the deal.
Egypt, the first Arab state to sign a peace deal with Israel and which has long played a mediation role over the decades of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, was also involved.
— Reuters
Israel’s economy is expected to grow 2% in 2023, down from a prior estimate of 2.7%, the Finance Ministry said on Thursday citing the effects of Israel’s war with Hamas.
For 2024, the ministry projected growth of 1.6% as its main estimate based on a war that will continue through the year but with the most intense fighting ending in the first quarter and largely contained to the southern border with Gaza.
But a more rapid recovery from the war that would end in early 2024 could lead to growth of 2.2% while a war that continues into 2025 and a slower recovery would mean stagnant growth of just 0.2%.
It noted that prior to the war it was set to raise its 2023 forecast to 3.4%, and the war’s impact would be 1.4 percentage points.
The main factor weighing on growth, the ministry said, is poor consumer sentiment that will likely translate into largely flat private spending, Israel’s main growth driver, while exports look to dip 0.6% this year.
The economy grew 6.5% in 2022.
“The war situation is characterized by particularly high levels of uncertainty, but its impact on the economy goes beyond any security incident experienced by the State of Israel during the last two decades,” said a report from the ministry’s chief economist’s office ahead of discussions to update the state budget for 2023 and 2024.
— Reuters
Photos published via Getty Images on Thursday shows the damage sustained in the Gaza Strip amid Israel’s ongoing military campaign, a collapsed residential area of the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza and smoke billowing after an Israeli airstrike in northern Gaza.
— Sam Meredith
Recently appointed British Foreign Minister David Cameron expressed hope that a hostage release and humanitarian deal agreed between Israel and Hamas “can be delivered,” according to a Google-translated readout from the Israeli prime minister’s office.
“Today, obviously, it’s important we talk about this potential humanitarian pause. I think it’s an opportunity to crucially get hostages out and to get aid into Gaza. There’s never an excuse for this sort of hostage taking. All the hostages should be released,” Cameron said.
“I hope everyone who’s responsible and behind this agreement can make it happen, to bring relief to those families, including, of course, there are British nationals who have been taken hostage. And so that, let’s hope that that can be delivered. “
Cameron was in Israel on Thursday, in a trip that included a visit to the Kibbutz Be’eri community, one of the sites ravaged by the Hamas terror attack of Oct. 7.
— Ruxandra Iordache
The limited four-day humanitarian pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas will begin at 7 a.m. local time on Friday, a Qatari spokesperson said, according to a NBC News translation.
The first batch of hostages will be released at 4 p.m. local time.
Qatar, Egypt and the U.S. were mediators in the agreement struck between the two warring parties, which was initially expected to see an exchange of hostages taking place on Thursday.
The deal sets out that 50 hostages taken by Hamas during the terror attacks of Oct. 7 will be swapped for Palestinian people detained by Israel.
— Ruxandra Iordache
The Israel Defence Forces and Israel Security Agent said the director of the Al-Shifa hospital, Dr. Muhammad Abu Salamiya, was “apprehended and transferred for ISA questioning following evidence showing that the Shifa Hospital, under his direct management, served as a Hamas command and control center,” according to a statement.
The director was detained during the checkpoint inspections of a convoy carrying out the evacuation of 190 people from the Al-Shifa hospital. The effort was a joint collaboration between the Palestine Red Crescent Society and U.N. teams
“The Hamas terror tunnel network situated under the hospital also exploited electricity and resources taken from the hospital. In addition, Hamas stored numerous weapons inside the hospital and on the hospital grounds,” the IDF and ISA statement said.
Addressing the detained doctor, the Israeli forces said, “In the hospital, under his management, there was extensive Hamas terrorist activity. Findings of his involvement in terrorist activity will determine whether he will be subject to further ISA questioning.”
Israel has accused medical personnel of being aware of Hamas operatives using the Al-Shifa hospital for military purposes — which health staff deny.
The Gaza health ministry affiliated with Hamas has called the World Health Organization to account and demanded the release of the detainee and a report on the arrest incident, saying it would no longer coordinate evacuations until these conditions are met, according to a Hamas update on Telegram.
— Ruxandra Iordache
Photos published via Getty Images on Thursday shows the damage sustained in the Gaza Strip amid Israel’s ongoing military campaign, a collapsed residential area of the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza and smoke billowing after an Israeli airstrike in northern Gaza.
— Sam Meredith
The chief of staff of the Israeli military has told the armed forces that the war against Palestinian militant group Hamas is not coming to an end, while anticipation mounts over the expected start of a hostage release agreement and a humanitarian pause in fighting.
“We are not ending the war – we continue until victory, and go forward and continue in other areas of Hamas,” Herzi Halevi told soldiers, according to a Google-translated update from the Israeli Defense Forces.
Addressing the forces, he added that he is “very proud of you, you are doing an outstanding job.”
Israel has continued its ground incursion and bombardment of the Gaza Strip in recent hours, with the IDF saying in an operational update that it has struck over 300 Hamas positions over the last day.
— Ruxandra Iordache
Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has met with the leader of Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which Tehran supports, according to a Google-translated report from Iran’s state-run Islamic Republic News Agency.
The meeting with Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah came about during the Iranian foreign minister’s visit to Lebanon. The two discussed developments in the Palestinian territories and in Lebanon, as well as “efforts made to stop the aggression” of Israel in the Gaza Strip, the media agency said.
Hezbollah has been trading fire with Israeli military since the early days of the conflict against Hamas, with the Lebanese group citing solidarity with the Palestinian people. Tensions escalated earlier this week, when an Israeli strike killed two journalists of Lebanese state media outlet Al Mayadeen, drawing condemnation against Israel from the Hezbollah-aligned prime minister of Lebanon, Najib Mikati.
— Ruxandra Iordache
The Israel Defense Forces said that over the past day they struck over 300 Hamas targets, including military command centers, underground tunnels, weapon storage depots and manufacturing sites, along with anti-tank missile launch posts.
In a Telegram post, the Israeli military added that it is striking “terror targets” in the area of Jabalia, an area in the north of the Gaza Strip that is home to the largest of the enclave’s refugee camps.
The IDF has continued its military campaign ahead of the implementation of a hostage release deal that will also involve a temporary four-day cease-fire.
CNBC could not independently verify developments on the ground.
— Ruxandra Iordache
The Ministry of Health affiliated with Hamas will stop coordinating with the World Health Organization on evacuations until the international agency submits a report on recent Israeli detainments of medical personnel and the aforementioned staff are released, Hamas said in a Google-translated Telegram update.
This comes after a medical convoy that evacuated 190 people from the Al-Shifa hospital was held up and inspected by Israeli forces at a checkpoint, leading to the detainment of medical staff. Dr. Muhammad Abu Salamiya, head of Al-Shifa, was reportedly detained.
The Gaza Health Ministry says it has yet to receive a report from the WHO on the incident and the number of medical personnel affected.
— Ruxandra Iordache
Recently-appointed British Foreign Secretary David Cameron made a visit to southern Israel Thursday, where he observed damage at Kibbutz Be’eri, one of the communities ravaged by the Hamas terror attack of Oct. 7.
Cameron was accompanied by Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Eli Cohen. In a post on social media platform X, the former British prime minister wrote: “I wanted to come here to see it for myself; I have heard and seen things I will never forget.”
He added: “Today is also a day where we hope to see progress on the humanitarian pause. This is a crucial opportunity to get hostages out and aid in to Gaza, to help Palestinian civilians who are facing a growing humanitarian crisis.”
Cameron is due to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shortly, according to Sky News.
— Natasha Turak
The Gaza Ministry of Health holds the United Nations responsible for Israel’s attacks on the Al-Shifa hospital, its spokesperson, Dr. Ashraf Al-Qudra, said Thursday.
Speaking to Al Jazeera Arabic, Al-Qudra said the ministry holds the United Nations responsible “for the attack on patients and medical staff at Al-Shifa Hospital.”
“We decided to stop coordination with the World Health Organization in evacuating the wounded and medical personnel,” he added, according to a translation by NBC News.
It comes after weeks of Israeli bombardment targeting Al-Shifa, the largest medical facility in the Gaza Strip. Israel says Hamas used the hospital as a military base, and claims to have found evidence proving this. CNBC has not been able to verify the reports, and the WHO did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The United Nations and its health agency, the World Health Organization, have been involved in evacuations from the hospital, including the high-profile case of 31 at-risk babies. They have also strongly criticized the military targeting of the medical facility and described it as a “death zone” in an update earlier this week.
— Katrina Bishop
Israeli forces arrested the head of Gaza’s Al-Shifa hospital, health authorities in the besieged enclave confirmed to NBC News.
“The occupation army arrested Dr. Muhammad Abu Salamiya, Director General of Al-Shifa Medical Complex, while he was moving with the wounded on Salah Al-Din Street,” said a spokesman for the Gaza Ministry of Health, a department in the Hamas-controlled government.
He added that the health ministry does not know how many other people were arrested.
Hamas, on its official Telegram channel, rebuked the arrest.
“We strongly condemn the arrest of the director of Al-Shifa Hospital and his fellow doctors, and we call on the Red Cross and international organizations to work for their immediate release,” its post said.
The Al-Shifa hospital complex is the largest in the Gaza Strip, and has endured weeks of heavy shelling amid Israel’s ground offensive in northern Gaza. Humanitarian groups, the International Red Cross and World Health Organization have all condemned Israel’s attacks on the hospital, which still houses many patients.
Israel says the hospital is being used as a terror base by Hamas.
— Natasha Turak
Details will be announced shortly on a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas that will allow the release of hostages will be announced, according to deal mediator Qatar.
Talks on “the details of the implementation plan for the humanitarian pause deal in Gaza between Israel and the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) are continuing and progressing positively,” said Majed bin Mohammed Al Ansari, spokesperson for Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, according to a statement.
“Dr. Al Ansari affirmed that the start of the pause agreed upon will be announced within the next few hours,” the ministry added.
Qatar, along with the U.S. and Egypt, helped mediate negotiations to secure a four-day cease-fire and the return of 50 captives from each side of the conflict.
The start of the cease-fire remains unknown, however, with Tzachi Hanegbi, Israel’s national security adviser, saying Wednesday that it had been delayed until at least Friday.
— Katrina Bishop
Qatar’s lead negotiator in the Israel-Hamas hostage release talks, Mohammed al-Khulaifi, has laid out further details of the agreement.
His country, alongside Egypt and the U.S., mediated the negotiations that have now secured a limited four-day cease-fire and the return of 50 captives from each side of the conflict. The releases are expected to be mostly women and children and will be spread out in batches across each truce day, al-Khulaifi said in a TV interview with CNN.
“So we managed to get the parties to agree on the releases systematically. In other words, there will be an organized schedule allowing the releases each day, and each party is quite familiar now with their obligations,” he said, adding that a “minimum of 10” hostages will be released on the first day of the truce.
“This agreement specifically focuses on civilian women and children in each side, on both sides. And we hope that within the four days, we will be able to complete the release of women and children in both sides, moving to the safe side, away from this war,” he added.
The diplomat dismissed the possibility of Hamas using the pause in fighting to elude its commitments, saying: “The obligation on Hamas on the first day is very clear: they need to provide us with that list. They’ve been granted that period of calm … that will provide them with room to provide us with that commitment.”
In addition to the hostage releases, the deal will also benefit humanitarian aid, al-Khulaifi said — including now expanding the permitted use of fuel resources. Previously, the Israeli military only allowed U.N. vehicles to use fuel for transporting and distributing supplies, and fueling basic services to restrict the possibility of a pandemic.
“Now we’ve managed to secure fuel being provided for a vital infrastructure, such as hospitals and others,” al-Khulaifi said.
— Ruxandra Iordache
A U.S. vessel on patrol in the Red Sea shot down several attack drones launched from areas controlled by Yemen’s Houthi, the U.S. Central Command said on social media.
“The drones were shot down while the U.S. warship was on patrol in the Red Sea. The ship and crew sustained no damage or injury,” it added.
CENTCOM identified the vessel as the USS Thomas Hudner.
CNBC could not independently confirm developments on the ground.
Houthi militants have increased their activity in the Red Sea since the start of the Israeli-Hamas conflict, hijacking the Galaxy Leader cargo ship over the weekend on suspicion of association with Israel. The ship is operated by a Japanese business and was not served by Israeli crew at the time of its capture.
— Ruxandra Iordache
The Israeli military is waiting for healthcare and human rights groups to acknowledge the validity of its armed operations in the Al-Shifa hospital in the Gaza Strip, following the release of footage that appears to show tunnels on the premises, an Israel Defense Forces spokesperson said.
The IDF has repeatedly claimed it stormed the Al-Shifa hospital and other civilian sites because it believed Hamas had repurposed the locations as command posts. Israel says Al-Shifa contained entrances to a spiderweb of tunnels used for transport, shelter and weapons storage by the Palestinian militant group.
Facing international criticism to prove its claims, the IDF released multiple clips that appear to show tunnels and weapons discovered at Al-Shifa since its campaign.
CNBC was not able to independently verify the footage.
“Ever since we shared this information, this footage, I’m waiting for organizations to come clean,” the IDF’s Jonathan Conricus told CNN in a TV interview. “I’m waiting for the World Health Organization, the Palestinian Red Crescent, for [U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palesitne], and for many other organizations that were fast to criticize us for our military operations, I’m waiting for them to say, ‘Yes, IDF you were right, we were wrong, Hamas has been using hospitals in violation of humanitarian law, and they should be condemned for it.'”
— Ruxandra Iordache
Israeli National Security Council Director Tzachi Hanegbi said in a statement on Wednesday that the release of hostages from Gaza will not take place before Friday.
“The contacts on the release of our hostages are advancing and continuing constantly,” the statement said according to a translation by NBC News.
“The start of the release will take place according to the original agreement between the sides, and not before Friday,” Hanegbi said in the statement.
Hanegbi did not provide an explanation for the delay.
Israel and Hamas agreed to exchange 50 of Hamas’ hostages for a number of Israel’s Palestinian prisoners. Officials noted that no releases could begin until at least 24 hours after the deal had been approved by the Israeli government, which happened just after 3 a.m. on Wednesday in Jerusalem. The 24-hour window is to allow for families of the victims of the prisoners to appeal their release to the Israeli Supreme Court.
To ensure the safe passage of the hostages, Israel and Hamas agreed to a four-day pause in fighting. A senior Hamas official told Al Jazeera on Wednesday that temporary cease-fire would begin Thursday morning, although the timing wasn’t immediately clear.
— Rebecca Picciotto
Editor’s note: The following post contains photographs with graphic content.
The Gaza Strip is the “most dangerous place in the world to be a child,” the head of the United Nations children’s agency UNICEF said on Wednesday.
UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell told the U.N. Security Council that more than 5,300 Palestinian children had reportedly been killed since Oct. 7 – when Palestinian militants of Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking hostages, most of them civilians.
Israel has focused its retaliation against Hamas in Gaza, a territory of 2.3 million people.
“The true cost of this latest war in Palestine and Israel will be measured in children’s lives – those lost to the violence and those forever changed by it. Without an end to the fighting and full humanitarian access, the cost will continue to grow exponentially,” Russell, who last week visited Gaza, said at a council briefing on women and children there.
Israel agreed on Wednesday to a ceasefire with Hamas for four days to let in humanitarian aid and free at least 50 hostages held by militants in exchange for at least 150 Palestinians jailed in Israel.
“Women in Gaza have told us that they pray for peace, but that if peace does not come, they pray for a quick death, in their sleep, with their children in their arms. It should shame us all that any mother, anywhere, has such a prayer,” U.N. Women Executive Director Sima Bahous told the 15-member council.
The Gaza Strip is the “most dangerous place in the world to be a child,” the head of the United Nations children’s agency UNICEF said on Wednesday.
UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell told the U.N. Security Council that more than 5,300 Palestinian children had reportedly been killed since Oct. 7 – when Palestinian militants of Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking hostages, most of them civilians.
Israel says hostage release will not take place before Friday; W.H.O. documents 178 attacks on Gaza healthcare facilities
