Another 13 hostages will be released today ++ Biden: Two-state solution “more important than ever” George Floyd case: convicted ex-cop Derek Chauvin stabbed in jail

According to media reports, Israel received another list of names of hostages scheduled to be released this Saturday on Friday evening. The families of thirteen hostages had been informed, the Israeli portal Ynet reported on Friday evening, citing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office. Israeli officials confirmed that eight of the thirteen Israeli hostages were children.

In his speech following the release of the first hostages held by Hamas, US President Joe Biden clearly affirmed the goal of a two-state solution. “As we look to the future, we must break the cycle of violence in the Middle East,” Biden said Friday. “We must renew our resolve to pursue this two-state solution in which Israelis and Palestinians can one day live side by side (…) with an equal level of freedom and dignity,” the US president stressed. ‘Two states for two peoples. This is now more important than ever.”

Biden continued: “Hamas carried out this terrorist attack because it fears nothing other than Israelis and Palestinians living side by side in peace.” If you continue on the path of terror, violence and murderous war, you are giving the Islamist terrorist organization what it is looking for. Asked whether the US president trusts Hamas to adhere to the agreement to release the hostages, Biden said: Hamas is responding to pressure. He trusts that. But not that Hamas adheres to anything. (sda/dpa)

According to the Israeli army, the 24 people released from the Gaza Strip are in “good condition”. The 13 Israelis and 11 foreigners had undergone initial medical tests, military spokesman Daniel Hagari told Israeli media on Friday evening. Her life is not in danger.

According to a statement, 22 of those affected were initially taken to an air base in the Negev Desert. They would then be taken to hospitals by Air Force helicopters. According to the information, they will also be reunited with their relatives there. Two Israeli citizens were taken directly to hospitals for reasons not initially stated.

A group of 24 people kidnapped from Israel left the Gaza Strip on Friday. According to the Foreign Ministry, there were four people with dual nationality who also had a German passport: a 34-year-old and her two daughters, aged two and four, and a 77-year-old. Ten kidnapped Thais and one Filipino citizen were also released. (sda/dpa)

US President Joe Biden expressed relief after the release of the first hostages in the Islamist Hamas violence. At the same time, he made it clear that this was “just the beginning.” “Today’s release is the beginning of a process,” the US president said in a speech on Friday. He expects more hostages to be released on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. “We assume that dozens of hostages will return to their families in the coming days.”

The 81-year-old was in Nantucket, Massachusetts, where he spent the days surrounding the US Thanksgiving holiday. According to the White House, he was informed several times about developments in Gaza. “Today is the culmination of hard work and weeks of personal commitment,” Biden said. He remains in contact with political leaders in Qatar, Egypt and Israel “to ensure that everything goes according to plan and that every aspect of the agreement is implemented.”

According to the US government, at least three Americans – a four-year-old girl and two women – are among the 50 hostages set to be released under the deal reached between Israel and the Islamist Hamas. They were not among the first Gaza hostages released on Friday. A total of ten Americans are still missing. But it is unclear whether the remaining seven are all being held hostage by Hamas.

The US government is pushing to increase the pace of humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza. The need is enormous, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) announced on Friday. The ceasefire provides a “critical opportunity to provide the civilian population in the Gaza Strip with urgently needed food, medicine, water and fuel,” Biden said. “And we won’t waste a minute.”

According to American information, more than thirty American citizens were killed in Hamas attacks in Israel on October 7. (sda/dpa)

Two Swiss people were killed in the terrorist attacks by the radical Islamic Hamas on October 7. According to the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs (EDA), both had dual Swiss-Israeli citizenship.

The EDA received official confirmation of the second fatal accident on Thursday, it said on Friday at the request of the Keystone-SDA news agency. For data and privacy reasons, no further information could be provided, the Foreign Office said. The “NZZ” first reported about it.

Five days after the Hamas terrorist attack, Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis confirmed the first Swiss death. The man has Israeli-Swiss dual nationality and is almost 70 years old. Not much is known about the death. But it is understood the man’s death was the result of an “unfortunate encounter” with the terrorists. The man had lived in Israel since 2004. (sda)

According to the UN, aid for hundreds of thousands of people has been delivered to the Gaza Strip since the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas began. The UN emergency aid agency OCHA reported in the evening that 137 trucks had been unloaded since Friday morning. The population was provided with food, water and medical facilities, the report said.

In addition, 129,000 liters of fuel and four truckloads of gas bottles arrived. According to OCHA, it was the largest aid convoy since October 7, when the terrorist attack on Israel by the Islamist terror organization Hamas sparked the conflict. The UN agency also reported that 21 patients in critical condition had been removed from the northern Gaza Strip.

(sda/dpa)

Among the hostages released in the Gaza Strip are several people with German citizenship. A spokesperson for the families with a German connection confirmed this on Friday evening. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office had previously published a list of names of the thirteen Israeli freedmen. These also contained the names of four people whose families they had listed as Germans. They included a 34-year-old, her two daughters aged two and four, and a 77-year-old. According to the information, they have dual nationality. (sda/dpa)

The Israeli army has confirmed that the 13 freed Hamas hostages have returned to Israel. There they are first taken to a hospital for examination and then returned to their family.

BREAKING: 13 hostages are back in Israel pic.twitter.com/NiXx3mVPTR

— Trey Yingst (@TreyYingst) November 24, 2023

As a spokesperson for the Qatari government writes on X, Israel has released several prisoners. It concerns 39 women and children who were held captive in the West Bank.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) announced the release of 24 Hamas hostages on Friday. They crossed the border into Egypt on Friday, a spokesman in Geneva said. The figures do not correspond with previous reports. Thailand reported the release of twelve compatriots, after which Israeli media reported that thirteen Israelis had been released.

(sda/dpa)

The release of the hostages on Friday would have been just the beginning. As Reuters reports, 150 Palestinians currently held in custody in Israel will soon be released. Among them, fifteen young people were reportedly arrested after throwing stones, as well as several men arrested after attempting to assassinate Israeli forces.

Meanwhile, Red Cross vehicles have arrived at Ofer prison to transport the expected 39 Palestinians imprisoned in Israel who are part of the hostage deal. Israelis earlier fired tear gas at the crowds gathering there pic.twitter.com/ZXgB8G0UZV

— Bel Trew (@Beltrew) November 24, 2023