The war between Israel and Hamas, which entered its 50th day on Saturday, was sparked by the Palestinian Islamist movement’s bloody Oct. 7 attack on Israeli soil from the Gaza Strip, where it seized power in 2007.
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According to Israel, 1,200 people, the vast majority civilians, were killed in that attack. According to the Israeli army, around 240 people were kidnapped and taken to the Gaza Strip.
In retaliation, Israel vowed to “destroy” Hamas and bombed Gaza relentlessly before the ceasefire began. According to the Hamas government, the offensive in the Gaza Strip caused almost 15,000 deaths.
Here are the latest developments:
A four-day, extendable humanitarian ceasefire came into force on Friday morning following an agreement between Israel and Hamas concluded under the auspices of Qatar.
The agreement calls for the release of 50 hostages held in the Gaza Strip in exchange for 150 Palestinians imprisoned in Israel, as well as the daily delivery of aid to Gaza.
Thirteen Israeli hostages – women and children – were released on Friday, along with 10 Thais and one Filipino under a separate agreement. Israel, for its part, released 39 Palestinians.
AFP
Israeli authorities announced that 14 more hostages and 42 Palestinian prisoners were to be released on Saturday.
According to the United Nations humanitarian aid coordination agency (Ocha), several thousand Gazans have tried to return to the north of the Gaza Strip since the ceasefire began, despite warnings from the Israeli army, which ordered a ground offensive at the start of the ceasefire called on all civilians to leave this sector, which is considered a combat zone.
According to OCHA, the Israeli army opened fire on Friday and fired tear gas shells against some of these displaced people, reporting one death and dozens of injuries.
According to the Hamas-run Health Ministry, seven of those displaced were injured by the Israeli army on Saturday.
New trucks loaded with aid crossed the Rafah border crossing on Saturday towards the Gaza Strip, which has been under siege by the Israeli army since October 7, according to AFP images.
AFP
According to the Israel Defense Ministry’s department responsible for civil affairs in Gaza, 200 aid trucks arrived on Friday. This is the “largest humanitarian convoy” in seven weeks of war, Ocha emphasized.
An Israeli businessman’s ship was slightly damaged in a suspected Iranian attack in the Indian Ocean on Friday, a US military official said on Saturday.
This attack came after threats by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who are backed by Iran, against Israeli ships and ships belonging to Israel’s allies traveling in the Red Sea.
According to the latest report submitted by the Hamas government, 14,854 people have been killed in Israeli bombings of the Gaza Strip since October 7, including 6,150 children and teenagers and 4,000 women.
On the Israeli side, the Hamas attack on October 7 claimed 1,200 lives, mostly civilians, according to authorities.
According to the army, 68 soldiers have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the war began.