Hostage deal reached to pause fighting in Gaza

Despite Israel and Hamas agreeing on a deal to pause the fighting in Gaza, a once fringe idea is gaining traction among members of Israel’s hard-right government: Displace Palestinians from the enclave to make room for Israeli settlements.

The mere proposal has painful historical echoes for Palestinians — who were forcibly displaced from what became Israel during the 1948 “Nakba,” meaning catastrophe — and could constitute ethnic cleansing and a war crime, according to some experts and activists.

The idea was given its most mainstream platform this week after Netanyahu’s intelligence minister, Gila Gamliel, floated “the voluntary resettlement of Palestinians in Gaza, for humanitarian reasons, outside of the Strip,” in an opinion piece for the Jerusalem Post newspaper Sunday.

Gamliel heads a ministry that does not set policy and, since she’s not a part of Israel’s war Cabinet, these decisions are not in her direct purview. Nevertheless, the op-ed was met with shock and revulsion across the Arab world, some of the West and in sections of social media.

Read the full story here.

Biden called Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi to discuss their shared interests in the Israel-Hamas war, Egypt's presidential spokesperson said on Facebook.

According to the post, Biden thanked el-Sissi for his role in mediating the temporary truce agreement between Hamas and Israel. El-Sissi stressed Egypt’s desire to spare bloodshed and achieve stability in the region. The White House also said in a statement that Biden echoed el-Sissi's commitment to a two-state solution.

Biden expressed that the U.S. refuses the idea of forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza to Egyptian territory, the post said.

"Both presidents at the end of the call agreed to continue consultations and synchronization between both sides to benefit from the current truce that would enforce stability and security in the region," it said.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken thanked Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani for his "critical efforts to help broker the deal" between Israel and Hamas.

On the call, Blinken and Al Thani discussed "ongoing efforts" to bring home more than 200 hostages held by Hamas, as well as the need for humanitarian aid in Gaza and a safe way out for foreign nationals still in Gaza.

Blinken emphasized that the U.S. “remains committed” to finding a two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians, according to a U.S. readout of the call.

Under the deal, 50 Hamas hostages would be released in exchange for 150 Palestinians who have been held in Israel. It is also expected to bring a four-day pause in fighting.

The U.S. is committed to scaling up the humanitarian response to civilians in Gaza, the administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development said today after an agreement that calls for a pause in the fighting was announced.

Samantha Power underscored “the need to take advantage of the pause to accelerate humanitarian assistance into Gaza and for sustained operations thereafter” in a conversation with United Nations agencies, a spokesperson for USAID said.

Israel and Hamas reached an agreement for a four-day pause in the fighting in a deal that calls for 50 civilian hostages held by Hamas to be released and for Palestinians in Israeli prisons to be released.

It has not yet happened, and hostages are not expected to be freed before Friday.

As the war between Israel and Hamas continues, Yemen’s Houthi rebels hijacked a ship in the Red Sea and took dozens of people hostage. The U.S. is calling for the immediate release of the hostages.

People walk through a simulated tunnel in Tel Aviv today in an act of solidarity with hostages believed to be held underground by Hamas.

Oscar-winning actor Susan Sarandon and “Scream” franchise actor Melissa Barrera have been dropped by Hollywood companies after they both made comments about the Israel-Hamas war that drew scrutiny and accusations of antisemitism.

Sarandon was dropped by the United Talent Agency after she made remarks at a pro-Palestinian rally in New York last week, according to a spokesperson for the firm, who did not elaborate on the decision. The New York Post reported that the actor called for a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, which has been under siege and bombarded by Israeli forces since the Hamas terrorist attack in Israel on Oct. 7.

Sarandon, a prolific political activist known for her left-wing views, received criticism after she said at a rally Friday that people who are “afraid of being Jewish at this time” are “getting a taste of what it feels like to be Muslim in this country, so often subjected to violence.”

In a separate development, Spyglass Media Group confirmed that it dropped Barrera from the “Scream” horror series after a series of Instagram posts that reportedly condemned Israel in strong terms.

Read the full story here.

The Israel Defense Forces allowed Reuters cameras in what the IDF described as a tunnel system used by Hamas as a command central underneath the Al-Shifa Hospital complex. The news agency said Israel’s military reviewed all their video after the visit but nothing was removed.

NBC News is not able to independently verify IDF’s characterizations of the tunnels.

Although initial reports indicated hostages held by Hamas may be released as soon as tomorrow morning, National Security Council Director Tzachi Hanegbi said releases won't start until Friday.

"The contacts on the release of our hostages are advancing and continuing constantly," Hanegbi said in a statement. "The start of the release will take place according to the original agreement between the sides, and not before Friday."

Details on what might have caused the delay were not immediately available.

For more than a week, Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City was front and center in Israel’s military offensive. Outside, gunbattles raged and tanks closed in. As power was cut off, doctors reported sniper fire, bomb blasts and deteriorating conditions as trapped civilians crowded onto bloodstained floors, food and water ran out, and premature babies died after incubators shut down from lack of fuel. Last Wednesday, Israeli soldiers raided the complex in search of a Hamas “command center” and hostages. 

The Israel Defense Forces has since seized control of at least two other hospitals in the north of the besieged and bombarded enclave. On Monday, Indonesian Hospital came under attack, with the IDF saying it retaliated after “terrorists opened fire from within,” though it said that it did not shell the hospital in return. 

The raids have raised the prospect that the IDF could be found to have violated international humanitarian law, since hospitals, including patients and medical staff, receive special protection during armed conflict. 

And while medical facilities, like hospitals, can lose their protection from military attacks under certain conditions, according to experts, the law sets a high bar to justify these attacks. 

Read the full story here.

TEL AVIV —Hadas Kalderon, of Kibbutz Nir Oz, says life has been absolute "hell" for her since Oct. 7, when Hamas killed her mother and niece and took her two children hostage along with her ex-husband. She said she was hopeful her nightmare would be over, if indeed her kids are part of Hamas and Israel's deal to release some women and children.

Kalderon said she wasn’t informed about the deal in advance. No one has even told her what a reunion will look like if her children are in fact released, Kalderson said.

"I know it the moment I see them and hug them then I know that my nightmare is finished," Kalderon said. "Until then, everything is fragile. Everything is delicate."

She hopes that she might be able to celebrate her teenage son's birthday, which was Oct. 26, and hear her "beautiful girl" tell her how much she loves her again. Right now, Kalderon has a cake ready and plans for a big party for her son.

"And he's going to get the best present ever," Kalderon said. "Whatever he wants, I'll give him."

Manal Jaafar holds a photo of her husband, Rabih Maamari, a cameraman at pan-Arab TV network Al-Mayadeen, during his funeral today in the southern Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh. According to Lebanese officials and the broadcaster, Maamari and correspondent Farah Omar were killed Tuesday in an Israeli strike as they covered military activity along Lebanon’s border with Israel.

One child is killed every 10 minutes in Gaza and 5,800 of the 14,000 civilians killed so far are kids, according to Jason Lee from Save the Children Palestine.

Avril Benoît, from Doctors Without Borders, said in a media briefing with other humanitarian organizations that Gaza is “like this dystopian reality now.” He added that “all the normal scaffolding of what is the conduct of responsible parties in a conflict have been completely perverted and the supporters of some of these belligerents are standing by watching it happen and what we’re watching happen, of course, may well be war crimes."

Some of the participants touched on the long-term effects of the war in Gaza.

Paul O’Brien, from Amnesty International, expressed deep concern that the outcomes of the “forced displacement that’s already happening in the region is not actually temporary.” Samah Hadid from the Norwegian Refugee Council called Israel’s evacuation order a “forcible relocation of the population.”

During a media briefing late today, Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant vowed to bring all the hostages home and eradicate Hamas.

“Citizens of Israel, I want to be clear: the war continues,” Netanyahu said. “The war continues. We will continue until we meet all our objectives.”

He also said that the country has historically fought to bring hostages home in every case, even mentioning the 1976 Entebbe raid during which his own brother died while serving in the IDF. He offered condolences to all hostage families and said that he believes the hostage deal was the right decision to set the tone for future releases.

Gallant said he was torn over the idea of leaving some people behind, but echoed Netanyahu's sentiments about it being the right decision and that Israel's commitment to bringing people home remains strong.

"I can tell you that I, the IDF, the ISA, and the entire security establishment are very much determined to follow through with this war until we achieve all the goals: to obliterate Hamas as a government and as a military organization and to free all the hostages," Gallant said.

The humanitarian aid organizations Oxfam and UNICEF said that while they welcome a deal to release hostages and pause hostilities, a limited cease-fire is simply not enough to make significant impacts on civilians whose lives have been upended.

"The next four days will be eaten up by a desperate emergency effort that can offer only very limited relief, not equal to the size of suffering and destruction and ultimately with no sustainability," Oxfam's Head of Policy and Advocacy Katy Chakrabortty said in a press release that described the deal as "band-aid to a bleeding wound."

UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell similarly described the deal as "not enough" in a speech made to the United Nations Security Council today. Russell detailed what she saw on a recent trip to Gaza, noting that children are likely to die of malnutrition and that the sewage issue combined with lack of potable water leaves them entirely vulnerable to preventable disease.

"The people of this region deserve peace," she said. "Only a negotiated political solution — one that prioritizes the rights and well-being of this and future generations of Israeli and Palestinian children — can ensure that."

David and Varda Goldstein hold photos of their three grandchildren, Gal, Tal and Agam, and their mother, Chen, who were kidnapped Oct. 7, as they await more details on the hostage deal from a hotel in Tel Aviv today.

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir criticized the outline of the hostage deal, but also hailed it as an "advantage" that "unites us all."

"The truth must be told: an outline that leaves some of the children and women in Gaza is not moral in my eyes, illogical and in my opinion—far too far to be exhaustive!" Ben-Gvir wrote in a Facebook post that was translated by NBC News.

Ben-Gvir also wrote that Hamas agreed to release some hostages because it wanted a timeout and the deal creates a "dangerous precedent" for the future. He said that Israel listens to what Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar dictates, leaving the country prone to repeating past mistakes.

Sinwar was once a Palestinian prisoner who was released in an exchange for an IDF soldier in 2011. Gvir proposed increasing the assault on Hamas as a potential path.

"We see most clearly how military pressure brings results," he said. "It is time for another effort, another increase in pressure to break Hamas, and a different result could have been reached."

Hundreds of patients and wounded people have been evacuated from the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza to the southern part of the strip, the enclave's Health Ministry said today.

Around 450 sick and injured people were removed and about 130 dead bodies were still at the hospital, the ministry said in a statement.

The statement added that 30 wounded people were arrested as they were leaving the hospital, but only 20 were released at the time.

TEL AVIV — In downtown Tel Aviv, dozens of people have gathered in what has come to be known as “hostage square” today as they await the release of 50 women and children taken captive by Hamas.

For weeks now, the public square outside the Tel Aviv Museum of Art has been a beacon of hope for the families and friends of those taken.

A number of art installations here embody their plight including an hourglass that has run out of time, a long dining table with dozens of empty chairs dotted with children's toys, wine glasses and previously, food before it began to spoil with the passage of time.

Rachel Katz-Ashkenazi, 64, came here to pray for her friend Shoshan Haran, who was taken hostage, and whose husband, Avshalom Haran was killed in the Kibbutz Be'eri on the day of Hamas' attack.

Bed capacity in Gaza hospitals has dropped by more than half since the war began from 3,500 to 1,400, the United Nations Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said today.

Only two small hospitals are partially functioning in northern Gaza with seven functional out of 11 total in the south, it said in a report. The drop in capacity comes as there's a “surge in those seeking treatment,” it added.

An Israeli soldier sits on a small plastic table to eat next to a tank close to the Gaza Strip in southern Israel today.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant vowed that military forces will resume in “full force” immediately after the temporary cease-fire in Gaza.

“Therefore, according to my request and according to the request of the security system, the unequivocal demand entered into the government’s decision, that we will decide, that immediately after this phase is exhausted, the action of the IDF, the Shin Bet and all the forces will continue in full force.”

He added that “without the pressure and the continuity” of military attacks in Gaza, “there will be no chance to bring the next teams that we want to bring.”

Gallant said the goals of the operation were to “defeat Hamas, overwhelm it and bring about the result,” and free more abductees it holds hostage.

Rep. Ilhan Omar, member of "the Squad," a group of six representatives who have continuously voiced support for a cease-fire, said on X that she is “grateful for this deal.”

“Grateful for this deal—including the release of hostages, humanitarian aid to Gaza and a temporary ceasefire," she wrote. "We must continue to push for a permanent ceasefire and a release of ALL hostages to end this horror.”

Rep. Ayanna Pressley, also a member of the group, wrote on X that she is “grateful and relieved,” while urging for a permanent cease-fire in Gaza. “This is a welcome step toward saving lives & reuniting families—and it’s a testament to the power of diplomacy & our collective advocacy. We must keep pushing for a permanent #CeasefireNOW to save lives, return all hostages, & end this horrific violence.”

A third member, Rep. Cori Bush, praised the outcome of the deal between Israel and Hamas, and added that it “further proves the effectiveness of de-escalation and diplomacy—not military force—as a means of saving lives and affirms why we must keep our push for a permanent ceasefire.”

Separately, Rep. Summer Lee said on X that she welcomes the return of hostages to their families and prays for the return of all abductees. However, she added that a five-day pause in conflict is “simply not enough,” referring to the increasing death toll of Palestinian civilians.

HONG KONG — As India and China seek greater influence on the global stage, the Israel-Hamas war is testing their diplomatic prowess.

The world’s two most populous countries have both strived to appear neutral in the conflict, mindful of the need to balance their relations with Israel and the Palestinians.

They also have broader concerns: China, feeling targeted by the United States and its allies, has been strengthening its ties with countries outside the West and asserting its diplomatic presence, particularly in the Middle East where it seeks stability to protect its investments.

India, meanwhile, is trying to cast itself as the leader of a united Global South that would rather not choose between the U.S. and China.

Israel's supreme court has rejected a petition filed by the Almagor Terror Victims Association to halt the hostage deal that would allow the return of 50 Israeli hostages in exchange for a temporary cease-fire and 150 Palestinians held by Israel.

A law in Israel gives families victimized by prisoners a window of 24 hours to petition against any deal that would release them. According to the Times of Israel, the organization believes “the same landmines and surprises in the agreement were [present] in almost every other [hostage] deal in the past,” it said in a letter to justice minister Yariv Levin.

The organization is also demanding to see all details of commitments Israel has made as part of the deal, including fuel delivery.

Palestinians bury bodies in a mass grave in a Khan Younis cemetery, in the southern Gaza Strip, earlier today.

A large number of teenage boys and girls are on the list of Palestinians who could be released from Israeli jails under the hostage deal with Hamas.

Published on the Israeli government website, some are listed as having an affiliation with Hamas, but many are listed as under arrest without a specified jail term. The list includes 300 names, 150 of who will be released alongside the four-day pause in fighting. Another 150 could be released if more than 50 hostages are freed from Gaza.

NBC News has not independently verified the details of those listed.

Several Hezbollah targets in Lebanon were struck by an Israeli aircraft today, the country’s military said on Telegram today.

In a separate statement, the Lebanese militant group said it had struck Israeli soldiers and vehicles in northern Israel, achieving “direct hits.”

The body of a woman declared missing after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack was identified today, a hostage volunteer group said today.    

“We share the deep sorrow of the Gabai family for the murder of Shani Gabai,” Haim Rubinstein, a spokesperson for the Family Headquarters for Captives and Missing People, said in a statement. 

Gabai, 25, a resident of Yokneam, was working at the Supernova music festival near Kibbutz Re’im on the day of the attack.  

TEL AVIV — Pope Francis appeared “emotional” hearing the stories of people whose loved ones were taken hostage by Hamas “and he gave us his support,” one relative who met with the pontiff today told NBC News.

Michael Levy, whose 33-year-old brother Or Levy was taken by Hamas on Oct. 7, said the meeting “went very well” and that he hoped it would help bring his brother back home. “I believe that meeting with someone with this kind of influence in the world can make a difference,” he said in a phone call from Rome. “It felt like our stories touched him.”

Noting that Francis spoke about the suffering of both Israelis and Palestinians following the meeting today, Levy, 40, said he shared Francis’ sentiments.

“Honestly I’m also sad about the loss of any life. Any person that didn’t do anything — I’m sorry for it,” he said. “I don’t want to see anyone suffer, so I can understand why he said what he said and obviously I want everyone to live in peace.”

TEL AVIV — After weeks of war, the deal between Israel and Hamas has offered a burst of hope but also a new bout of agonizing waiting for the families of hostages held in Gaza.

The names of the 50 hostages to be released during the four-day pause in fighting have not been made public, leaving their families in limbo — hoping their loved ones might be among them, and wondering if and when they might be reunited.

“It’s like a Russian roulette — we’re waiting to see who will come back home,” said Keren Schem, speaking with NBC News at her home in the Tel Aviv suburb of Shahom. “It’s crazy. We don’t have names yet. Only speculations that it is going to be mothers and their children. And it’s tough, very tough.”

Read the full story here.

As victims were carried from the wreckage of an apartment destroyed by an explosion, residents of Khan Younis welcomed the four-day truce agreement reached by Hamas and Israel.

Abu Jihad Abu Shamieh said they had been waiting for a pause in hostilities and had been praying for peace "for all people."

The Manhattan-based lobbying firm Gotham Government Relations has cut ties with its foreign affairs chair after a viral video emerged showing him berating a street-food vendor in New York. 

Stuart Seldowitz was filmed by the halal cart vendor yesterday as he asked him racist questions and berated him for his job.

Members of the public also filmed Seldowitz who previously served as the acting director for the National Security Council, as well as a state department official on Israel and Palestinian Affairs. In all videos, the food vendor was heard asking Seldowitz to leave as he tried to to de-escalate the situation. 

“The video of his actions is vile, racist and beneath the dignity of the standards we practice at our firm,” Gotham Government Relations said on X.

The Israeli Cabinet today published its decision that could see the release of up to 50 Israeli hostages in exchange for 150 Palestinian women and children who are imprisoned in Israeli prisons.

The Cabinet also outlined a second phase of this agreement, under which for each 10 Israeli hostages released, there will be a 24-hour extension of the cease-fire and a proportionate release of Palestinian women and children.

Reacting to the hostage deal reached yesterday, top congressional Democrats said they won’t rest until all hostages are released and called for Congress to pass aid for humanitarian assistance.

“I am pleased and relieved that we are close to seeing the first 50 hostages be released and reunited with their loved ones,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a statement. “The release of 50 out of 240 hostages would mark real progress, but we cannot rest until all the hostages are free.”

“The Senate will continue working to pass additional humanitarian assistance for innocent Palestinians, and make sure that Isreael has the aid it needs to defend itself to ensure Hamas can never again pose such a threat to Israel,” he added. 

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said the hostage deal is an “important step forward” but “there is much more work to be done.”

In August 2022, Palestinians in Gaza were seen swimming in the ocean on a hot summer day. Images released by the Israel Defense Forces on Nov. 17, at the same location show tanks and military hardware stationed across the beach, as ground operations continue in the region.

More than a dozen ambulances have arrived at Al-Shifa Hospital to evacuate the wounded, the Palestine Red Crescent Society said today.

The 14 ambulances were accompanied by the United Nations and Doctors Without Borders and will evacuate patients, it said in a post on X.

The kingdom of Bahrain urged the international community to “redouble diplomatic efforts” to reach a permanent cease-fire in the Gaza Strip.

Welcoming the humanitarian truce, the Middle Eastern country, which agreed to normalize relations with Israel in September 2020, said in a statement from its foreign ministry that a “comprehensive peace process with the Palestinian people” should be revived.

It also praised the diplomatic efforts by the U.S., Qatar and Egypt to secure the pause in hostilities, which Hamas has said will start tomorrow.

At least three Americans are likely to be among the hostages released by Hamas, national security adviser Jake Sullivan told “TODAY" this morning.

He said negotiators had some information about the identities of the hostages who are expected to be released, including that they will be women and children. But he cautioned that they won’t know exactly who will be released until it happens.

“The hostages will be released over the course of a period of four days. So there will be an agonizing wait day by day as families look to see if if their hostage, their loved one is in the particular release that day,” Sullivan said, adding that Palestinian prisoners will also be released each day.

Sullivan said that Israel will maintain a cease-fire for each day Hamas continues to release hostages.

A Palestinian man receives treatment after an Israeli strike near Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip today.

Israeli military operations continued in the Gaza Strip today before the temporary cease-fire comes into effect.

The Israel Defense Forces said in a post on X that it conducted a ground raid on a neighborhood near the Jabalia camp in Gaza and struck Hamas operatives in the area.

An IDF brigade also destroyed a tunnel infrastructure and exchanged fire with Hamas, it said, adding the naval forces are also attacking several military targets, including a civilian building from which it said a sniper fired.

NBC News has not verified the claims.

Calls to cancel a Coldplay concert in Malaysia's capital, Kuala Lumpur, today have been resisted by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim who told lawmakers that the band is pro-Palestinian.

“Why should we stop a group that supports the Palestinian cause from performing?” local media reported him saying in response to a question in Parliament.

Religious conservatives in the Muslim-majority Malaysia, where the government strongly supports the Palestinian cause, had said it would be inappropriate for the concert to go ahead while civilians were suffering in the Gaza Strip.

In 2011, Coldplay briefly posted a link on its Facebook page to a song called “Freedom for Palestine” and, in 2017, members from the British band visited Israel and the West Bank. They later released a song called “Arabesque” in collaboration with the Palestinian band Le Trio Joubran.

The four-day pause in the fighting in Gaza will begin tomorrow at 10 a.m. local time (3. a.m. ET), a senior Hamas official has said.

Most of the hostages released in the deal will be foreign nationals, Mousa Abu Marzouk said in an interview on Al Jazeera Arabic.

Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen similarly said that the country expects the first hostages from the deal to be released tomorrow. He was speaking to Army Radio this morning.

NBC News has not verified the claims about the timing of the deal.

ROME — Pope Francis today met separately with the relatives of Israeli hostages being held in Gaza and Palestinians with family members in Gaza, calling for an end to the "passions that eventually kill everybody."

“I heard how they both suffer: wars do this, but here we have gone beyond wars, this is not wars, this is terrorism,” he said.

Francis spoke about the suffering endured by everyone in the conflict and also called for peace in Ukraine.

As many as 23 pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested near a container port in Sydney, New South Wales state police said in a statement today.

Around 400 people had gathered near Port Botany yesterday for an unauthorized protest, police said, adding that they blocked a road near the facility. Those who failed to comply with an order to disperse were arrested and charged with offenses including damage or disruption to a major facility, the statement added.

The Palestine Justice Movement Sydney, which organized the protest, said they sought to stop the unloading of a ship belonging to ZIM, an Israeli-owned international shipping line.

Condemning the arrests, it added that their “peaceful, nonviolent boycott campaigns and protests will continue.”

The Palestinian Authority said today it welcomed the truce agreement between Israel and Hamas that will see a temporary cease-fire and release of around 50 hostages.

“We renew the call for a comprehensive cessation of the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people, the introduction of humanitarian aid,” Hussein al-Sheikh, secretary general of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, said in a post on X.

He added the Palestinian leadership was also calling for “a political solution based on international legitimacy.”

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa accused Israel of committing war crimes and genocide in the Gaza Strip.

“The collective punishment of Palestinian civilians through the unlawful use of force by Israel is a war crime,” he said yesterday at a virtual meeting of the BRICS, a group of major emerging economies that includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. “The deliberate denial of medicine, fuel, food and water to the residents of Gaza is tantamount to genocide.”

South Africa has been a longtime supporter of the Palestinian cause, and Ramaphosa’s African National Congress often compares it to South Africa’s fight against apartheid. South Africa, which recalled its ambassador to Israel earlier this month, is one of five countries that has asked the International Criminal Court to investigate Israel’s actions in Gaza.

Ramaphosa’s comments came as South African lawmakers voted in favor of closing the Israeli Embassy and cutting off diplomatic ties until Israel agrees to a cease-fire. A day earlier, Israel said it had recalled its ambassador to South Africa “for consultations.”

A man is comforted outside a hospital morgue in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, as he collects the body of a relative today.

China and Russia welcomed the Israel-Hamas agreement on a four-day cease-fire in exchange for the release of hostages.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said China had always called for a cease-fire to stop the war.

“We welcome the temporary cease-fire agreement reached by the parties concerned and hope that it will help to alleviate the difficult humanitarian crisis, promote the de-escalation of the conflict and ease tensions,” she said today at a regular news briefing in Beijing.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Moscow also welcomed the agreement. “This is exactly what Russia has been calling for since the beginning of the escalation of the conflict,” she told the state-owned news agency RIA Novosti.

The starting time for the agreement between Israel and Hamas to pause fighting in Gaza and release hostages will be announced within 24 hours, the Qatari Foreign Ministry said.

The pause will last for an initial four days and is "subject to extension," it said in a post on X this morning. Qatar was influential in brokering the deal.

As per the agreement, 50 civilian hostages will be released from Gaza in exchange for the pause and a number of Palestinian women and children to be freed from Israeli prisons.

President Joe Biden thanked Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani of Qatar and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi following announcements of an agreement between Israel and Hamas to release some hostages.

He said in a statement that the leaders of Qatar and Egypt provided “critical leadership and partnership in reaching this deal.”

Biden also thanked Netanyahu and his government. The agreement is for Hamas to release at least 50 hostages in return for a four-day pause in the fighting and for Israel to release some Palestinians imprisoned in its jails, officials said.

Biden said that he and first lady Jill Biden “have been keeping all those held hostage and their loved ones close to our hearts these many weeks, and I am extraordinarily gratified that some of these brave souls, who have endured weeks of captivity and an unspeakable ordeal, will be reunited with their families once this deal is fully implemented.”

• Israel and Hamas reach deal to release 50 hostages and pause fighting for 4 days in Gaza
• International law questions abound as Israeli forces raid Gaza hospitals
• Exclusive: Israel’s secret air war in Gaza and the West Bank