November 28, 2023 Israel-Hamas war

Our live coverage of the Israel-Hamas war has moved here.

Majed Al-Ansari, Qatar's foreign ministry spokesperson, holds a weekly briefing in Doha.

During discussions in Doha, Qatar, Tuesday, officials representing Israel, the US, Qatar and Egypt were in consensus about working toward extending the current pause in the Israel-Hamas war to get more hostages out of Gaza, a source familiar with the discussions said. 

The expectation is that if everything goes well on the sixth day of the truce Wednesday —and Hamas releases at least 10 Israeli hostages as planned — Hamas could produce an additional list of hostages for the following day, extending the pause for another 24 hours, the source said. 

Negotiators believe there are enough women and children in Hamas captivity to extend the truce by two additional days before the discussion turns to men and soldier hostages, the source said. 

CIA Director Bill Burns, who traveled to the region to participate in discussions about next steps in the Israel-Hamas truce, was involved in discussions with his counterparts about eventually broadening the category of hostages to be released to men and soldiers, sources said. There were also talks related to getting the bodies of those killed by Hamas out of Gaza.

The list of the sixth set of hostages expected to be freed has been given to the Israeli government, and families are being notified, two sources familiar with the matter tell CNN.

This will be the second release in the extension of the truce.

Another group of 12 hostages, comprising 10 Israelis and two Thai citizens, were released by Hamas on Tuesday, according to officials. Thirty Palestinians were also freed from Israeli prisons, officials said.

A 14-year-old Palestinian prisoner who was released Tuesday from Israeli custody recounted his experience as a detainee when the October 7 attacks occurred.

Ahmad said prisoners were provided with two meals a day but said this “wasn’t enough” food and many “slept hungry.” He criticized the poor communication between prison staff and prisoners. 

According to data gathered by CNN from the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society and the Israeli prison authority, the Israel Prison Service, Ahmad had been held under detention but never sentenced for a crime. 

The young boy’s father, Nayef Slaimah, told journalists that he is grateful for his son’s release after he lost all contact with him after October 7. 

“When Ahmad was in prison, we couldn’t visit him,” his father said. 

CNN has asked the Israeli Prison Service about Ahmad’s claims.

Christos Christou, international president of the medical humanitarian aid organization Doctors Without Borders, known by its French acronym MSF (Medecins Sans Frontieres), speaks during an interview in Tokyo, Japan, on June 26, 2023.

Two Palestinians died after Israeli military vehicles blocked the entrance of the hospital in Jenin, denying the patients access to care for their wounds, according to Dr. Christos Christou, international president of Doctors Without Borders, also known as Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).

Christou said he was visiting the MSF team at the Khalil Suleiman Hospital in Jenin in the occupied West Bank when the “Israeli army conducted an incursion on Jenin refugee camp.”

“There’s nothing worse for a doctor to know that there are people there needing our care and they cannot get it,” Christou said in a video posted on X.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) told CNN that clashes were ongoing in Jenin.

“The IDF is conducting counterterrorism activities in the area,” the IDF said, adding that it would not provide any more details until operations were completed.

The White House said it remains hopeful that some Americans may be released Wednesday as part of the two-day extension of the initial pause in hostilities between Hamas and Israel. 

“No Americans, unfortunately, now today. But we’re hopeful, tomorrow’s another day, and we certainly hope that we can see some more Americans come out,” National Security Council strategic communications coordinator John Kirby told reporters Tuesday.

Kirby said that there remains no indication “at all” that Hamas not releasing American hostages is some sort of tactic or leverage, pointing to the small pool of Americans being held captive and the difficult logistics. 

He declined to say more when asked to put a likelihood on whether another extension will be agreed to by all parties.  

Kirby said Israel has an “added burden” as it plans for potential offensives in southern Gaza to account for civilian lives when the truce is over. Israel previously urged thousands of Gaza to move to that part of the enclave due to its offensive in the north.

“So it’s even all that more of an added burden on Israel to make sure that as they start to plan for operations in the south, whatever that looks like, that they have properly accounted for the innocent life — the extra innocent life that is now in south Gaza,” he said. 

The two Thai nationals who were released from Gaza on Tuesday arrived at the Shamir Medical Center in Israel and were met by Thai Foreign Minister Parnpree Bahiddha-Nukara, Thailand’s foreign ministry announced. 

The minister “congratulated them on their safe release and expressed his hope that they would return home as soon as possible,” the ministry said.

The two were also welcomed at the hospital by the 17 Thai nationals previously released by Hamas. 

The hostages are undergoing medical checkups, the foreign ministry said.

A new group of hostages held in the Gaza Strip was released Tuesday as the truce between Israel and Hamas extended into its fifth day. The last day is set to be Wednesday although diplomatic efforts are underway to maintain the pause in fighting.

Meantime, the Israel Defense Forces said it’s getting ready to resume its military campaign against Hamas when that truce ends.

Here’s what you need to know:

The French news agency, Agence France-Presse, released video clips of the handover of the 12 hostages on Tuesday. 

The videos show large crowds lining the street of Rafah cheering and using their phones to capture images as the hostages are paraded by Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters to the waiting Red Cross vehicles.

The scenes are starkly different from Monday’s handover, which a Hamas propaganda video showed happening on a dark and empty street.

One of the Tuesday clips shows an elderly woman being handed over in a wheelchair and some in the crowd could be heard yelling “Allahu Akbar,” which means “God is great” in Arabic.  

Hamas has also released a highly produced edited video showing a similar scene as the AFP clips, but CNN is not showing the propaganda video released.

Correction: This post has been updated with the correct location for the handover of the 12 hostages in Gaza.

An injured man in his 20s was taken out of an ambulance and arrested by Israeli forces on Tuesday in Jenin, in the occupied West Bank, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) Jenin spokesperson Mahmoud Al-Saadi told CNN on Tuesday.

The man had been shot in the leg and was arrested while paramedics attempted to transport him to the Jenin Government Hospital, Al-Saadi said. 

The PRCS’s emergency medical services team attending to the injured man was also held for about an hour in front of the hospital, he said. 

The IDF told CNN it would not comment on the ongoing military activity in the area but it’s expected to continue overnight.

A Palestinian inspects the damages after an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank town of Tubas on November 28.

An Israeli military raid and clashes were reported in Jenin, in the occupied West Bank, on Tuesday, according to a local journalist on the ground and video obtained by CNN. 

Videos appear to show military vehicles near the Jenin refugee camp and sounds of heavy gunfire. 

The Israel Defense Forces released a statement to CNN saying it was “conducting counterterrorism activities in the area.”

This post has been updated with the IDF statement.

The US military will fly three planeloads of crucial humanitarian aid to North Sinai in Egypt to be brought into Gaza to aid civilians, according to senior administration officials.

On Tuesday, it made its first flight, airlifting more than 54,000 pounds of medical items and food to a logistics hub in Egypt, according to US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan. 

The planes will carry winter weather gear as Gaza enters its rainy season — which can be wet and cold and even lead to flooding — with countless Palestinians displaced in temporary shelters.

Some background: The announcement comes amid a pause in the fighting between Israel and Hamas that has been extended for an additional two days to potentially secure the release of further hostages and allow increased humanitarian aid into Gaza. One official noted that this ongoing effort to help supply civilians is not linked to the ongoing hostage deal and will continue when hostilities ultimately resume.

The need for increased assistance is a reality that UN officials have also been emphasizing. United Nations Relief and Works Agency spokesperson Adnan Abu Hasna told CNN on Sunday that the current levels of aid are “just a drop in the ocean of humanitarian needs” and that they need more supplies to operate critical services and sectors like sewage, water or hospitals.

Hamas is “striving to extend the truce” with Israel in the Gaza Strip by using all of the cards it has in negotiations, a member of the militant group’s political bureau said.

Ghazi Hamad said Hamas is in contact with Qatar and Egypt regarding the truce and that there are “efforts being made by other countries to pressure for a ceasefire.”

“We are striving to extend the truce to stop the aggression once and for all, by using the cards we have,” Hamad said in a statement.

The political bureau member said that “so far” there are no negotiations to release Israeli soldiers in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

Under the current truce, which is now in its fifth day after an agreed-upon two-day extension, Hamas will release 10 hostages daily, according to a senior Israeli adviser, in exchange for Israel releasing Palestinian detainees.

At the time of the original deal, Israeli officials said there was an option for the pause to last as long as 10 days, but officials said they didn’t believe it was likely to last that long.

Hamas has released dozens of hostages being held in Gaza over the course of a several-day-long pause in fighting. The original four-day pause was extended an additional two days on Monday, with Hamas agreeing to free more hostages each day.

Israel has also freed Palestinians from prison — mainly women and minors — many of whom were detained but never charged.

Here’s a visual look at the breakdown of freed hostages in the first four days of the truce.

It does not yet include the 12 hostages that were released by Hamas on Tuesday or the 30 Palestinians freed from jails as additional identifying information has yet to be provided.

Residential buildings, destroyed in Israeli strikes during the conflict, lie in ruin, amid a temporary truce between Israel and Hamas, in southern Gaza City, on November 26.

Israel’s military operation will continue until Gaza is “no longer a threat to Israel,” the country’s prime minister said. 

“We are committed to completing these missions: Freeing all of the hostages, eliminating this terrorist organization above and below the ground and, of course, that Gaza must not return to being what it was — that it will no longer constitute a threat to the State of Israel,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday during a visit to an army intelligence base. 

He made the comment before the latest release of hostages on Tuesday. 

The prime minister also vowed to bring the release of all hostages taken by Hamas “without exception.” 

Netanyahu went on to blame civilians in Gaza for “protecting the terrorists,” but did not provide any evidence. 

Hamas denies that it uses civilians as human shields. 

Khaled Nabhan in his home on November 27.

The pause in fighting in Gaza has given many families the chance to return home to retrieve belongings — and in some cases, the bodies of their relatives.

CNN followed one man back to his destroyed home. Grieving grandfather Khaled Nabhan was seen around the world in a widely shared video of his moment of grief last week as he kissed his lifeless 3-year-old granddaughter goodbye.

In the video posted on social media, Nabhan shakes the little girl Reem gently and tries to open her eyes, as if she is asleep.

Reem Nabhan.

Reem was killed last week, alongside her 5-year-old brother Tarek, while they were sleeping when their home was brought down by a nearby airstrike in Al Nuseirat refugee camp in southern Gaza.

Speaking to CNN, Nabhan described the final evening he had with his grandchildren, breaking down in tears as he recalled how they begged him to take them outside to play. He had refused because of the danger from Israeli airstrikes, he said.

In another social media video, the two children’s bodies lay prepared for burial in white shrouds while Nabhan fixes Tarek’s hair.

“I combed his hair like he would always ask me to, like a photo he would always show me,” Nabhan said later. “He loved his hair like that, now he’s gone.”

Khaled Nabhan kisses Reem's doll found in the rubble of his family's home on November 27.

Picking through the rubble of his family’s home on Monday, Nabhan showed CNN where his daughter Maysa — Reem and Tarek’s mother — was sleeping with the children when the house collapsed. She and her sister survived but were seriously injured.

From the debris, he picked up a doll that had belonged to his granddaughter, kissing it. Clutched in his hand was a tangerine that he’d given Reem as a treat, but that she never had the chance to eat.

Hear more from Nabhan as he returns home:

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03:54 - Source: cnn

Moataz Salaima, 15, kisses his mother upon his arrival at his home in East Jerusalem on November 28, after 30 Palestinian detainees were released under an extended truce deal.

A total of 30 Palestinians were released Tuesday from Israeli prisons in Damon, Megiddo and Ofer, the Israeli prison service said. 

A bus believed to be carrying some of the released Palestinians has departed Ofer prison and is now in the occupied West Bank. 

The bus was seen leaving the prison on live footage broadcast on Palestine TV and AFPTV. 

Hamas released 12 hostages — 10 Israelis and two Thai nationals — on Tuesday, according to the Israeli government. 

Some of the 10 Israeli hostages released Tuesday hold dual citizenship. 

Under terms of the complicated Israel-Hamas deal, Israel has to free three Palestinians for every Israeli hostage freed.  

Two of the 12 hostages released Tuesday by Hamas are Thai nationals, the Israeli prime minister’s office said.

The group of hostages released Tuesday comprised 10 Israelis and two foreign nationals, the Israel Defense Forces said.

With this, a total of 19 Thai nationals have been released from Gaza by Hamas through separate negotiations that are not included in the Israel-Hamas truce.

First row, from left: Ofelia Roitman, Tamar Metzger, Ditza Heiman, Meirav Tal, and Ada Sagi.Second row, from left: Clara Merman, Rimon Kirsht, Gabriela Leimberg, Mia Leimberg, and Noralin "Nataly" Babadilla.

The Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum in Israel released the names and photos of the 10 Israeli hostages released by Hamas on Tuesday.

Some of the Israeli hostages hold dual citizenship. 

The 12 hostages freed Tuesday are now in Israeli territory, the Israel Defense Forces said.

CNN also saw four helicopters landing at Kerem Shalom, where the freed hostages are expected to meet with the Israeli military.

Hostages in previous transfers have been flown from Kerem Shalom to hospitals.

A Red Cross vehicle carrying newly released hostages drives towards the Rafah border point with Egypt, in southern Gaza, on November 28.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said that it successfully facilitated the release and transfer of 12 hostages freed by Hamas on Tuesday.

“Our teams have successfully facilitated the release and transfer of 12 hostages held in Gaza. We have been able to carry out this operation thanks to our neutral intermediary role,” it said on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

The Red Cross transferred 12 released hostages at the Rafah crossing into Egypt on Tuesday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said.

This is the first transfer since the Israel-Hamas truce was extended.

The hostages will meet with the Israeli military at Kerem Shalom. 

The families of those released are currently being notified by the military, the IDF said.

Thirty Palestinian detainees are expected to be released from Israeli prisons on Tuesday as the Israel-Hamas truce continues, according to information released by both the Palestinian Prisoners Club and the Israeli prison authorities.

They comprise 15 women and 15 boys.

The women were all detained after October 7, according to the list released by the Israeli prison authorities. 

The post has been updated with more details on the Palestinians to be released.

The fifth round of hostages have been handed over to the Red Cross, the Israel Defense Forces announced Tuesday.

The handover includes 10 Israelis and two foreign nationals, the IDF said, adding that the released hostages are on their way toward Israeli territory.

Abigail Edan, second from left, is surrounded by family at Schneider Children's Medical Center on November 27 in Petah Tikva, Israel.

The great-aunt of 4-year-old Abigail Edan, an Israeli American dual citizen who was released by Hamas on Sunday, told CNN that it was “a miracle” to see her free and with her relatives.

Edan was one of the 17 hostages released Sunday, marking the first successful release of an American hostage since the start of a truce between Israel and Hamas.

Edan’s cousin Noa Naftali also expressed relief at the return of the 4-year-old.

“I hope none of you will ever know what we have gone through, what these families are going through,” she said.

“But we know, and these other family members know … that communication and support has been, I think, one of the only things — main things — keeping us going in this absolutely unbearable and excruciating reality,” she added.

The White House does not expect any American hostages to be released Tuesday by Hamas from Gaza, a White House official told CNN.  

Three Americans – 4-year-old Abigail Edan and two women — were expected to be among 50 women and children Hamas agreed to release as part of a deal announced between Israel and Hamas last week, the White House had said.

Edan was released on Sunday. The two women have yet to be released.

The initial four-day truce has now been extended for another two days, with 20 additional women and children hostages set to be released over that period of time.

The Israeli military has blocked a truck hoping to deliver fuel to northern Gaza, the Palestine Red Crescent Society said on Tuesday afternoon.

The Israel Defense Forces are “denying the entry of the fuel truck which was supposed to enter the north of the Gaza Strip a few moments ago,” the PRCS claimed in a post on X, formerly Twitter, shortly before 11 a.m. ET.

CNN has reached out to Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) for comment.

The delivery of aid supplies to northern Gaza has been a sticking point in negotiations between Israel and Hamas. On Saturday, Hamas temporarily halted the handover of Israeli hostages, accusing Israel of failing to fulfill its commitments toward aid supply to northern Gaza. 

The PRCS also said that according to records, as of Monday evening, 200 aid trucks have made their way to northern Gaza since the Israel-Hamas truce began on November 24. 

The aid includes food, water, baby formula and blankets. The PRCS said the assistance benefits thousands of people in need.

CNN’s Ibrahim Dahman and Eyad Kourdi contributed to this post.

Israel is prepared to resume the fighting in the Gaza Strip and its military is using the current truce to strengthen its readiness for the combat, Herzi Halevi, the Israel Defense Forces chief of staff said on Tuesday. 

He described the return of hostages in recent days as “further evidence of the results of significant military pressure and resolute ground operations, which created the conditions for the return of our civilians home.” 

Halevi also addressed recent reports accusing the military intelligence of ignoring warnings of a Hamas incursion ahead of the October 7 attack. He assured the soldiers that there will be “fundamental and deep investigations” on the matter, but stressed that “for now we must focus on the fighting.”

The IDF said Sunday that Halevi has approved military plans in Gaza for after the pause ends.

This handout photo provided by the Israel Defense Forces shows released Israeli hostage Eitan Yahalomi upon his arrival at Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center on Monday.

Twelve-year-old Eitan Yahalomi’s aunt said he “apparently lived horrors” during his time in captivity in Gaza.

“Each time a child cried over there, they threatened them with a weapon to shut them up,” his aunt Deborah Cohen told CNN affiliate BFMTV, adding that he was beaten upon his arrival in Gaza.

Cohen said that Yahalomi had spent part of his weeks in captivity alone and part with people he knew. He was freed on Monday.

“Perhaps I was naïve, but I thought he would be well-treated. But no, they are monsters,” Cohen said said of Yahalomi’s Hamas captors. “I don’t think he’s doing well; how you can be well after living that?”

Yafa Adar says goodbye to staff at Wolfson Medical Center on Tuesday.

Yafa Adar, the 85-year-old Israeli woman seen being taken by Hamas militants on a golf cart on October 7, left Wolfson Medical Center to the sound of applause on Tuesday.

The medical center released pictures of Adar walking out of the hospital with a flower, waving to staff who were clapping for her and holding flags.

A widely shared video of Adar showed her being taken into Gaza on a golf cart driven by Hamas militants shortly after her abduction last month.

She was among the first group of hostages to be released.

Adar is a founder of kibbutz Nir Oz.

Her eldest grandson, Tamir, a 38-year-old father of two, was also abducted and is still being held hostage, according to a Nir Oz spokesperson.

Adar is among at least 17 of the Israeli freed hostages and one foreign worker who have been discharged from their hospitals. 

More people could die from disease and acute health conditions in Gaza than from bombardments if the health infrastructure is not restored, World Health Organization spokesperson Margaret Harris said at a United Nations press briefing in Geneva on Tuesday. 

Harris said that hundreds of thousands of patients in Gaza are suffering from chronic conditions, such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer, and do not have access to the medications and treatment they need. 

As a result, Harris said that “those chronic conditions will become acute things, acute conditions, and those acute conditions will kill them.”

Some background: More than 14,800 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza from October 7 through November 23, according to figures from the Palestinian Ministry of Health in the West Bank, which draws its data from Hamas-run health authorities in Gaza. The health ministry said it was having difficulties in updating casualty numbers “due to a breakdown in services and communication in hospitals in the north of Gaza.”

Fuel shortages crippled Gaza’s hospitals, with the majority of health care facilities forced to close due to bombardments or lack of fuel as of November 17, according to the health ministry. Since the start of the truce last week, aid truck convoys have been able to offload some food, fuel and medical supplies in Gaza.

But the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East said Sunday the amount of aid reaching the Gaza Strip remained completely insufficient.

“The aid going in at the moment is just a drop in the ocean of humanitarian needs,” said UNRWA’s Adnan Abu Hasna.

While the current truce is allowing humanitarian supplies to enter Gaza, a Turkish NGO said Tuesday that it is pressing ahead with plans to launch an aid flotilla to the besieged territory.

A group of international NGOs gathered in Istanbul last week to announce their commitment to the flotilla, saying that aid isn’t getting in fast enough through the land crossing.

It’s not the first time aid groups have attempted to send aid to Gaza like this. In 2010, Israeli troops raided the Mavi Marmara, the largest ship in a flotilla attempting to deliver supplies despite Israel’s naval blockade of the territory. Eight Turks and one American were killed in the incident, and a tenth person died after spending four years in a coma.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologized for the raid in 2013, and Israel paid $20 million in compensation to victims’ families. In return, Turkey ended all criminal and civil claims against Israel and its military personnel.

The Mavi Marmara Association was formed in the aftermath of that incident to advocate on behalf of the victims, and now raises money for various humanitarian projects to help people in Gaza. 

Ismail Songur, the group’s president, declined to say how much money the campaign had raised so far, saying that there were almost 100 local campaign groups fundraising in around 17 countries — spurred on by the desperate humanitarian need in Gaza. 

“People compare Gaza to an open jail. It’s not a jail. If you are in prison, you have some rights. You have rights to receive medicine or receive clean water,” he told CNN. 

Zaher Birawi, a member of the International Campaign to Save Gaza, told CNN that the use of one cargo ship has been pledged, and two more are in the process of being purchased.

“We are aiming to push towards sailing by early next year or the end of this year,” he said. It’s not clear how many ships would be involved or how they would be able to dock in Gaza.

Israel and Hamas clashed in northern Gaza Tuesday, in a skirmish described by both sides as a violation of the ongoing humanitarian pause in fighting.

The Israel Defense Forces said three explosive devices were detonated near Israeli troops in two different locations. In one of the locations, “terrorists also opened fire at the troops, who responded with fire,” according to the IDF.

“A number of soldiers were lightly injured during the incidents,” the IDF said. 

Hamas accused Israel in a Telegram statement of a “clear violation … of the truce agreement,” calling the clash a “field skirmish” and a violation that “fighters dealt with.” 

“We are committed to the truce as long as the enemy has committed to it, and we call on the mediators to pressure the occupation to adhere to all the terms of the truce on the ground and in the air,” Hamas said in the statement.

Remember: The truce between Israel and Hamas was yesterday extended for two more days. Under the agreement, Hamas will release 10 hostages each day, according to a senior Israeli adviser, in exchange for Israel releasing Palestinian detainees.

The Israel Defense Forces confirmed on Tuesday the death of hostage Ravid Katz, who was taken captive from Israel during the Hamas attack on October 7. 

It is the third time the IDF has confirmed the death of an October 7 hostage in Gaza, after Noa Marciano and Yehudit Weiss.

The IDF says Katz’s body is being held by Hamas in Gaza. It is not clear if he died in Gaza or if he was killed in Israel and his body was brought to Gaza.

Katz was taken from Kibbutz Nir Oz. He is the brother of Doron Katz Asher, a hostage who was freed Friday.

The youngest Israeli hostage, 10-month-old Kfir Bibas, and his family are not on the latest list of people to be released from Gaza, relatives of the family said Tuesday.

Kfir’s parents Yarden and Shiri, and his brother, Ariel, 4, were taken hostage from Israel on October 7. The video that was released of Shiri and her two children from Gaza on October 7 was one of the first videos of hostages in Gaza.

Yarden’s sister, Ofri Bibas, said Tuesday that the boys’ father was hit by a hammer on October 7, with no further information available on his current condition or whereabouts.

Yarden’s cousin, Eylon Keshet, who also spoke on the call, said relatives believe Yarden was separated from his wife and children, based on videos that they have seen. Keshet said the family is not believed to be held together.

Ofri Bibas expressed her concerns for the two children, saying:

She said she is worried that the 10-month-old baby does not have access to formula.

Keshet also said that Ariel Bibas has several medical conditions.

Remember: On Monday, Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Daniel Hagari said that the Bibas family is not currently held hostage by Hamas, which further complicates release efforts. More than 40 of the hostages taken hostage on October 7 were not held by Hamas, a diplomatic source briefed on the negotiations told CNN earlier on Monday.

CIA Director Bill Burns is in Doha currently to push for a broader hostage deal that would expand beyond women and children to include negotiations for the men and soldiers – which include some women — being held in Gaza, a source familiar with the talks tells CNN.

Those negotiations with Hamas, officials have said, are expected to be more difficult.

Burns arrived in Qatar on Tuesday for meetings about the hostages with officials there as well as his Israeli counterpart David Barnea, who has been the main Israeli interlocutor on hostages as Burns has become the American point person for the discussions. The Egyptian head of intelligence, Abbas Kamel, is also in attendance, which has not been previously reported. 

Burns’ push is for the talks to expand to include the men who are being held in addition to the male and female Israel Defense Forces soldiers, which would include expanding the temporary pause that is now slated to last six days, a source said.

Israeli officials have publicly acknowledged that it will cost a higher price to get Israeli men and soldiers home. Under the current agreement, three Palestinian prisoners are released for every one hostage that Hamas frees.  

Burns’ trip comes as Americans are still being held hostage, including two American women eligible for release under the current deal and several more who are males and therefore unlikely to be included.

An aerial view shows a mass burial of Palestinians who were killed in Israeli attacks in Khan Younis, Gaza, on November 22.

US officials have urged Israel to be more precise and surgical in its targeting of Hamas in Gaza to limit further civilian casualties in the strip. They have also, in particular, told Israeli counterparts that they do not support operations in southern Gaza, given that many Palestinian civilians have had to flee there from the north.

Throughout the Israel-Hamas war, the Biden administration has been communicating daily with Israeli counterparts about the need to be “more cautious, more careful, more deliberate, and more precise in their targeting,” the official said. “We have had some effect on their thinking and their execution.”

But the official admitted that civilians were killed in those operations and “we’re not that we’re dismissing those,” but Israeli leaders “have been receptive to some of our guidance with respect to being more precise and just even now as they talk about going into the south.” 

The official also pushed back on the idea that the Israelis have “genocidal intentions.”

“Israel, for all the civilian casualties that they have caused … they’re not trying to wipe Gaza off the map. They’re not trying to eliminate the Palestinian people. They don’t have genocidal intentions here,” the official added.

A view of destroyed buildings in Gaza is seen from southern Israel on Tuesday, November 28.

It is the fifth of the Israel-Hamas truce, and Hamas has so far released 69 hostages, while Israel has released 150 Palestinian detainees. 

Today is the first day of an expected two-day extension to the truce, and more hostages and prisoners are expected to be released later. For every day of an extension, Israel says Hamas must release ten more hostages.

Here are the day’s other developments:

A technical committee from Turkey has arrived on the ground in Gaza with the aim of setting up a field hospital as soon as possible, according to Turkish diplomatic sources. 

The hospital aims to treat tens of thousands of injured civilians, according to state-run news agency Anadolu.

Turkey is also planning to set up housing made of shipping containers for displaced people in Gaza, Anadolu further reported. The United Nations has estimated that about 1.7 million people – nearly 80% of the population – has been displaced by the war.

Turkish media previously reported that the materials and medical supplies for the field hospital were sent by ship to Egypt.

Emily Hand had to run from house to house, forced to move by Hamas as Israeli forces attacked Gaza, her father Thomas Hand told CNN.

It’s one of the details that his daughter is slowly sharing of what happened after she was kidnapped on October 7 and taken to Gaza, a place she now calls “the box.”

“She’s coming out slowly, little by little,” Hand said. “We’ll only know what she really went through as she opens up,” he told CNN. “I want to know so much information… but you have to let them, when they are ready, come out with it.”

Emily, who turned 9 in captivity, was held with her friend Hila Rotem-Shoshani and Hila’s mother Raaya before the children were released last Saturday.

Raaya looked after Hila and Emily like they were both her daughters, Hand said. And the separation of Hila from her mother two nights before the girls were freed – in contravention of agreements made between Hamas and Israel – was “another step of cruelty,” he said.

Read the full story here:

About two-thirds of the Palestinian prisoners released from Israeli jails in the first four days of exchanges for Israeli hostages were held under administrative detention, meaning they were not told the charges against them or given due legal process, CNN analysis of Israel Prison Service data shows.

The other third had been tried and sentenced. 

Almost 80% were teenaged boys aged 14 to 18. Three of them were teenaged girls, and 31 were adult women. 

Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin is pictured speaking during an event in San Francisco, California, on November 15.

Thailand’s Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin is set to visit Israel on Tuesday, according the Israeli foreign ministry.

The Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Parnpree Bhahiddha-Nukara, will also join the trip.

“Foreign Minister Eli Cohen is expected to meet with them and together with Health Minister Uriel Bosso they will visit the recently released Thai citizens who are currently at the Shamir Medical Center (Assaf Harofeh),” the ministry said in a statement.

Some 17 Thai nationals have been released from Gaza by Hamas, through separate negotiations that are not included in the Israel-Hamas truce.

The US military will fly three planeloads of crucial humanitarian aid to North Sinai in Egypt to be brought into Gaza to aid civilians in the region, according to senior administration officials.

The aid that is being brought will include medical supplies, food and winter weather gear as Gaza enters its rainy season – which can be wet, cold and even lead to flooding – with countless Palestinians displaced in temporary shelters. 

The first of the three flights is set to arrive Tuesday.

The announcement comes amid a pause in the fighting between Israel and Hamas that has been extended for an additional two days to potentially secure the release of further hostages and allow increased humanitarian aid into Gaza. One official noted that this ongoing effort to help supply civilians is not linked to the ongoing hostage deal and will continue when hostilities ultimately resume.

The aid being flown in by the United States, which officials called a “significant contribution,” will be distributed by the United Nations and replenish stocks of supplies, which had been depleted as the pace of aid being brought into Gaza increased in recent days.

The effort builds upon five previous flights of aid being brought into the region on domestic planes, the officials added.

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Israel believes there are 173 people who were taken captive on October 7 who are still in Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office told CNN Tuesday. 

Out of the abductees, 17 are foreigners and the rest are Israeli citizens.

The Israeli hostages include six children under the age of 18. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum believes there are also three 18-year-olds being held, who are legally children, under the United Nations definition. 

Some context: Ahead of the fifth day of an Israel-Hamas truce, Hamas has so far freed 69 hostages and Israel has released 150 Palestinian detainees. Of all the Palestinians released so far, 98 were detained without charge, 119 were children under the UN definition, and the remaining 31 were women.

CNN’s Abeer Salman and Manveena Suri contributed reporting.

Israeli officials have notified the families whose relatives are on a list of hostages to be released on Tuesday, a family member told CNN.

A spokesperson for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later confirmed to CNN that there are 10 names on the list. 

“Israel received another list of hostages, ten hostages, that potentially, hopefully, we will see released… by Hamas,” spokesperson Tal Heinrich told on CNN.

Heinrich said that Israel also had a list of Palestinian prisoners they had agreed to release in exchange, and that for every group of ten hostages Hamas released, Israel would extend the truce for one additional day. 

Palestinian prisoners, center, are cheered by a crowd of supporters in Ramallah, following their release from Israeli jails, on November 26.

Ahead of the fifth day of an Israel-Hamas truce, Israel has freed 150 Palestinian detainees, and Hamas has released 69 hostages.

Of all the Palestinian prisoners released so far, 98 were detained without charge. 119 of the freed prisoners were children and the remaining 31 were women.

According to combined information released by the Palestinian Prisoners Club and the Israeli prison authorities, 33 Palestinian prisoners were in group released Monday, which included 30 children who were 18 years old or younger. Out of the 30 teenagers, 29 are boys and one is a 15-year-old girl.

Some context: Israel often places Palestinians under administrative detention, a widely criticized practice in which a detainee is unaware of any charges against them, and their case is not subject to any legal process.

At the start of October, more than 1,200 Palestinians were being held in administrative detention, the highest figure in more than three decades, according to Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups.

Arrests have increased dramatically since Hamas’ deadly attacks on October 7. Up to 2,070 arrests were documented in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem in that month alone, according to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society, a non-governmental organization dedicated to addressing the concerns of Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons. That figure includes 145 children and 55 women

From left, Noam Or and Alma Or.

Throughout the 50 days Noam and Alma Or were held captive in Gaza, one thought kept the siblings going: reuniting with their mother, who they’d been separated from on October 7 during Hamas’ brutal attacks on their community.

But when Noam, 17, and Alma, 13, were released together on Saturday, “this dream had been shattered by the fact that she was murdered,” said the siblings’ maternal uncle Ahal Besorai.

“My sister, their mom, was murdered on October 7. The children did not know that,” he said, speaking to CNN from the Philippines. “We thought they were together when they were kidnapped, but they were separated from the outset.”

“When they first crossed the border and reunited with their grandmother and older brother, the first news that they had to confront was the fact that their mom is no longer alive. And that was a terribly emotional and traumatic moment for them,” Besorai added.

The siblings’ father Dror remains missing, believed captive in Gaza.

Some context: Hamas is believed to have held more than 200 hostages in Gaza prior to the releases negotiated with Israel. Under the breakthrough truce agreement, groups of Israeli citizens and other nationals have been freed every day since last Friday, while Israel has released Palestinian women and children detainees from its prisons, many of whom have never been charged or sentenced.

The initial four-day truce was extended by an additional two days on Monday, as stories began to trickle out from the families of freed hostages, giving the first insights into what life had been like in captivity.

Read more about the Or family’s ordeal here.

Israel and Hamas have agreed to a two-day extension of a truce in the Gaza Strip. Under the agreement, Hamas will release a further 10 hostages each day over the next two days, according to a senior Israel official.

The extension was set to go into effect when the fourth groups of hostages were released on Monday, according to Mark Regev, a senior adviser to Israel’s prime minister.

US President Joe Biden praised the continued pause in fighting and said in a statement, “We will not stop until all of the hostages held by Hamas terrorists are released.”

However, not all of the roughly 240 people seized during the October 7 terror attack on Israel are, or were, being held by Hamas, the militant group that launched the assault. CNN has previously reported that between 40 and 50 hostages were held by Palestinian Islamic Jihad or other militant groups. The truce agreement requires Hamas — and not another group — to hand over hostages.

Here’s what else you should know:

This photo shows Liat Beinin and Aviv Atzili in New York in August 2023. 

Liat Beinin, an Israeli American woman being held hostage in Gaza, was expected to be among the 50 hostages Hamas released over the course of the initial four-day truce, according to the White House. But as of Monday, she remains in captivity.

“Obviously, I’m disappointed but we remain optimistic and hopeful that her release will come in the next two days,” Yehuda Beinin, her father, told CNN’s Erin Burnett Monday.

Under the extended truce, Hamas will release 10 hostages each day, according to an Israeli senior adviser. That leaves open the possibility that two American women, including Liat Beinin, could be released on Tuesday or Wednesday. 

“We have no choice but to remain — other than to remain hopeful,” Yehuda said. He said earlier in the interview that their family is “also concerned about Aviv, Liat Beinin’s husband.” 

“We know that Aviv was wounded on the day of the attack and other than that, we have no knowledge, whatsoever, of Aviv, where he’s being held or who’s holding him, actually,” Yehuda Beinin said. “Obviously this lack of information and lack of definitive news is very concerning.”

Beinin said he and his wife suspect other groups in Gaza that Hamas does not fully control may be holding his daughter or her husband. 

Antony Blinken boards his aircraft prior to departure at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland on November 27, as he travels to Brussels for a NATO Foreign Ministers meeting.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s trip to NATO headquarters this week will include additional stops in the Middle East. 

“After Brussels, Secretary Blinken will travel this week to Skopje, Israel, the West Bank, and Dubai,” a senior State Department official said.

During those meetings, Blinken will “stress the need to sustain the increased flow of humanitarian assistance to Gaza, secure the release of all hostages and improve protections for civilians in Gaza,” the official said.

Blinken will also talk with leaders about “the future of Gaza and the need to establish an independent Palestinian state,” the official said, adding that Blinken will aim to “continue efforts to prevent the conflict from spreading.”

A total of 33 Palestinians were released from several Israeli prisons Monday, the Israeli prison service said. 

They were released from the prisons in Damon, Megiddo, Ofer, Ktzi’ot, Ramon and Nafha, according to the service.

It followed the release of 11 more hostages by Hamas. 

With Monday’s releases, Hamas has so far released 69 hostages, primarily women and children. Israel has freed 150 Palestinians from prison, mainly women and minors, many of whom were detained but never charged.

Top row, from left: Eitan Yahalomi, Sharon Kunio, Emma KunioMiddle row, from left: Yuly Kunio, Karina Engel, Mika Engel, Yuval Engel, Sahar KalderonBottom row, from left: Erez Kalderon, Or Yaakov, Yagil Yaakov

The Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum in Israel released the names and photos of the 11 hostages freed by Hamas on Monday.

While the Israel Defense Forces says all 11 people released were Israelis, it’s not clear if some of them hold dual citizenship.

All are residents of kibbutz Nir Oz in southern Israel, an official statement from the kibbutz said.

The hostages released have been identified as:

Tamar Michaelis contributed reporting to this post.