Israel confirms hostage deal back on after Hamas delay

The second phase of the Gaza hostage deal appeared to move forward last Saturday night after a delay of at least five hours after Hamas announced that the deal was on hold.

Close to 9 p.m., Hamas stated that “the Islamic Resistance Movement Hams responded to the estimated Egyptian Qatari efforts that moved throughout the day to ensure the continuation of the temporary armistice agreement after transferring then in the commitment of the occupation to all the conditions stipulated in the agreement.”

It had earlier argued that not enough humanitarian aid had entered Gaza through the Egyptian crossing at Rafah and that Israel had not freed agreed-upon Palestinian prisoners based on seniority.

Qatari, Egyptian and Israeli officials had worked to save the deal.

Hamas will release another 13 Israeli hostages on Saturday as part of the ongoing temporary ceasefire deal.

Egypt has received the list from Hamas of the 13 hostages to be released, security sources said.

Israeli authorities say in exchange 42 Palestinian prisoners will be released the same day under the deal. 

Israel pushing to release mother of hostage set for release

According to Israeli sources, officials in Jerusalem are pushing to up the number of hostages released on Saturday by one, after it became apparent that one hostage was set to be freed without her mother, who was also taken into Gaza by Palestinian terror group Hamas on October 7.

As per the details of the Qatari and Egyptian-mediated truce and hostage release deal, families cannot be separated in the releases.

A Qatari envoy plane arrived in Israel from Larnaca, Cyprus on Saturday, Israeli media reported.

The plane, which landed at Ben-Gurion Airport at about 11:00 a.m., was in Israel for about an hour, according to N12. The plane belonged to Qatar's flag carrier Qatar Airways.

The plane was reportedly small, only having enough room for eight passengers, N12 reported, and took off from Doha on Saturday morning.

The plane had stopped in Larnaca on Cyprus's southeastern coast in order to avoid the precedent of a direct flight from the Qatari capital to Tel Aviv.

The plane stayed in Israel for only a short time and then took off from Tel Aviv back to Larnaca.

Hezbollah began attacks on Israel after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7. Hezbollah’s attacks appeared to indicate they were escalating toward a multi-front war on Israel. This is part of the wider Iranian plan to “unify the arenas” against Israel.

Essentially this means Iran wants to bring together numerous groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and also groups in Syria and Iraq to threaten Israel. Iran knows it can’t defeat Israel in a conventional war,  but bringing together numerous types of threats can pose a challenge to Israel, Iran thinks. 

Hezbollah is the strongest Iranian proxy

It has up to 150,000 rockets and missiles, thousands of drones and anti-tank missiles, as well as other munitions. Iran’s own media now provides an insight into Hezbollah accomplishments over 50 days of fighting.

Those 50 days included daily attacks on Israel using rockets, mortars and anti-tank missiles. More recently they involved the heavy missile called “Burkan” which has a large warhead. Iran has frequently praised and highlighted these attacks.  

The Iranian article at Tasnim News, which is close to Iran’s IRGC says that “what is certain is that the first phase of the resistance conflict with the Zionist enemy during the Gaza war has ended, and if the Zionists resume their aggression after the end of the temporary ceasefire, we will enter the second phase of the war, which may be more severe than the first phase.”

A man holds Hezbollah and Palestinian flags as Hezbollah supporters protest in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Beirut, Lebanon, October 27, 2023. (credit: REUTERS/AMR ALFIKY)

Hezbollah has said it is ready for the next phase of the war. Naim Qassem, Deputy Secretary General of Hezbollah has said Israel “will see something from the resistance that they have not seen before,” the report said. 

What are Hezbollah’s achievements. First of all there is an achievement of bringing together various fronts against Israel. Hezbollah was quick to react, likely on orders from Iran. “Hezbollah clearly declared that it will not be neutral in this war and Hezbollah fighters have fought the enemy side by side with Palestinian fighters,” Iran’s Tasnim says. 

Next Iran praises Hezbollah for the volume of attack, which it says “caused Israelis to flee.” This refers to the 40 Israeli communities evacuated in the wake of the attacks, including Kiryat Shmona. “In this way, it can be said that Hezbollah played a significant role in forcing the Zionist regime to accept the ceasefire,” the report says. 

Third, the attacks by Hezbollah also helped to illustrated the “unity of the resistance areas.” Iran’s own media then notes that “Hezbollah’s direct entry into the battlefield against the Zionist enemy was a prelude to the entry of other fronts, including the resistance of Iraq and Yemen…to the extent that none of the American bases in Iraq and Syria were spared from the repeated attacks of the Iraqi resistance.”

Therefore Iran was able to bring together all these proxies during the conflict.  

The report says that Hezbollah’s attacks also increased its political popularity in Lebanon. This means that the calculation to enter the war is important because it was not just about supporting Hamas but also about increasing Iran’s political influence in Lebanon, Iraq and Syria.  

Another aspect of this was that Iran has tried to emphasize that Sunnis and Shi’ite organizations are working together now in this conflict. Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad are made up of Palestinian Sunnis, while Hezbollah and Iranian groups in Iraq are made up of Shi’ites.

“Although the American axis has been trying to create sectarian differences between the Muslims of the region for the past decades and tried to put Hezbollah as a Shia resistance group against the Sunnis…but today we see how the Sunni circles praise the dedication and zeal of the Shiites of Hezbollah to defend the Sunni Muslims of Palestine,” the report says.

This is important because it is designed to heal the wounds of fighting in Syria and Iraq over the last two decades.

Lastly, Iran praises Hezbollah for creating an “equation” that will make it harder for fighting to resume in Gaza. “Whether the war in Gaza is stopped at the current stage or continues…Israel will face a new set of Hezbollah equations,” the report says, hinting at Hezbollah escalation if fighting starts again.  

A Qatari envoy plane arrived in Israel from Cyprus on Saturday, Hebrew media reported.

This is a developing story. 

Hamas will release another 14 Israeli hostages on Saturday as part of the ongoing temporary ceasefire deal, AFP reported.

Israeli authorities say in exchange 42 Palestinian prisoners will be released the same day under the deal. 

This is a developing story.

IDF spokesman Avichay Adraee, addressed the residents of the Gaza Strip in Arabic on Saturday and told them "Do not try to move to the north of the Gaza Strip."

An important message to the residents of Gaza," he said. "It is forbidden to enter the sea, it is forbidden to come within a kilometer of the border. For your safety, follow these instructions."
 

IDF personnel are continuing to make arrests in the Askar refugee camp in Nablus on Saturday morning.

This is in response to Palestinians in the area that are throwing explosive devices at the Israeli forces. Gunfire was also heard in the area.

This is a developing story.

The IDF said early Saturday morning that a missile was fired from Lebanon towards on IDF aircraft that was remotely piloted in the Haifa area.

The surface-to-air missile was shot down and intercepted with no damage to the Israeli aircraft, and it failed to cross into Israeli territory.

The echoes of a strong explosion were then heard at around 2:45 a.m. in the Haifa Bay Area, but the Home Front Command's alerts were not activated in response to the attack.

In response to the launch, IAF fighter jets attacked a terror infrastructure belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist organization.

An interceptor was also reportedly launched at the Upper Galilee area, an IDF spokesperson said, but said that "the incident was over."

Smoke rises on the Lebanese side near the border with Israel, amid ongoing cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Tyre, southern Lebanon November 21, 2023 (credit: ALAA AL-MARJANI/REUTERS)

The incident comes days after Hezbollah on Wednesday said that it would "respect" the temporary ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, a source in the Lebanese group told Al Jazeera.

Later in the morning

Red alert sirens for unknown aircraft sounded on Saturday morning in the northern Israel including in the moshavs Ramot Naftali and Dishon, as well as the Yiftah Kibbutz.

This is a developing story. 

The Foreign Affairs Ministry announced on November 25 that it has started a special treatment program for the foreign citizens who were released from captivity, after earlier today 10 Thai citizens and one Filipino citizen - out of 50 foreign citizens who will be returned as part of the deal - joined the Israeli abductees.

As part of the program, called "Nurse's Hand", the returnees will undergo a series of medical tests and will later undergo a mental health evaluation by a team of psychologists and social workers.

Meanwhile, the Foreign Affairs Ministry stated that it is in continuous contact with the Thai and Philippine embassies.