Israel-Hamas war live: ceasefire to continue amid efforts to secure more hostage releases | Israel-Hamas war

Israel’s military said on Thursday that a truce with Hamas will continue “in light of the mediators’ efforts to continue the process of releasing hostages, and subject to the terms of the agreement”.

Hamas has agreed to extend the truce for a seventh day, Reuters is reporting.

The six-day halt to fighting in Gaza was set to end at 7am local time (5am GMT) on Thursday, and follows the release of a group of 16 Hamas-held hostages on Wednesday night in exchange for 30 Palestinian prisoners.

Helen Davidson

China’s government has released a position paper on the Israel-Hamas conflict. The country this month took the chair of the UN security council, and the position paper’s release coincided with an address to the council by China’s foreign minister Wang Yi.

The five point proposal reiterated much of China’s ongoing position on the conflict, which is that a two-state solution remains the answer, and again called for an immediate ceasefire, and an end to the fighting. It said humanitarian corridors had to be safe and unimpeded, and expansion of the conflict must be prevented.

Pursuant to the Charter of the United Nations, the Security Council shoulders primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security, and should thus play an active and constructive role on the question of Palestine.

Any arrangement on the future of Gaza must respect the will and independent choice of the Palestinian people, and must not be imposed upon them.

The five points proposed:

1. Implementing a comprehensive ceasefire and end to the fighting, acting on recent UN resolutions to realise a “durable and sustained” truce. It said the security council should make explicit demands for this as soon as possible.

2. Effective protection of civilians, with all parties stopping violent attacks against civilians and violations of international humanitarian law. It also proposed the security council “send a clear message on opposing forced transfer of the Palestinian civilian population, preventing the displacement of Palestinian civilians, and calling for the release of all civilians and hostages held captive as soon as possible.”

3. Ensure humanitarian assistance with all parties refraining from depriving the civilian population in Gaza of supplies and services. Humanitarian corridors should be set up and sustained safely and unimpeded, “to avoid a humanitarian disaster of even greater gravity”.

4. Enhance diplomatic mediation, with the security council leveraging its role to facilitate peace and prevent the4 conflict from widening in the region.

5. See a political settlement, the answer to which lies in the “implementation of the two-state solution, restoration of the legitimate national rights of Palestine, and the establishment of an independent State of Palestine that enjoys full sovereignty based on the 1967 border and with East Jerusalem as its capital.”

Hamas’ armed wing has told its fighters in the Gaza Strip to be ready to resume battles with Israel if a temporary truce set to expire in under two hours is not renewed, Reuters reported.

The extended truce between Israel and Hamas is set to end at 7am Thursday local time (5am GMT).

“The Al-Qassam Brigades asks its active forces to maintain high combat readiness in the last hours of the truce,” the militant group said in a statement.

Fighters should “remain on such footing unless an official statement is issued confirming the extension of the truce,” the statement added.

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the Israel-Hamas war. My name is Reged Ahmad and I’ll be with you for the next while.

The extended truce between Israel and Hamas is due set to end in the coming hours – at 7am Thursday local time (5am GMT). It’s currently 4:42am in Israel.

Israel has released another group of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for 16 hostages freed hours earlier by Hamas in Gaza. The latest swap for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel under the Gaza truce comes as international mediators raced to seal another extension to allow further exchanges and prolong the halt of Israel’s air and ground offensive.

More on this shortly. In the meantime, here are the other key recent developments:

• 30 Palestinian prisoners have been released by Israel. A bus carrying some of the Palestinian detainees was seen arriving in the West Bank city of Ramallah before dawn.

• Most prominent among those freed was Ahed Tamimi, a 22-year-old activist who gained worldwide fame in 2017 after a video of her slapping an Israeli soldier went viral on social media.

• China says the UN security council should intensify its diplomatic mediation, relaunch the two-state solution and convene a “more authoritative and effective” international peace conference at the soonest, in a position paper on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict released on Thursday.

• Sixteen hostages were released today, including 12 Israelis and four Thais. Among the Israeli hostages released today were Elena Trupanov and Irena Tati, two dual Israeli-Russian citizens who were released earlier this evening.

• The Palestinians to be released from Israeli prisons in exchange include 16 minors and 14 women, the Qatari foreign ministry said.

• A Hamas source said on Wednesday that the group was not satisfied with Israel’s proposals for another truce extension, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports. Speaking to AFP ahead of the expiration of the current truce, which will be at 7am local time on Thursday, the source said: “What is being proposed in the discussions to extend the truce is not the best.”

• The Palestine Red Cross Society (PRCS) delivered 21 trucks of aid into Gaza and northern areas on Wednesday. “PRCS is committed to delivering the largest number possible of humanitarian aid to north Gaza, which had not received any aid prior to the humanitarian pause agreement,” the group said.

• Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, has said Israeli forces are ready to resume fighting “immediately”. Posting to social media on Wednesday, Gallant wrote: “We are making every attempt to return all the abductees and to fully exploit the current move to return all the abducted women and children in Gaza. IDF forces in the air, on land and at sea are ready to resume fighting immediately.”

• Two boys, one eight years old and the other 15, were shot and killed by Israeli forces on Wednesday in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, the Palestinian health ministry said. In a statement reported by Agence France-Presse, the health ministry said: “Adam al-Ghul, eight years old, and Bassem Abu el-Wafa, 15 years old, were killed by bullets from the occupier [Israel].”

• Benjamin Nentanyahu has spoken with representatives of the Bibas family after reports from Hamas that three of its members were killed, including 10-month-old Kfir Bibas, Haaretz reports. According to Haaretz, the Israeli prime minister told the family representatives that the matter was being investigated by Israel’s security forces.

• The US is hopeful that the truce in Gaza between Israel and Hamas can be extended, the US ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, told reporters on Wednesday, Reuters reports. “We’re hopeful the truce can be extended,” Thomas-Greenfield said, adding: “This is all in the hands of Hamas. The Israelis have said if they continue to release 10 hostages a day, they will extend by a day. So it truly is in their hands. But I do think there is a potential for that and we are actively working to extend the deal.”

• Three Qatari armed forces aircraft carrying 108 tons of aid for Palestinians in Gaza have arrived in El Erish, Egypt, Qatar’s news agency announced on Wednesday. The three planes, which carried basic food supplies and shelter equipment, brings the total number of Qatari planes sent to Gaza to 30, carrying 1,018 tons of aid.

• Speaking at the UN security council on Wednesday, Palestine’s foreign minister, Riad al-Maliki, said that the ongoing violence between Israel and Hamas was “not a war” but rather a “carnage that no one can justify”. “It must be brought to an end,” al-Maliki said.

• Jordan will host an international conference on Thursday that will be attended by the main UN bodies, as well as regional and international relief agencies to coordinate humanitarian aid to Gaza, Reuters reports. The UN aid head, Martin Griffiths, as well as key UN bodies and NGOs involved in increasing the entry of aid into Gaza, are expected to attend the conference, along with representatives from western and Arab countries.

• The UN secretary general, António Guterres, said on Wednesday that Gaza is in the midst of an “epic humanitarian catastrophe”. Addressing a UN security council meeting chaired by China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, Guterres said “we must not look away” from the deteriorating humanitarian crisis that has engulfed Gaza.