Arab leaders welcome temporary truce, say it should be extended
The foreign ministers of Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt said they welcomed the temporary truce agreed between Israel and Hamas but called for it to be the first step toward a full end to the fighting.
They said that the agreement between Israel and Hamas, which was brokered by the U.S., Qatar and Egypt, should also go further to ultimately pave the way for talks for a two-state solution, Reuters reported.
The temporary deal will see 50 of the hostages held by Hamas — women and children — released in exchange for 150 Palestinian women and children being held in Israeli prisons. It will also halt fighting for four days and allow increased humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.
The foreign ministers are convening what they have called a “contact group” of predominantly Muslim leaders that aim to lobby Israel’s allies to put an end to the war in Gaza.
— Natasha Turak
Four-day humanitarian pause to begin on Thursday morning, Hamas official says
A four-day humanitarian pause in fighting, agreed under the recently brokered hostage release deal, will begin Thursday at 10 a.m. local time, senior Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzouk told Al Jazeera.
A child waves a white flag as Palestinians fleeing Gaza City and other parts of northern Gaza walk along a road leading to the southern areas of the enclave on November 18, 2023, amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement.
Mohammed Abed | Afp | Getty Images
He added that most of the hostages released will be foreign nationals.
CNBC could not independently verify the report.
Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen had earlier said that his country expects to receive the first captives under the deal terms on Thursday. He did not specify the time.
An International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) convoy of trucks carrying medical aid arrives at the Al-Shifa medical hospital in Gaza City, Gaza, on Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023.
Ahmad Salem | Bloomberg |…
Read the full article here