Coverage on this live blog has ended. Follow live updates here.
Twenty-four hostages were released from Gaza and 39 Palestinian prisoners were released from Israeli jails amid a four-day cease-fire, causing jubilation in the West Bank and hope in Israel.
Raucous crowds packed West Bank streets to celebrate the release of Palestinians under an agreement expected to result in the release of 50 hostages held by Hamas militants in Gaza.
Among those released by militants were 13 Israelis, 10 Thais and one Filipino, a Qatari official said.
The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it has received a list of hostages to be released tomorrow and has been in touch with their loved ones.
Israeli Defense Forces spokesperson Daniel Hagari said the releases brought a “great sense of relief.”
Speaking during a national address, U.S. President Joe Biden said, “It’s only a start, but so far it’s gone well.”
Hagari later issued more sober remarks during a video address in which he reminded Israelis and supporters of the state that many more hostages needed to be released — an estimated 240 were being held before the releases began — and Hamas needed to be eradicated.
“Today the world watched and breathed a collective sigh of relief,” he said. But he added, “But we must never lose sight of ... babies who were not reunited with their loved ones, who are still being held by Hamas.”
The IDF warned Gaza residents who moved south not to return to the war-torn north amid the cease-fire, indicating that more bloody warfare was likely when the cease-fire ends.
More than 1.7 million people have been displaced in Gaza, and the death toll has surpassed 14,500, health officials in Gaza have said.
Hagari said it’s not over yet.
Fighting must resume in order to secure the freedom of all the hostages, put an end to enemy Hamas and its threat to Israel’s existence and ensure that Oct. 7 happens “never again,” he said.
What we know
- Twenty-four hostages were released from the Gaza Strip today as a pause in fighting that began this morning continues to hold. Thirteen Israelis were freed as part of the deal with Hamas, which also saw 39 Palestinian prisoners released from Israeli jails and aid flow into Gaza. A number of Thai captives were separately released by Hamas.
- The breakthrough follows weeks of "excruciating" negotiations brokered by the U.S., Qatar and Egypt for a deal featuring a four-day truce, with at least 50 hostages expected to be freed from Gaza and 150 Palestinians from Israel. A last-minute delay saw Israel bombard sites across the Gaza Strip yesterday.
- The Israeli military has urged civilians who fled to southern Gaza not to return home during the pause, warning "the war is not over yet" in leaflets dropped this morning. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said battles would continue "forcefully" after the truce, and that he expects at least two more months of fighting.
- Fuel trucks and convoys carrying humanitarian aid have entered the besieged Palestinian enclave this morning amid the truce, offering the hope of some relief for civilians who have been suffering for weeks as supplies of food, water and medicine ran low.
- More than 1.7 million people have been displaced in Gaza, where health officials say the death toll has surpassed 14,500 after weeks of Israeli attacks. The Israel Defense Forces estimate 1,200 people were killed in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, with more than 200 people held hostage in Gaza.
- NBC News’ Keir Simmons, Raf Sanchez, Ali Arouzi, Erin McLaughlin and David Noriega are reporting from the region.
Israeli official says Hamas' end is unfinished business
Feelings of peace and hope may fill the air tonight amid the four-day cease-fire that’s facilitating the release of hostages held by Hamas and prisoners held by Israel, but the war isn’t over yet, a top Israeli official said.
Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Daniel Hagari reminded Israelis in a video address tonight that the mission to eradicate Hamas is not over. Hargari noted that even the exchange of hostages was a half-step forward, with the vast majority of the estimated 240 abducted in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel remaining in the custody of Hamas militants despite today’s release of 24 hostages.
“Today the world watched and breathed a collective sigh of relief,” Hagari said. But he added, “But we must never lose sight of ... babies who were not reunited with their loved ones, who are still being held by Hamas.”
He said the fighting must carry on in order to secure the freedom of all the hostages, put an end to what he characterized as a terrorist Hamas regime, and ensure that Oct. 7 happens “never again.”
Israeli family shares effects of Arab-Israeli conflict on 5 generations
The Brenner family has been in what is now Israel since the early 1900s, its patriarch, Joseph Hayyim Brenner, having helped to shape the culture and identity of the settlers who would become Israelis through his literature.
He died during the Arab riots in Jaffa in 1921, and others in his family would die fighting for Israel. Shanni Brenner, his great granddaughter, said she has pride for her family's heritage and contributions, sometimes mortal.
Shanni Brenner's daughter is serving in the dental unit of the Israeli prison service, where she sometimes must treat enemy combatants. She suggested her daughter's service is existential for Israel and for the family: "No choice," she said.
Hospital raided by Israeli forces was treating 73 ill patients, WHO says
Al-Shifa Hospital, said to be the largest such institution in Gaza, was treating at least 73 severely ill or injured patients when it was all but shut down this week, the World Health Organization said in a statement today.
The 73 were part of a WHO-enabled transfer of 151 total patients from Al-Shifa that started on Wednesday, the United Nations agency said. They were taken to the European Gaza Hospital and Al Najjar Hospital in Gaza's southern region, it said.
An additional 100 patients and staff members remained at Al-Shifa in the north despite its demise "due to lack of water, fuel, medical supplies, food, and staff, and recent military incursions," the WHO said.
The 73 included 19 people in wheelchairs, 18 dialysis patients, and 26 patients with serious spinal injuries, according to the WHO.
Israeli forces, who said enemy Hamas militants were operating in tunnels below the institution, raided the hospital Nov. 15 and arrested its director.
Children's hospital receives 8 hostages
Leaders at Schneider Children's Medical Center of Israel in the city of Petach Tikvah said the institution is examining eight released hostages who arrived there today.
They include four children, three mothers, and a grandmother, the CEO of the hospital, Dr. Efrat Bron-Harlev, said during a news conference.
"Their physical condition is good and they're currently undergoing medical and emotional assessment by the medical and psychological team," she said.
Schneider Children's Medical Center of Israel was one of six hospitals designated by Israel's government to receive released hostages and check out their physical and mental health, a health ministry official said.
A total of 22 hostages held by militants were released today, Israeli Defense Forces said; a spokesperson for Qatar’s foreign ministry as well as the International Committee of the Red Cross said the number was 24. At least 13 are Israeli; the rest are said to be foreigners from places including Thailand.
Israel was expected to release 39 jailed Palestinians under the four-day cease-fire; 33 have already been released, Red Cross officials said.
"There are not enough words to express the emotion that we're feeling at this time," Bron-Harley said. "Together with the families in the entire nation of Israel, we will do our utmost to care for the physical and emotional health of the returned hostages. From our perspective, this is a national mission."
Raucous crowds packed West Bank streets Saturday to celebrate the release of Palestinian prisoners under a cease-fire agreement that was expected to also see the release of 50 hostages taken by Hamas.
The celebrants with World Cup-energy roiled in the streets and waved Palestinian flags to mark the occasion.
Today, 39 Palestinian prisoners were released from jails in Israel and allowed to cross into Gaza amid the four-day cease-fire.
The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said today it has received a list of hostages to be released tomorrow and has been in touch with their loved ones.
Security officials in Israel were checking the list, according to a statement from the prime minister's office.
The office asked the news media to exercise caution, ostensibly in deciding whether to identify any of those slated to be freed. The office did not release any identities for this second wave of hostages expected to be freed.
Husband and father of released hostages says he 'will not celebrate until the last of the abductees returns'
Yoni Katz Asher, whose wife Doron and daughters Raz, 4, and Aviv, 2, were released by Hamas on Friday, said he is grateful that his family has returned home, but is holding off on celebrations until all the hostages have returned.
“I am happy that I got my family back. [I am] allowed to be happy and... shed a tear. It’s a human thing. But I don’t celebrate,” Asher said. "I won’t celebrate until the last of the kidnapped returns."
Asher said he is determined to “resurrect” his family from the trauma they went through. He thanked the families of hostages, the IDF, and the Israeli government for helping to bring his family home.
Cousin of hostage, freed with her two children, celebrates her return
Freed Israeli hostage Doron Katz Asher, 34, and her two daughters Aviv, 2, and Raz, 4, are in an Israeli hospital waiting for the medical team to finish their assessments so they can return home.
"It has been a very emotional time for all of them so we can’t wait for them to be back," said Chen Dori-Roberts, Doron's cousin. "I think they are in good hands right now."
Doron was visiting her mother in Kibbutz Nir Oz when she and her children were abducted by Hamas. She called her husband, Yoni Asher, to tell him terrorists had entered the home she was hiding in.
Chen-Dori Roberts and Yoni Asher later found videos on social media of their family crammed on the back of a vehicle being transported to Gaza. Doron's mother was killed by Hamas at the Gaza border.
IDF and Mossad have received a list of hostages that will be released tomorrow
The Israel Defense Forces and the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad have received a list of the hostages to be released tomorrow, according to the Israeli Prime Minister's Office.
Security officials are checking the list. The Prime Minister's Office said new information will be provided as it is verified.
"On behalf of the person in charge of the abductees and the missing, Lt. Col. Gal Hirsch — the information has been given to the families of the abductees, we ask the media to act with the required caution," said the statement.