November 28, 2023 Israel-Hamas war

Our live coverage of the Israel-Hamas war has moved here.

Majed Al-Ansari, Qatar's foreign ministry spokesperson, holds a weekly briefing in Doha.

During discussions in Doha, Qatar, Tuesday, officials representing Israel, the US, Qatar and Egypt were in consensus about working toward extending the current pause in the Israel-Hamas war to get more hostages out of Gaza, a source familiar with the discussions said. 

The expectation is that if everything goes well on the sixth day of the truce Wednesday —and Hamas releases at least 10 Israeli hostages as planned — Hamas could produce an additional list of hostages for the following day, extending the pause for another 24 hours, the source said. 

Negotiators believe there are enough women and children in Hamas captivity to extend the truce by two additional days before the discussion turns to men and soldier hostages, the source said. 

CIA Director Bill Burns, who traveled to the region to participate in discussions about next steps in the Israel-Hamas truce, was involved in discussions with his counterparts about eventually broadening the category of hostages to be released to men and soldiers, sources said. There were also talks related to getting the bodies of those killed by Hamas out of Gaza.

The list of the sixth set of hostages expected to be freed has been given to the Israeli government, and families are being notified, two sources familiar with the matter tell CNN.

This will be the second release in the extension of the truce.

Another group of 12 hostages, comprising 10 Israelis and two Thai citizens, were released by Hamas on Tuesday, according to officials. Thirty Palestinians were also freed from Israeli prisons, officials said.

A 14-year-old Palestinian prisoner who was released Tuesday from Israeli custody recounted his experience as a detainee when the October 7 attacks occurred.

Ahmad said prisoners were provided with two meals a day but said this “wasn’t enough” food and many “slept hungry.” He criticized the poor communication between prison staff and prisoners. 

According to data gathered by CNN from the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society and the Israeli prison authority, the Israel Prison Service, Ahmad had been held under detention but never sentenced for a crime. 

The young boy’s father, Nayef Slaimah, told journalists that he is grateful for his son’s release after he lost all contact with him after October 7. 

“When Ahmad was in prison, we couldn’t visit him,” his father said. 

CNN has asked the Israeli Prison Service about Ahmad’s claims.

Christos Christou, international president of the medical humanitarian aid organization Doctors Without Borders, known by its French acronym MSF (Medecins Sans Frontieres), speaks during an interview in Tokyo, Japan, on June 26, 2023.

Two Palestinians died after Israeli military vehicles blocked the entrance of the hospital in Jenin, denying the patients access to care for their wounds, according to Dr. Christos Christou, international president of Doctors Without Borders, also known as Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).

Christou said he was visiting the MSF team at the Khalil Suleiman Hospital in Jenin in the occupied West Bank when the “Israeli army conducted an incursion on Jenin refugee camp.”

“There’s nothing worse for a doctor to know that there are people there needing our care and they cannot get it,” Christou said in a video posted on X.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) told CNN that clashes were ongoing in Jenin.

“The IDF is conducting counterterrorism activities in the area,” the IDF said, adding that it would not provide any more details until operations were completed.

The White House said it remains hopeful that some Americans may be released Wednesday as part of the two-day extension of the initial pause in hostilities between Hamas and Israel. 

“No Americans, unfortunately, now today. But we’re hopeful, tomorrow’s another day, and we certainly hope that we can see some more Americans come out,” National Security Council strategic communications coordinator John Kirby told reporters Tuesday.

Kirby said that there remains no indication “at all” that Hamas not releasing American hostages is some sort of tactic or leverage, pointing to the small pool of Americans being held captive and the difficult logistics. 

He declined to say more when asked to put a likelihood on whether another extension will be agreed to by all parties.  

Kirby said Israel has an “added burden” as it plans for potential offensives in southern Gaza to account for civilian lives when the truce is over. Israel previously urged thousands of Gaza to move to that part of the enclave due to its offensive in the north.

“So it’s even all that more of an added burden on Israel to make sure that as they start to plan for operations in the south, whatever that looks like, that they have properly accounted for the innocent life — the extra innocent life that is now in south Gaza,” he said. 

The two Thai nationals who were released from Gaza on Tuesday arrived at the Shamir Medical Center in Israel and were met by Thai Foreign Minister Parnpree Bahiddha-Nukara, Thailand’s foreign ministry announced. 

The minister “congratulated them on their safe release and expressed his hope that they would return home as soon as possible,” the ministry said.

The two were also welcomed at the hospital by the 17 Thai nationals previously released by Hamas. 

The hostages are undergoing medical checkups, the foreign ministry said.

A new group of hostages held in the Gaza Strip was released Tuesday as the truce between Israel and Hamas extended into its fifth day. The last day is set to be Wednesday although diplomatic efforts are underway to maintain the pause in fighting.

Meantime, the Israel Defense Forces said it’s getting ready to resume its military campaign against Hamas when that truce ends.

Here’s what you need to know:

The French news agency, Agence France-Presse, released video clips of the handover of the 12 hostages on Tuesday. 

The videos show large crowds lining the street of Rafah cheering and using their phones to capture images as the hostages are paraded by Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters to the waiting Red Cross vehicles.

The scenes are starkly different from Monday’s handover, which a Hamas propaganda video showed happening on a dark and empty street.

One of the Tuesday clips shows an elderly woman being handed over in a wheelchair and some in the crowd could be heard yelling “Allahu Akbar,” which means “God is great” in Arabic.  

Hamas has also released a highly produced edited video showing a similar scene as the AFP clips, but CNN is not showing the propaganda video released.

Correction: This post has been updated with the correct location for the handover of the 12 hostages in Gaza.

An injured man in his 20s was taken out of an ambulance and arrested by Israeli forces on Tuesday in Jenin, in the occupied West Bank, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) Jenin spokesperson Mahmoud Al-Saadi told CNN on Tuesday.

The man had been shot in the leg and was arrested while paramedics attempted to transport him to the Jenin Government Hospital, Al-Saadi said. 

The PRCS’s emergency medical services team attending to the injured man was also held for about an hour in front of the hospital, he said. 

The IDF told CNN it would not comment on the ongoing military activity in the area but it’s expected to continue overnight.

A Palestinian inspects the damages after an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank town of Tubas on November 28.

An Israeli military raid and clashes were reported in Jenin, in the occupied West Bank, on Tuesday, according to a local journalist on the ground and video obtained by CNN. 

Videos appear to show military vehicles near the Jenin refugee camp and sounds of heavy gunfire. 

The Israel Defense Forces released a statement to CNN saying it was “conducting counterterrorism activities in the area.”

This post has been updated with the IDF statement.

The US military will fly three planeloads of crucial humanitarian aid to North Sinai in Egypt to be brought into Gaza to aid civilians, according to senior administration officials.

On Tuesday, it made its first flight, airlifting more than 54,000 pounds of medical items and food to a logistics hub in Egypt, according to US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan. 

The planes will carry winter weather gear as Gaza enters its rainy season — which can be wet and cold and even lead to flooding — with countless Palestinians displaced in temporary shelters.

Some background: The announcement comes amid a pause in the fighting between Israel and Hamas that has been extended for an additional two days to potentially secure the release of further hostages and allow increased humanitarian aid into Gaza. One official noted that this ongoing effort to help supply civilians is not linked to the ongoing hostage deal and will continue when hostilities ultimately resume.

The need for increased assistance is a reality that UN officials have also been emphasizing. United Nations Relief and Works Agency spokesperson Adnan Abu Hasna told CNN on Sunday that the current levels of aid are “just a drop in the ocean of humanitarian needs” and that they need more supplies to operate critical services and sectors like sewage, water or hospitals.

Hamas is “striving to extend the truce” with Israel in the Gaza Strip by using all of the cards it has in negotiations, a member of the militant group’s political bureau said.

Ghazi Hamad said Hamas is in contact with Qatar and Egypt regarding the truce and that there are “efforts being made by other countries to pressure for a ceasefire.”

“We are striving to extend the truce to stop the aggression once and for all, by using the cards we have,” Hamad said in a statement.

The political bureau member said that “so far” there are no negotiations to release Israeli soldiers in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

Under the current truce, which is now in its fifth day after an agreed-upon two-day extension, Hamas will release 10 hostages daily, according to a senior Israeli adviser, in exchange for Israel releasing Palestinian detainees.

At the time of the original deal, Israeli officials said there was an option for the pause to last as long as 10 days, but officials said they didn’t believe it was likely to last that long.

Hamas has released dozens of hostages being held in Gaza over the course of a several-day-long pause in fighting. The original four-day pause was extended an additional two days on Monday, with Hamas agreeing to free more hostages each day.

Israel has also freed Palestinians from prison — mainly women and minors — many of whom were detained but never charged.

Here’s a visual look at the breakdown of freed hostages in the first four days of the truce.

It does not yet include the 12 hostages that were released by Hamas on Tuesday or the 30 Palestinians freed from jails as additional identifying information has yet to be provided.

Residential buildings, destroyed in Israeli strikes during the conflict, lie in ruin, amid a temporary truce between Israel and Hamas, in southern Gaza City, on November 26.

Israel’s military operation will continue until Gaza is “no longer a threat to Israel,” the country’s prime minister said. 

“We are committed to completing these missions: Freeing all of the hostages, eliminating this terrorist organization above and below the ground and, of course, that Gaza must not return to being what it was — that it will no longer constitute a threat to the State of Israel,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday during a visit to an army intelligence base. 

He made the comment before the latest release of hostages on Tuesday. 

The prime minister also vowed to bring the release of all hostages taken by Hamas “without exception.” 

Netanyahu went on to blame civilians in Gaza for “protecting the terrorists,” but did not provide any evidence. 

Hamas denies that it uses civilians as human shields. 

Khaled Nabhan in his home on November 27.

The pause in fighting in Gaza has given many families the chance to return home to retrieve belongings — and in some cases, the bodies of their relatives.

CNN followed one man back to his destroyed home. Grieving grandfather Khaled Nabhan was seen around the world in a widely shared video of his moment of grief last week as he kissed his lifeless 3-year-old granddaughter goodbye.

In the video posted on social media, Nabhan shakes the little girl Reem gently and tries to open her eyes, as if she is asleep.

Reem Nabhan.

Reem was killed last week, alongside her 5-year-old brother Tarek, while they were sleeping when their home was brought down by a nearby airstrike in Al Nuseirat refugee camp in southern Gaza.

Speaking to CNN, Nabhan described the final evening he had with his grandchildren, breaking down in tears as he recalled how they begged him to take them outside to play. He had refused because of the danger from Israeli airstrikes, he said.

In another social media video, the two children’s bodies lay prepared for burial in white shrouds while Nabhan fixes Tarek’s hair.

“I combed his hair like he would always ask me to, like a photo he would always show me,” Nabhan said later. “He loved his hair like that, now he’s gone.”

Khaled Nabhan kisses Reem's doll found in the rubble of his family's home on November 27.

Picking through the rubble of his family’s home on Monday, Nabhan showed CNN where his daughter Maysa — Reem and Tarek’s mother — was sleeping with the children when the house collapsed. She and her sister survived but were seriously injured.

From the debris, he picked up a doll that had belonged to his granddaughter, kissing it. Clutched in his hand was a tangerine that he’d given Reem as a treat, but that she never had the chance to eat.

Hear more from Nabhan as he returns home:

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Moataz Salaima, 15, kisses his mother upon his arrival at his home in East Jerusalem on November 28, after 30 Palestinian detainees were released under an extended truce deal.

A total of 30 Palestinians were released Tuesday from Israeli prisons in Damon, Megiddo and Ofer, the Israeli prison service said. 

A bus believed to be carrying some of the released Palestinians has departed Ofer prison and is now in the occupied West Bank. 

The bus was seen leaving the prison on live footage broadcast on Palestine TV and AFPTV. 

Hamas released 12 hostages — 10 Israelis and two Thai nationals — on Tuesday, according to the Israeli government. 

Some of the 10 Israeli hostages released Tuesday hold dual citizenship. 

Under terms of the complicated Israel-Hamas deal, Israel has to free three Palestinians for every Israeli hostage freed.  

Two of the 12 hostages released Tuesday by Hamas are Thai nationals, the Israeli prime minister’s office said.

The group of hostages released Tuesday comprised 10 Israelis and two foreign nationals, the Israel Defense Forces said.

With this, a total of 19 Thai nationals have been released from Gaza by Hamas through separate negotiations that are not included in the Israel-Hamas truce.

First row, from left: Ofelia Roitman, Tamar Metzger, Ditza Heiman, Meirav Tal, and Ada Sagi.Second row, from left: Clara Merman, Rimon Kirsht, Gabriela Leimberg, Mia Leimberg, and Noralin "Nataly" Babadilla.

The Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum in Israel released the names and photos of the 10 Israeli hostages released by Hamas on Tuesday.

Some of the Israeli hostages hold dual citizenship. 

The 12 hostages freed Tuesday are now in Israeli territory, the Israel Defense Forces said.

CNN also saw four helicopters landing at Kerem Shalom, where the freed hostages are expected to meet with the Israeli military.

Hostages in previous transfers have been flown from Kerem Shalom to hospitals.