November 22, 2023 Israel-Hamas war

A total of 284 injured patients have been evacuated into Egypt since Israel launched attacks on Gaza following the October 7 Hamas attack, according to Egyptian government press office director Ayman Walash.

He said a total of 2,222 tons of medical aid had been delivered via the Rafah crossing, in addition to 6,063 tons of food, 4,625 tons of water, and 1,407 tons of other aid. Also, 378 tons of fuel had been delivered since November 21, he said.

The number of foreign nationals and dual nationals who have crossed the border through the Rafah crossing has reached 7,730, he said. This is in addition to 1,102 Egyptians. 

International leaders have welcomed an agreement between Israel and Hamas for a truce, which is slated to come into effect on Thursday morning.

The agreement would see the release of at least 50 hostages seized by Hamas, including women and children, in exchange for a four-day pause in Israel’s air and ground campaign. 150 Palestinian prisoners will be released from Israeli jails as part of the agreement, Hamas said in a statement.

Qatar and Egypt were key negotiators in the agreement, with both countries saying they hope it’s a step toward a ceasefire and a longer-term solution. The US was another main negotiator, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken saying the deal marked “significant progress,” but vowing the US “will not rest as long as Hamas continues to hold hostages in Gaza.”

Here are other headlines from this morning:

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres says the UN will “mobilize all its capabilities” to support the implementation of the Israel-Hamas truce.

“I welcome the agreement reached by Israel & Hamas. It‘s an important step in the right direction, but much more needs to be done. The UN will mobilize all its capacities to support the implementation & maximize positive impact on the humanitarian situation in Gaza,” Guterres said in a statement.

The UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Tor Wennesland also welcomed news of the four-day pause.

He also called for a continuous stream of humanitarian aid and thanked Egypt, Qatar and the US for their efforts in facilitating the agreement.

“All parties must live up to their responsibilities to uphold this important agreement. This is an important step, but more must be done and I will continue all efforts to bring the suffering to an end,” he said.

After enduring nearly seven weeks of uncertainty about the fate of family members kidnapped by Hamas, relatives of hostages were left with hope and a new set of anxieties after Israel and the militant group reached a breakthrough deal on Tuesday that will see a four-day humanitarian pause to allow the release of at least 50 Israeli women and children.

One family told CNN they face a “terrible week” ahead as they wait to learn whether their loved ones will be among the hostages released. “My family, like all the other families, is going to go through a terrible week. We don’t know if my cousin is going to be amongst those released in this round,” Maya Roman, the cousin of a female hostage, told CNN.

On October 7, Roman’s cousin, Yarden Roman-Gat, 36, handed her 3-year-old daughter to her husband, hoping he could run faster as they tried to flee Hamas gunmen. Her husband and child were able to escape, but Yarden has been missing ever since.

While the exact names of the hostages to be released has yet to be publicized by the government, officials say those freed will be Israeli, some of whom have dual nationality. The Israeli military says Hamas is holding roughly 240 hostages in Gaza, including foreign nationals from dozens of countries, who were taken during the October 7 attack.

Among the dual nationals is Abigail Edan, a 3-year-old Israeli American who was orphaned when her parents were killed by Hamas. Liz Hirsh Naftali, Edan’s great-aunt, told CNN about the “excruciating” wait to hear if her great-niece is coming home.

“For our family we have spent the last seven weeks worrying, wondering, praying, hoping,” she said. The family is holding on to hope that Abigail will be one of the first to be released.

Abigail is the youngest American hostage. She has a 6-year-old sister and 10-year-old brother, who saw their parents being murdered on October 7, Naftali said. They hid in a closet for 14 hours, she said.

Read more about the families who are awaiting the release of their loved ones.

The Israel-Hamas truce is slated to begin at 10 a.m. local time (3 a.m. ET) on Thursday, an Israeli official told CNN Wednesday.

There is an option for the pause to last as long as 10 days, but Israeli officials believe it is unlikely to last that long.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said when the deal was approved that for every additional 10 hostages who are released, there will be an additional day of a pause in the fighting.

The Gaza hostage deal represents a rare moment of humanity in a conflict that has inflicted unfathomable violence on both Israeli and Palestinian civilians.

For the child and female hostages expected to be released during a pause in the fighting and their families, it represents everything — a chance of life seven weeks after a Hamas terror attack on Israeli soil slaughtered 1,200 people.

There were growing hopes, for example, on Tuesday night that American Avigail Idan, who turns four on Friday and whose mother and father were murdered in the attacks on October 7, could be among the first released.

“Our family is hopeful, it’s been 45 days since (Avigail) was abducted and taken to Gaza,” her great aunt Elizabeth Hirsh Naftali told CNN. “It’s excruciating. For our family, we have spent the last seven weeks – seven weeks – worrying, wondering, praying, hoping.”

Hamas said in a statement that 150 Palestinian prisoners would be released from Israeli jails.

The complex agreement was brokered by Qatar, which served as an intermediary between Hamas and Israel in exhaustive negotiations with the close involvement of the United States, and was endorsed by the Israeli cabinet early Wednesday local time.

Nothing is certain until the hostages start coming out. And the sequencing of the agreement means there will be a constant risk of incidents that could disrupt it.

But the weeks of negotiations at least proved that intense diplomatic efforts can accomplish something concrete, even if the agreement is far from the ceasefire that Israel’s critics are demanding internationally after a conflict that produced harrowing scenes of Israeli kids killed in their beds and Palestinian hospitals under Israeli fire.

Read Collinson's full analysis of the Israel-Hamas hostage deal.

The vast majority of the Palestinian prisoners listed as eligible for release in exchange for Israeli hostages are male teenagers aged 16 to 18 – children under the United Nations definition – although a handful are as young as 14. Some 33 are women, according to a CNN count.

The list of 300 names published by Israel also lists the charges under which the prisoners are being held.

Throwing stones and “harming regional security” are among the most common charges, but others include support for illegal terror organizations, illegal weapons charges, incitement, and at least two accusations of attempted murder.

Some of the people are listed as members of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, or the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, but many of the prisoners are not listed as belonging to any organization.

On Tuesday, Qadura Fares, the head of the Palestinian Commission for Detainees and Ex-Prisoners’ Affairs, said 350 children and 85 women were being held in Israeli jails, out of a total of about 8,300 prisoners.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are continuing their offensive in the Gaza Strip ahead of the agreed truce.

An IDF spokesperson said on Wednesday that about 400 tunnel shafts have been uncovered and destroyed since October 7.

The spokesperson said it has carried out further attacks on Hamas infrastructure and continues to target fighters.

It also says ground troops have carried out raids in Sheikh Za'id in northwest Jabalya.

Many leaders around the globe have been calling for a pause in the fighting between Israel and Hamas in recent weeks. Following the news that Israel’s government agreed to a hostage deal on Wednesday morning, there was one word on many politicians’ tongues: progress.

The US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday night that the talks marked “significant progress” but said the country would not “rest as long as Hamas continues to hold hostages in Gaza.”

The United Kingdom's Foreign Secretary David Cameron described the agreement between Israel and Hamas as a "crucial step towards providing relief to the families of the hostages and addressing the humanitarian crisis in Gaza." 

Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong has also hailed the deal as a sign of progress.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel said they welcomed the breakthrough deal between Israel and Hamas on the release of hostages, Michel adding that he was “grateful to Qatar and Egypt who helped broker it.”

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov described the deal as "the first good news from Gaza in a very long time," and added that Russia has consistently advocated for a truce and humanitarian pauses.

China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Mao Ning said they hoped the deal "will help to alleviate the difficult humanitarian crisis, de-escalate the conflict and ease tensions."

Qatar — a key negotiator — said it hoped the pause in fighting could help pave the way towards a long-term solution.

Mohammed Al-Khulaifi, Minister of State at Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that the country's priority was now working on efforts to secure a "long-term ceasefire, end the war and work towards lasting peace."

That sentiment was echoed by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who "welcomed the success" of the Egyptian-Qatari-American mediation in implementing a humanitarian truce, but renewed his commitment to finding a "final and sustainable" solution.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas also welcomed the hostage deal – but renewed his calls for a full ceasefire, according to state-run Palestinian news agency Wafa.

Remember: Israel and Hamas have agreed to a four-day humanitarian pause to allow the release of at least 50 hostages – women and children – held in Gaza. The deal will also involve the release of 150 Palestinians, including women and children, held in Israeli prisons.