November 23, 2023 Israel-Hamas war

The director of Gaza's largest hospital was arrested by Israeli forces, according to a spokesperson for the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health. 

Other doctors were also arrested alongside Al-Shifa Hospital director Mohammed Abu Salmiya, spokesperson Ashraf Al-Qidra said Thursday.

Abu Salmiya was reportedly arrested while evacuating with a World Health Organization convoy, an ER doctor inside Al-Shifa told Al-Jazeera News, citing doctors accompanying the director.

Responding to a CNN request for comment, the IDF would not confirm the arrest of Abu Salmiya, but said he "needs to be questioned."

"We need to see exactly what he can share with us about his knowledge," the IDF spokesperson went on to say.

A flashpoint: Last week, the IDF launched what it called a "precise and targeted" operation against Hamas inside Al-Shifa, the largest hospital in Gaza.

Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of using the hospital for military purposes, which Hamas and hospital officials deny.

Abu Salmiya warned during the IDF's operation of the deteriorating humanitarian crisis inside the hospital, as hundreds of wounded people, dozens of premature babies and thousands of displaced people were caught up in the fighting.

"The children are starving, and here I mean the displaced children because they need milk and there is no water to make milk for them," Abu Salmiya said last week.

He accused the "Israeli occupation" of besieging the hospital, sabotaging sections and roaming within its premises.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) says it has "not been made aware" of any agreement made between Israel and Hamas to allow ICRC staff to visit hostages in Gaza, after the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this would be provided for the deal.

Sator said the ICRC has "continuously asked for the release of all hostages held in Gaza and for their humane treatment."

"We haven't stopped doing so and will continue as long as it takes," she said.

Netanyahu said Wednesday that the Red Cross will be allowed to visit and offer medical support to the hostages that remain in Gaza after some of them are returned under the truce agreement.

As a neutral intermediary, the Red Cross has not been involved in the negotiations, but the organization says it was involved in facilitating the previous release of four hostages.

ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric traveled to Qatar on Monday "to advance humanitarian issues," where she met with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and Qatar authorities.

The leader of Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah met Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in Lebanon on Thursday.

Nasrallah expressed the "readiness of the resistance on various fronts," the Iranian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Hezbollah said the two discussed "the existing possibilities regarding the course of events and efforts to stop Israeli aggression on Gaza."

Amir-Abdollahian also met Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad officials in Lebanon on Wednesday.

The Iranian foreign minister is heading to Doha, Qatar's capital, after Beirut.

Why this matters: Since Israel began its response to Hamas' attacks on October 7, fears have grown that its attempt to "destroy" Hamas could lead to a wider regional war, pulling in Iran and the militant group Hezbollah, which dominates southern Lebanon.

Nasrallah, Hezbollah's leader, remained noticeably quiet for weeks after hostilities began and Israel's bombardment of Gaza intensified. During that time there was consistent cross-fire between Israel and Hezbollah along the Israel-Lebanon border.

In a speech earlier this month, Nasrallah warned clashes at the border had a "realistic" possibility of escalating into a broader Middle East conflict.

Israel is continuing to strike targets in Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement Thursday, ahead of an anticipated truce to allow for hostages to be released and more aid to enter the enclave.

The IDF said it is striking targets in the northwestern city of Jabalya, and that its drones and tanks had killed a number of militants in the north of the Strip.

The IDF said its soldiers had also located a number of tunnel shafts, including inside a mosque. It said it struck another shaft in an agricultural area in the northern city of Beit Hanoun, where its soldiers located "numerous weapons" and found a tunnel shaft inside a civilian residence in the area.

More than 300 Hamas targets were struck from the air over the past day, according to the IDF, including military command centers, underground tunnels, weapon storage facilities, weapon manufacturing sites, and anti-tank missile launch posts.

The toll represents a slight uptick from the 250 strikes the IDF reported on Tuesday, as Israeli maintains its bombardment of the Strip ahead of an expected truce.

A large convoy of aid trucks has lined up on the Egyptian side of the the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza, on standby for when a truce between Israel and Hamas begins.

The Egyptian Government press office told CNN on Thursday that it's not yet clear what type of aid, or how much aid, will be allowed into the Gaza Strip. 

On Wednesday, Egyptian Government press office director Ayman Walash said a total of 2,222 tons of medical aid had been delivered via the Rafah crossing since the war began, in addition to 6,063 tons of food, 4,625 tons of water, and 1,407 tons of other aid.

He said 378 tons of fuel had been delivered since November 21, he told CNN. 

A journalist reporting for CNN on the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing on Thursday noted there were several dozen trucks lined up at the border.

Prior to the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war, about 455 trucks entered Gaza daily with aid supplies, according to the United Nations. While some aid has been able to trickle into the enclave since the recent hostilities began, the UN has repeatedly warned the current levels are doing little to address the needs of more than 2 million Palestinians living in Gaza.

Some context: A truce between Israel and Hamas slated to begin Thursday morning has now been delayed until Friday, an Israeli official told CNN, citing "minor implementation details."

As well as providing for the release of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, the agreement would also set to initiate a four-day pause in the fighting, allowing more aid to flow into Gaza.

Police in Germany have carried out several raids in four regions on the homes of members and supporters of Hamas and the international network Samidoun, a pro-Palestinian organisation, which are banned in the country, German officials said Thursday.

Faeser said banning Hamas and Samidoun in Germany "sent a clear signal that we will not tolerate any apology or support for Hamas's barbaric terror against Israel."

The interior ministry said it had conducted searches of 15 properties since 6.00 a.m. local time in Berlin, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein, after courts in these four regions ordered the raids.

Germany banned Hamas and Samidoun on November 2, the statement said.

There are an estimated 450 Hamas members in Germany, according to the ministry. While these members had not staged "violent action" so far, the ministry said they had tried to raise funds to "strengthen the core organization overseas" and "influence the social and political discourse in Germany."

It added that the international network Samidoun "advocates the use of violence as a means of asserting political interests" and "denies the right of Israel to exist."

Qatar will announce “in the next few hours” when the truce between Israel and Hamas is set to begin, the Qatari Foreign Ministry said Thursday morning local time. 

A diplomatic source told CNN that the truce is likely to begin Friday, with the earliest time being midnight local time (5 p.m. ET).  

Previously, the expectation had been that the first releases and the pause in fighting would take place as early as Thursday.

The talks on how to implement the hostage deal between Israel and Hamas are ongoing and progressing positively, Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed Al Ansari said in a statement posted on X.

Later Thursday, Qatar's prime minister – who also holds the post of foreign minister – spoke to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a phone call, the Qatari Foreign Ministry said.

Mohamed bin Abdelrahman Al-Thani and Blinken spoke on the steps to implement the truce agreement between Israel and Hamas, the progression towards release of civilians and the importance of increasing aid flow to Gaza, the statement said.

No hostages will be released before Friday, according to the Israel National Security Council.

The first hostages were initially expected to be released as early as Thursday. The start of an agreed temporary truce in fighting is also delayed until Friday, an Israeli official told CNN.

There is uncertainty over the reasons behind the delay from Gaza, with one Israeli official familiar with the matter downplaying its seriousness. They reduced the issue down to “fairly minor implementation details.”

Israel’s Supreme Court rejected a legal challenge to the Gaza hostage deal. Also, the hostage deal does not include the "release of murderers," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday while disclosing more details from the agreement.

Here are other headlines you should know:

The Biden administration is hopeful the hostage release process will begin Friday morning as the parties work out “final logistical details,” National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a statement Wednesday night.

A senior US official elaborated that more time was needed to iron out details related to the locations and routes of each of the hostages as well as the logistics of moving them. 

A decision was made to wait one extra day to minimize things going wrong, said the official, who added Israel made the decision together with Qatar and Egypt, and that the US was consulted on and agreed with the decision.

The official also said the fact that Israel had not yet received the names of the first group of hostages to be released was not a serious issue, but added that it would be more worrisome if there was still no list by Thursday evening.