Israel at war: What happened on day 51?

Margalit Moses, 78-year-old cancer survivor and freed Gaza hostage, was released from Wolfson Medical Center on Monday morning following treatment, the hospital announced.

Moses was released from Hamas captivity as part of the first wave of hostage releases on Friday. 

Jordan Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said on Monday that the work for a two-state solution must begin with "ensuring an end to this brutal aggression."

He was participating the Forum for the Union of the Mediterranean in Barcelona.

Freed hostage Ron Krivoi escaped the rubbles of a destroyed Gaza building where he was kept and attempted to escape the Gaza Strip on his own for days, his aunt revealed to Kan Reshet B on Monday morning.

Krivoi, a 25-year-old Russian-Israeli dual national, was released by Hamas on Sunday evening following the intervention of the Russian government, in addition to 13 other Israelis and three foreign hostages released on the third day of the ceasefire in Gaza.

Krivoi worked as a sound engineer at the Re'im music festival massacre, from which he was kidnapped on October 7.

According to his aunt Yelena Magid, Krivoi was taken by the terrorists and was kept in a residential building in the Strip. "Due to the bombings, the building collapsed and he managed to escape the rubble and break free.

"For a few days, he was hiding [in Gaza] alone," Magid said, adding that she held a 30-minute conversation with her nephew following his return.

She said that Gazan civilians located Krivoi and brought him back under Hamas captivity.

Gazan civilians located hostage during attempts to reach border

"He tried getting to the border. He did not have the capacity to understand where he was and where he needed to go, so he could not navigate the open field. He was alone," Magid added.

"I asked him today: 'How are you feeling? Do you have nightmares?' He answered: Yes, I have nightmares from the party and captivity, but that is good, it means I am handling it well."

Krivoi suffered head wounds during the collapse of the building he was kept in, the aunt further revealed. "He has some other injuries, he is OK. He is being checked," she said.

Minister Benny Gantz and his National Unity faction threatened to cause a crisis in Israel's emergency war government in a demand to cancel the suggested changes to a proposed wartime budget.

The government is set to review Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich's budgetary plan later on Monday. Some of the points of contention raised by Gantz included the NIS 500 million raise in funding for yeshivas and NIS 400 million set aside for Orit Struck's National Missions Ministry, whose contribution to Israel's war efforts was unclear.

Smotrich's planned wartime budget, sources close to Gantz said, are "akin to a poke in the Israeli public's eye."

Gantz sent a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday night, urging him to put a stop to Smotrich's plans. "As made clear in our meeting on November 23, my faction and I will vote against plans to move funds to non-war related efforts," he wrote in the letter.

"These plans will hurt Israel's resilience and the unity among its people," Gantz further claimed.

A Thai Muslim group which spoke directly with Hamas said their efforts were the driving force securing the release of Thai hostages from Gaza during a temporary truce, countering reports that gave credit to the foreign ministry and other negotiators.

Three Thai hostages held by Hamas terrorists were released from Gaza on Sunday, taking the number of Thai nationals freed since the four-day truce began on Friday to 17.

"We were the sole party that spoke to Hamas since the beginning of the war to ask for the release of Thais," Thai-Iran Alumni Association President, Lerpong Syed told Reuters on Monday.

A new front has emerged in Israel's fight against the funding of Iran-backed militant groups from Hamas to Hezbollah: A fast-growing crypto network called Tron that until recently attracted less scrutiny than Bitcoin.

Quicker and cheaper than Bitcoin, the Tron network has overtaken its rival as a platform for crypto transfers associated with groups designated as terror organizations by Israel, the United States and other countries, according to interviews with seven financial crime experts and blockchain investigations specialists.

A Reuters' analysis of crypto seizures announced by Israeli security services since 2021 reflects the trend, showing for the first time a sharp rise in the targeting of Tron wallets and a fall in Bitcoin wallet seizures.

"Earlier it was Bitcoin and now our data shows that these terrorist organizations tend to increasingly favor Tron," said Mriganka Pattnaik, CEO of New York-based blockchain analysis firm Merkle Science, citing Tron's faster transaction times, low fees, and stability.

Merkle Science says it counts law enforcement agencies in the United States, Britain and Singapore as clients.

Starlink satellite units will only be able to operate in Israel and the Gaza Strip following the Communications Ministry's approval, Minister Shlomo Karhi announced on Monday morning following the agreement of a "principle understanding" with Elon Musk.

Elon Musk, I congratulate you for reaching a principle understanding with the Ministry of Communications under my leadership.

As a result of this significant agreement, Starlink satellite units can only be operated in Israel with the approval of the Israeli Ministry of…

— 🇮🇱שלמה קרעי - Shlomo Karhi (@shlomo_karhi) November 27, 2023

"As the State of Israel fights against Hamas-ISIS, this understanding is vital, as is it for everyone who desires a better world," Karhi wrote on Musk-owned X after the billionaire touched down in Tel Aviv ahead of a wartime visit to Israel.

Israel received late on Sunday night the list of Gaza hostages expected to be released in the fourth round of releases from Hamas captivity in the Gaza Strip on Monday, Israeli media reported.

However, the families of those set for release have yet to be notified as of Monday morning.

Coordinator of hostages and missing persons Gal Hirsch said on Monday morning that Israeli officials are in discussion over the list.

40 Israelis freed since Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal implemented

Some 17 more hostages, including 14 Israelis, were released by the Palestinian terrorist group on Sunday.

Since the implementation of the ceasefire deal on Friday morning, 40 Israeli citizens taken hostage in Gaza, mostly women and children, have been freed.

This is a developing story.

Jabril Rajoub, Secretary of Fatah's Central Committee, praised Hamas's October 7 massacre in Israel's south during a press conference in Kuwait earlier this month, a local newspaper reported in Arabic.

Rajoub called the attack, during which thousands of Hamas terrorists violated a ceasefire agreement to invade southern Israel, shooting, raping, burning, or beheading about 1,200 people, "an earthquake, an unprecedented event," and portrayed the attack as a defensive action against Israeli "aggression"- including its response to Hamas's attack. 

Rajoub said that Hamas's attack, part of a "defensive war full of epics and heroics that the Palestinian people have been fighting for 75 years," thwarted a plan "by the Israeli right" to integrate the country into the larger Middle East without the Palestinian issue on the agenda.

In fact, Israel's imminent rapprochement with Saudi Arabia at the time of Hamas's attack is widely said to have included a demand for Israeli concessions on the Palestinian issue to preserve the possibility of a two-state solution.

Israel received late on Sunday night the list of Gaza hostages expected to be released in the fourth round of releases from Hamas captivity in the Gaza Strip on Monday, Israeli media reported.

Some 17 more hostages, including 14 Israelis, were released by the Palestinian terrorist group on Sunday. Since the implementation of the ceasefire deal on Friday morning, 40 Israeli citizens taken hostage in Gaza, mostly women and children, have been freed.

This is a developing story.