Palestinians drive a motocycle past the destroyed building of the Islamic University in Gaza City on November 26, 2023 (Photo by Omar El-Qattaa / AFP)
Qatar Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs H E Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani when asked in an interview with CBS News whether he was expecting an extension to the truce said, “Actually we are hopeful according to the agreement. The agreement has a provision that if Hamas are able to prove, locate, and secure some of the hostages that are within the criteria of the first group, which are women and children, then it will be extended depending on the number that they will have. This is something we cannot confirm yet until we get to the fourth day, then Hamas should present the list if they are available with them.”
Meanwhile in a message posted on X, formerly Twitter US President Joe Biden also said that his administration is working to extend the four-day truce.
“To keep this pause in fighting going beyond tomorrow is our goal – so that we can continue to see more hostages come out and surge more humanitarian relief to those in need,” Biden said in a message posted on X on Sunday, US time.
Biden’s comments came as both Israel and the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) expressed openness to extending the truce, which is due to expire on Tuesday, November 28, 2023.
As the day four begins, watch this page for more live updates
[11:05pm Doha Time] Official Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Dr. Majed Al-Ansari reports that, in implementation of the commitments of the fourth day of the humanitarian truce agreement, 33 Palestinian civilians will be released today in exchange for the release of 11 Israeli detainees from Gaza.
The 33 released from Israeli prisons include 30 minors and 3 women, while the Israelis released from Gaza include 3 French citizens, 2 German citizens, and 6 Argentinian citizens, who were handed over to the ICRC.
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[9:18pm Doha Time] Expected release today of 30 Palestinian children
Hamas released a list of 30 Palestinian children expected to be released today, in a post on Telegram.
The children are from Jerusalem and cities across the occupied West Bank, including Ramallah, Jenin, Hebron and Nablus, among others.
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[9:03pm Doha Time] Al Shifa Hospital's dialysis department functioning again
Gaza Health Ministry said that the Al Shifa Hospital's dialysis department is operational again after Israel’s attacks against the largest hospital in the Strip. Dialysis patients are advised to head to the hospital on Tuesday to receive treatment.
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[9:00pm Doha Time] Qatari minister visits wounded Palestinians in Egypt hospital
Minister of State for International Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, HE Lolwah bint Rashid Al Khater, accompanied by the Minister of Health and Population of the Arab Republic of Egypt HE Khalid Abdul Ghaffar and the Minister of Health of the State of Palestine HE Dr. Mai Al Kailah, visited today at El Arish General Hospital in the Arab Republic of Egypt, the Palestinians wounded during the aggression on Gaza. Read more here.
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[7:30pm Doha Time] Hamas confirms 2-day truce extension
The Palestinian group said in a statement that the temporary truce was extended in agreement with Qatar and Egypt and in accordance with the same conditions.
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[7:15pm Doha Time] Gaza truce extended by two days
Official Spokesperson for Qatar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Majed Al Ansari, announced additional two-day humanitarian pause in Gaza. Read more here.
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[6:40pm Doha Time] Qatar sends five planes of aid to Gaza
Five planes from the Qatar Armed Forces were dispatched to the city of Al-Arish in the sisterly Arab Republic of Egypt, carrying 156 tonnes of aid, including food, medical supplies, and shelter necessities.
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[6:32pm Doha Time] Day 4 pause: “getting close” to today's prisoner swap
Al Jazeera reported that "we are now getting close to an agreement between Israel and Hamas on today’s prisoner swap." It added that sources say 11 Israeli captives will be released in any potential exchange today.
“We think, on the basis that this is always been done in multiples of three, there will be 33 Palestinians [released],” said Al Jazeera.
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[6:05pm Doha Time] Clean water delivered to north Gaza for first time since war began
UNRWA- the UN agency for Palestinian refugees says its aid convoys delivered clean water, food, tents, and urgent medical supplies to areas in the north of Gaza Strip.
Yesterday, our aid convoys reached areas in the north of ????#GazaStrip @UN agencies & @PalestineRCS delivered ready-to-eat food, tents, water & urgent medical supplies.
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) November 27, 2023
This was the first delivery of clean water that reached people sheltering in the north since the war began. pic.twitter.com/mTURaddjFH
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[2:30pm Doha Time] NATO chief urges extension of Gaza truce
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has called for an extension of the truce “would allow for much-needed relief to the people of Gaza and the release of more hostages”.
Speaking to reporters in Brussels, he also said Iran should rein in its “proxies”, in what was likely a reference to Lebanon’s Hezbollah group.
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[12:33pm Doha Time] EU diplomacy chief urges 'long lasting' Gaza truce
The EU's top foreign policy official Josep Borrell called for an extension of the truce in the Gaza Strip, which is due to end on Tuesday.
"The pause should be extended to make it sustainable and long lasting while working for a political solution," he said on Monday, at the start of a meeting of the Union for the Mediterranean in Barcelona.
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[12pm Doha Time] China to preside over Security Council session on the war in Gaza
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi will visit New York this week to hold a UN Security Council meeting on the war in Gaza.
“As it holds the rotating presidency of the United Nations Security Council this month, China will hold a high-level meeting on the Palestinian-Israeli issue on November 29,” ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said.
Beijing hopes the talks will achieve “a ceasefire and an end to the fighting” and make “contributions to alleviating the humanitarian crisis in Gaza”, Wenbin added.
Palestinians check the damage outside the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City on November 26, 2023. (Photo by Omar El-Qattaa / AFP)
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[8:15am Doha Time] Volunteer recalls final hours at Indonesian Hospital amid Israeli siege
As Israeli tanks and troops laid siege to the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza last week, volunteer medical worker Fikri Rofiul Haq faced the choice of evacuating to safety or staying with his patients.
Haq and fellow his Indonesian colleagues – volunteers with the Jakarta-based Medical Emergency Rescue Committee – opted to stay put until the Israeli military forced them to leave.
“We were evacuated via a route used by the International Red Cross with the permission of the Israeli army. There were three evacuations on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and we were evacuated last as we prioritised the wounded who were at the Indonesian Hospital,” Haq told Al Jazeera.
Haq said that Israeli forces deliberately destroyed the Indonesian-funded hospital’s only working generator by setting it on fire and killed 12 people with indiscriminate shelling of the first, second and third floors of the building.
“Before we were evacuated, the attacks got worse and worse, hour by hour,” said Haq, who was unable to communicate for several weeks until his evacuation to Khan Younis.
Palestinian Khalil Zama' (R) hugs his mother after being released from an Israeli jail at his home in Halhul village north Hebron in the occupied West Bank on November 27, 2023. (Photo by Hazem Bader / AFP)
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[7:35am Doha Time] How many prisoners and captives have been released?
There have been three prisoner-captive exchanges since the four-day truce started on Friday.
In total, 175 people have been released, including:
39 Israeli citizens released by Hamas, in three groups of 13
117 Palestinian prisoners released by Israel, in three groups of 39
19 foreign nationals including 7 Thais, one Filipino, one Israeli-Russian released by Hamas
Hamas said that in total, 50 women and children are to be freed in return for 150 Palestinian women and children in Israeli jails under the humanitarian pause agreement.
Israeli media reported that Israel is yet to receive a list of names of 11 hostages expected to be released by Hamas on Monday.
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[6:30am Doha Time] Lines for cooking gas in Gaza extend for 2km: UN
The UN humanitarian agency in Palestine (UNOCHA) has said that people are queueing overnight in lines that extend for 2km (1.2 miles) to refill cooking gas canisters.
The lines were reported outside a filling station in Khan Younis in southern Gaza after Israel allowed aid supplies that included cooking gas to enter the besieged Gaza Strip for the first time since October 7.
But the UN said that the “amounts fall well below the needs” and that people are reportedly “burning doors and window frames to cook”.
