Israel-Hamas War Day 53: Blinken to visit Israel to seek aid for Gaza, 11 more hostages released today | Top 10 updates
Israel’s operations in Gaza, and accelerate humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza," the US State department said. It will be his third trip to the region since October 7, when Hamas militants attacked Israel, killed more than 1,200 people, and took 240 hostages.
1) Israel has bombarded the Gaza Strip, a densely populated coastal enclave that is home to 2.3 million people, and mounted a ground offensive in the north, killing more than 15,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities. 2) Some hostages have been freed in recent days in exchange for Palestinians held by Israel in a deal mediated by Qatar and Egypt and agreed by Israel, Hamas, and the United States, Reuters reported.
3) The Israeli government has approved the inclusion of 50 women prisoners in the list of prisoners eligible for release as part of an agreement to extend a temporary truce with Hamas in Gaza, as per The Times of Israel reports. 4) The truce will be extended by two days, and Qatar and the US confirmed this and will see the release of about 10 more Israeli hostages per day.
5) As per the initial four-day truce agreement, which will expire today (Tuesday), Israel agreed to halt its military operations in Gaza for four days and emphasized that it would release three Palestinian security prisoners for each of the 50 hostages freed from Gaza. Since Friday, over 50 hostages have now been released, whereas, 117 Palestinians have been freed.
6) US President Joe Biden welcomed the additional two-day truce between Israel and Hamas after Qatar's successful mediation. “I have remained deeply engaged over the last few days to ensure that this deal--brokered and sustained through extensive US mediation and diplomacy--can continue to deliver
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