November 23, 2023 Israel-Hamas war

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.

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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. 

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

Another official told CNN part of the reason was Israel had not yet received names of the first hostages to be released by Hamas.

Israeli media is reporting that neither Israel nor Hamas have signed the hostage release agreement, though it is not clear whether this should be enough to pause the deal. 

Even so, no Israeli official has expressed concern the entire arrangement has fallen apart.

Speaking at a Wednesday evening news conference held before the delay was announced, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed confidence the agreement would soon go into effect, even as he offered few details about its implementation.

Earlier, the Israel Defense Forces spokesperson had struck a note of caution over the hostage release process.

The Biden administration will watch the implementation of the deal made between Israel and Hamas, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said on Wednesday.

Kirby said that the administration will be watching “very closely” to make sure that Hamas holds up their end of the hostage deal.

Kirby also offered some explanation into the remaining American hostages, explaining that there are 10 unaccounted-for Americans, and they are all believed to be held captive at this time.  

Three Americans would fall into the women and children category that is part of the release deal, and the US is optimistic the three “will be in at least one of the increments.”

But he continued to express some caution: “We’ll have to watch — the truth is we won’t know for sure until we start to see people moving.”

Pressed by CNN’s Bianna Golodryga on whether there is proof all of the hostages are still alive, Kirby hedged. 

“Our information is limited about all the hostages, including the remaining American hostages. So I can’t tell you definitively that we have proof of life on all of them. But I can say that we have no indication to the contrary. So we’re going to continue to work on this as hard as we can,” he said.

No hostages will be released before Friday, according to the Israel National Security Council. The start of an agreed temporary truce in fighting is also delayed until Friday, an Israeli official told CNN.

Previously, the expectation had been that the first releases would take place as early as Thursday. No reason was given for the apparent delay.

Israel’s cabinet approved a deal early Wednesday for the release of hostages seized by Hamas in exchange for a four-day truce in Gaza.