By This is CNBC’s live blog tracking developments on the Israel-Hamas war. See below for the latest updates.
Israel and Hamas accused each other of violating a truce deal that has brought a pause to fighting in the Gaza Strip. The cease-fire entered its fifth day Tuesday after a two-day extension was announced.
However, the Israel Defense Forces said that Hamas had detonated “explosive devices” near its troops, while the Palestinian militant group claimed that Israeli forces had exerted “field friction” in the northern Gaza Strip in violation of the deal.
The extended deal raises hopes that Palestinian militant group Hamas will release more than the 69 hostages it has so far returned out of the nearly 240 captives it has held in the Gaza Strip since their abduction during the terror attacks of Oct. 7.
Israel has previously said it would consider lengthening the humanitarian pause in fighting by one day for every 10 freed hostages, although it was unclear if these were the terms agreed in the latest extension.
Meanwhile, the first of three U.S. military flights with humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip is due to land in Egypt.
A senior White House administration official told reporters that the plane will land in North Sinai, Egypt, to provide “a series of items, medical items, food aid, winter items — given that winter is coming in Gaza.”
— Abed Rahim Khatib | Anadolu | Getty Images
— Mustafa Hassona | Anadolu | Getty Images
Israel released 30 more Palestinian hostages in Beitunia, Ramallah, West Bank to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Nov. 28.
— Getty Images
Yocheved Lifshitz, one of the freed Israeli hostages, took part in a protest calling for the immediate release of the rest of the hostages from Hamas. Lifshitz and her husband, Oded, were taken from Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7, but only she was released to the Red Cross within Gaza and returned to Israel on on Oct. 24.
— Ilia Yefimovich | Picture Alliance | Getty Images
The Israeli army said Tuesday that 10 Israelis and two foreigners held hostage in Gaza have been released, arriving in Egypt on the fifth day of a temporary cease-fire.
Hamas released nine women and a 17-year-old teenager late on Tuesday evening, the Israeli army said. The hostages will be flown to hospitals in Israel, where they will be reunited with their families.
Around 30 Palestinian prisoners are expected to be released as part of the deal negotiated by Qatar, Egypt, and the United States. The original four-day ceasefire, which expired Monday, was extended for an additional two days.
— The Associated Press
The Israeli Defense Forces’ chief of staff said that the military is using a current cease-fire in the Gaza Strip to “strengthen readiness” despite ongoing diplomatic talks to extend the truce.
According to the Times of Israel, Herzi Halevi said the IDF is “preparing to continue fighting to dismantle Hamas,” reiterating the stated goal of its military operation in Gaza, which commenced following the militant group’s Oct. 7 attacks.
“Today, the IDF is ready to continue fighting. We are using the days of truce as part of the agreement for learning, strengthening readiness, and approving the operational plans for the duration,” Halevi said in a statement.
“We are preparing to continue fighting to dismantle Hamas. It will take time, these are complex goals, but they are more than justified.”
— Karen Gilchrist
-Montaser Alsawaf | Anadolu | Getty Images
Israel’s intelligence agency chief David Barnea and CIA director William Burns are in Qatar for talks on extending the Israel-Hamas truce, officials said Tuesday, according to the AP.
A diplomat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that the deal could also include the release of further hostages.
Officials from Egypt, which has served as a mediator alongside Qatar, also joined the talks, the source said.
CNBC could not independently verify the reports.
— Karen Gilchrist
Finland’s foreign minister on Tuesday called for the immediate release of all hostages held in Gaza and said that a two-state solution was the only answer to the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“There has to be a lasting, negotiated two-state solution for the region, because no outflux of migrants will ever solve the people,” Elina Valtonen told CNBC.
“These people, they deserve to have a lasting and secure peace where they are based and in their homes and we need to take every step necessary to reach that goal.”
Valtonen was speaking in Brussels, where NATO ministers are gathered to discuss the conflict in the Middle East as well as the Russia and Ukraine war.
— Karen Gilchrist
-Getty Images
The Israel Defense Forces and Palestinian militant group Hamas have accused each other of violating an extended truce expected to pause fighting until the end of Wednesday.
The IDF on Telegram said that three “explosives devices” were detonated near its troops in two different locations in the north of the Gaza Strip, “violating the framework of the operational pause.” It added that Hamas operatives opened fire at the IDF on one of the sites, saying that the Israeli military responded in kind. Several soldiers were lightly injured during the two episodes.
“In both incidents, the troops were located in positions as per the framework of the operational pause,” the IDF noted.
Abu Ubaida, spokesperson for the al-Qassem military unit of Hamas, said on Telegram that “field friction” occurred in the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, citing a “clear violation by the enemy of the truce agreement.”
He added: “We invite the mediators to pressure the occupation to adhere to all the truce items on the ground and in the atmosphere.”
CNBC could not independently verify either report.
Egypt, Qatar and the U.S. brokered the temporary cease-fire agreement which began Friday and was initially set to last four days, to allow access and distribution of supplies to the Gaza Strip, and the release of hostages held by Hamas and captives detained by Israel.
— Ruxandra Iordache
Images show the transfer of Israeli hostages by Hamas to the Red Cross in Gaza City on Nov. 27, 2023.
-Stringer | Anadolu | Getty Images
Members of the Hamas Police Explosives Control team search for unexploded shells during the temporary cease-fire, in the village of Khuza’a near the border fence between Israel and the southern Gaza Strip.
-Mohammed Talatene | Picture Alliance | Getty Images
— Getty Images
The Israeli government has approved the inclusion of 50 female Palestinian prisoners among captives eligible to be freed in the event of a further release of Israeli hostages by militant group Hamas, the Israeli prime minister’s office said on social media.
A two-day extension of the initially four-day humanitarian pause in clashes between Israel and Hamas has stoked hopes of further captive releases. So far, 69 hostages from Israel, held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, have been allowed to go in daily batches throughout the limited cease-fire.
— Ruxandra Iordache
The U.S. has pledged to “accelerate and expand” its humanitarian assistance to the Gaza Strip, with the first of three aid planes due to land Tuesday.
A senior White House administration official told reporters that the plane will land in North Sinai, Egypt, to provide “a series of items, medical items, food aid, winter items — given that winter is coming in Gaza.”
“For the civilian population, and these will be delivered by the United Nations to civilians in need in Gaza,” the official added.
Two further aid flights are planned for “the coming days,” the source said.
From Egypt, it is expected that the resources will travel by land to the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing.
— Katrina Bishop
Key talks mediator Qatar is focused on further prolonging a cease-fire between Palestinian militant group Hamas and Israel, following a first two-day extension announced late Monday, which will facilitate the release of additional hostages and the entry of further humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.
Qatar, alongside Egypt and the U.S., has been critical in brokering the first humanitarian pause between Israel and Hamas, which came into effect at the end of last week.
The Middle Eastern nation cannot confirm the number of remaining hostages under discussion beyond the 20 due to be released by Hamas on Tuesday and Wednesday, foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari said in a press briefing, according to Reuters.
Israel has previously said that it would consider truce extensions as long as 10 captives are released each day of the limited cease-fire, but it remains to be seen whether these are the current terms.
— Ruxandra Iordache
The war against Hamas has so far cost Israel an estimated 198 billion Israeli shekels ($53.4 billion), the country’s central bank said in a November update.
Of these costs, roughly 107 billion shekels represent gross defense expenditures, while 35 billion shekels are the estimated losses in tax revenues, and the remaining sums comprise civilian and interest on debt expenses.
Israel mounted an extensive war campaign in the Gaza Strip since the Oct. 7 terror attacks carried out by Hamas and has also been engaged in fire with other Iran-backed countries or governments in the Middle East — such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah militants, Yemeni Houthi and Bashar Assad’s Syrian administration — that support the Palestinian cause. Israel has mobilized up to 360,000 reservists toward the offensive.
The central bank also trimmed Israel’s economic forecast, now expecting growth of 2% in 2023 and 2024, compared to 2.3% this year and 2.8% in 2024 in its October assessment. The Israeli administration previously noted a sharp increase in people temporarily absent from the workplace in October, up to 9.6%, as a result of the Hamas assault.
— Ruxandra Iordache
The Gaza Strip needs a thousand aid trucks daily in order to recover from a period of extensive resource deprivation, according to Ismail al-Thawabata, a spokesperson for the Gaza Strip, according to a Google-translated Telegram updated posted by Hamas.
He added that the local health sector is “completely collapsed,” urging further fuel deliveries amounting to “hundreds of fuel trucks over a period of weeks” and noting that the Gaza Strip’s largest hospital, Al-Shifa, requires 12,000 liters of fuel daily.
The U.N. has previously estimated that roughly 500 trucks of resources were delivered daily to the Gaza Strip prior to the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Fuel has been severely short in the Gaza Strip, leading to the depowering and outages of critical infrastructure and services in recent weeks, such as medical complexes, telecommunications, along with desalination and sanitization units.
— Ruxandra Iordache
The U.N.’s human rights office has noted that deliveries of cooking gas have reached the Gaza Strip but remain below local needs, despite a move to broaden humanitarian aid to the enclave during the limited cease-fire.
“Over the past three days, cooking gas has entered Gaza, contrary to the time before the pause. However, the amounts fall well below the needs,” the office said in a Monday statement. “Queues at a filling station in Khan Younis have reportedly extended for about 2 kilometres, with people waiting at them overnight. Meanwhile, reports indicate that people are burning doors and window frames to cook.”
It noted that the bulk of an estimated 1.7 million of internally displaced persons is now in the region south of the Wadi Gaza wetlands, with aid distribution picking up locally since the truce was implemented. Key infrastructure and service providers, including hospitals and sanitation and water facilities, have been receiving daily fuel supplies to operate generators, the U.N. said.
— Ruxandra Iordache
Marc Ostwald, global strategist and chief economist at ADM Investor Services, discusses the Bank of Israel’s decision to keep it’s rates unchanged at 4.75% and what it could mean for the country’s economy long term.
The U.N. Relief Works Agency for Palestine and the Palestinian Red Crescent on Monday delivered clean water to civilians sheltering in the north of the Gaza Strip, which has been starkly deprived of resources and bombarded since the start of the war.
The two agencies brought in “ready-to-eat food, tents, water & urgent medical supplies,” UNRWA said, adding, “This was the first delivery of clean water that reached people sheltering in the north since the war began.”
Clean water has been a prized commodity throughout the conflict, with supplies sharply dwindling after local desalination units went offline amid fuel and electricity shortages.
— Ruxandra Iordache
There is a “limit” to how much further the truce between Israel and Hamas can be prolonged, an Israel Defense Forces spokesperson said.
“Hamas are primed to play for time, using hostages in order to get a respite from fighting. That’s the formula,” Jonathan Conricus said in a CNN TV interview, speaking ahead of the now-announced two-day extension of the humanitarian pause and hostage release agreement.
“There’s also a limit for this to happen, in the future, we’re not there yet. But we do understand what game Hamas is playing, they’re doing psychological warfare, and they’re trying to buy more time for themselves, not for humanitarian needs in Gaza, but only for their military needs, and maybe to live to see another day,” he stressed.
An initial four-day truce was implemented on Friday and was stretched for another two days on Monday. The extension raises hopes that Palestinian militant group Hamas will release more than the 69 hostages it has so far returned out of the nearly 240 captives it has held in the Gaza Strip since their abduction during the terror attacks of Oct. 7.
Israel has previously said it would consider lengthening the humanitarian pause in fighting by one day for every 10 freed hostages, although it was unclear if these were the terms agreed in the latest extension.
— Ruxandra Iordache
U.S Secretary of State Antony Blinken will return this week to the Middle East for the third time since Israel’s war with Hamas began, a senior State Department official said Monday.
Blinken will travel to Israel and the West Bank after attending Ukraine-focused meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday in Brussels and Skopje, Macedonia, where foreign ministers from NATO and the Organization for Peace and Security in Europe are gathering, the official said. The official spoke to reporters traveling with Blinken on condition of anonymity ahead a formal State Department announcement.
— Associated Press
A Red Cross bus carrying Palestinian prisoners released by Israel arrived in the West Bank city of Ramallah early Tuesday.
Israel’s prison service said it was releasing 33 Palestinian prisoners in the fourth such release as part of the cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas.
The prisoners were greeted by cheering crowds who surrounded the bus as it made its way through the streets of the West Bank city.
So far, 150 Palestinians have been released from Israeli prisons.
— Associated Press
Around 200 container trucks brought humanitarian aid into Gaza on Monday after being inspected by Israel, including a small amount of fuel, according to the Israeli military body that handles civilian affairs.
“Four containers carrying diesel fuel and four containers carrying cooking gas were transferred from Egypt to U.N. humanitarian aid organizations in the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing,” COGAT said in a statement.
The aid trucks brought “food, water, shelter equipment, and medical supplies,” the statement said.
— Associated Press
The IDF said the 11 hostages released by Hamas today are now with IDF forces and in Israel’s territory.
“After they undergo an initial medical assessment of their health, our forces will accompany them until they are reunited with their families,” the IDF said in a statement.
A spokesperson from kibbutz Nir Oz confirmed that all 11 hostages were from their community, which was attacked by Hamas on Oct. 7. The spokesperson noted that 49 community members remain in captivity in Gaza.
The Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum has released the names and ages of the 11 hostages released by Hamas today. They are:
Sharon Aloni Cunio, 34
Emma Aloni Cunio, 3
Julie Aloni Cunio, 3
Or Yaakov, 16
Yagil Yaakov, 12
Sahar Kalderon, 16
Erez Kalderon, 12
Karina Engel-Bart, 52
Mika Engel, 18
Yuval Engel, 11
Eitan Yahalomi, 12
— NBC News
Qatar says agreement reached to extend Israel-Hamas truce for two additional days; freed Palestinian prisoners arrive in West Bank city
