November 30, 2023 Israel-Hamas war

A deal to extend a truce between Israel and Hamas into Thursday went down to the wire after Hamas declined for hours to produce a list of hostages that had 10 women and children on it – a condition that Israel insisted must be met.

After a tense and lengthy back-and-forth on extending the truce into a seventh day, the Israeli government eventually accepted a proposal for Hamas to release just eight new Israeli hostages on Thursday and agreed to count two Israeli-Russian hostages who were set free on Wednesday as a part of Thursday’s release, multiple sources familiar with the discussions told CNN.

After Israel rejected one iteration of Hamas’ list that had seven women and children and the bodies of three more who they claimed were killed by Israeli bombardment, Hamas continued to claim that it could not locate more women and children. Hamas then proceeded to offer seven women and children, and three elderly people – also deemed unacceptable to the Israelis, one source said.

Hamas ultimately waited until very close to the truce expiring to finally hand over a list that Israel accepted – eight new hostages, plus the two Israeli-Russians released on Wednesday, according to sources. The negotiations have proven to be fluid, leaving open the possibility that the number of the hostages released on Thursday could change.

The parties are now fully in a day-to-day extension phase of the truce, where Hamas must offer up a new list of 10 hostages in order to secure another 24 hours in the pause in fighting. Given the serious challenges that came up with Hamas claiming until the last minute that they were having trouble locating enough hostages, anxious negotiators are anticipating that the process of extending the truce into an eighth day could be very challenging.

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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned the shooting at a bus stop in Jerusalem Thursday as a “terrorist attack” in remarks alongside Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. 

Hamas said the attack was carried out by members of its military wing. Israeli officials said three people were killed and seven were injured in the shooting.

In his remarks prior to his meeting with Gallant, Blinken again stressed that a continuation of the truce between Israel and Hamas would be “a good thing.”

However, it’s "up to Hamas whether they will continue to do this,” the top US diplomat added.

“We had a very good conversation session with the prime minister, with the war cabinet,” Blinken said of his meetings earlier in the day in Jerusalem. “I appreciated the discussion we had.”

Blinken is in Israel as he makes his third trip to the region since October 7. He also met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, West Bank, on Thursday. 

Hamas appears to have chosen a symbolically important site in Gaza City for the handover of two female Israeli hostages released on Thursday to the Red Cross. 

Called Palestine Square, it has a sculpture put up by Hamas that depicts a fist pointing up as a sign of victory.  

The square sits in Gaza City and is located to the south of Jabalya and north of Wadi Gaza – the line south of which Israel has repeatedly urged Palestinian civilians in Gaza to go. 

Hamas may have picked the location to show that it is comfortable in the area and that the Israeli military doesn’t control it.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant asserted on November 14 that Hamas had lost control in northern Gaza, including in Gaza City.  

Each day the pause in Israel’s war with Hamas is extended saves lives.

A second extension of the truce, lasting one day, came into force early Thursday. But the lull in fighting also sharpens the moral, political and military dilemmas that will play out in the almost inevitable return to full-scale hostilities — including some apparent strategic and humanitarian differences of emphasis between US President Joe Biden's administration and the Israeli government.

While the truce has so far been surprisingly successful — given it is taking place with both Israel and Hamas seeking the other’s elimination — there is an unmistakable sense that a fateful moment is approaching within days when Israel will decide on how long it can hold off its scorching military offensive.

Will Israel listen to US pleas for a more surgical approach? Israel’s initial assault on Hamas led to huge civilian carnage in the densely populated Palestinian enclave in the first phase of the war, sending tens of thousands of protesters into the streets in the US and across the world while heaping political pressure on President Joe Biden from inside his own electoral coalition.

The likely prospect that a second-wave Israeli offensive against Hamas strongholds in southern Gaza would be even more bloody now threatens to open gaps between Washington and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government and military leaders. CNN’s MJ Lee, Jennifer Hansler and Katie Bo Lillis reported Wednesday that US officials, including Biden, told Israeli officials they don’t want to see a repeat of airstrikes that led to massive destruction and terrible scenes of civilian casualties. Israel must be more “cautious, more careful, more deliberate and more precise in their targeting,” one senior administration official said.

Israel's moral and military dilemmas: The Israeli government is being pulled in two directions that may be irreconcilable – the desire to get all of the hostages back and the incentive to press on with its military operation after a pause that offered Hamas a chance to regroup and prepare for a new assault.

At home, the Israeli prime minister, beset by deep unpopularity after the surprise Hamas attacks, is also being pulled between growing political pressures from hostage families, who want their loved ones released, and his right-wing coalition members, who are advocating for harsh action amid frustration that the pause has allowed Hamas to use hostages to regain control of the tempo of the crisis.

Netanyahu also faces the growing possibility of a clash between his desire to target Hamas and US anxiety over another round of huge civilian casualties in Gaza. American support would be even more crucial for Israel in a second phase of fighting, because foreign powers are likely to strongly criticize the Netanyahu government if it is seen to reignite hostilities.

Read more in Collinson's analysis of US-Israeli wartime relations.

Hostages are being released on Thursday from different places and at different times.

The reason for that is because they were held in different locations in Gaza, an Israeli official said. 

Early on Thursday evening, two Israeli women, Amit Soussana and Mia Schem, were freed.

The two women hostages released Thursday are now in Israeli territory and are on their way to the Hatzerim military base in southern Israel, the Israel Defense Forces said.

The Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum in Israel has released the names of two Israeli women hostages freed on Thursday:

The Israeli prime minister's office also confirmed their names.

What we know about Mia Schem: The 21-year-old French Israeli woman was kidnapped from the Nova festival near the Gaza Strip after Hamas fighters launched a terror attack on October 7. Shortly after the attack, Hamas released a video showing Schem lying on a bed, her right arm being bandaged by someone out of the frame. A long, fresh scar was clearly visible. Speaking into the camera, Schem, who looked pale but was sitting up straight with her head held high, said she was injured and taken to Gaza, then pleads to be returned to her family.

The Red Cross has transferred the two Israeli hostages released Thursday to the Israeli military, the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement.

"A short while ago, Red Cross representatives transferred two Israeli released hostages to IDF special forces and ISA forces adjacent to the security fence with the Gaza Strip. Afterwards, they will make their way to the Hatzerim Base," according to the statement.

The ISA refers to the Israel Security Agency, or Shin Bet.

The families of the hostages are being updated by IDF representatives with the latest available information, the IDF statement added.

Two Israeli hostages have been transferred to the Red Cross Thursday and they are on their way to Israeli territory, the Israel Defense Forces said, citing information it received from the medical group. 

In the next few hours, additional Israeli hostages are expected to be transferred to the Red Cross, the military said.