The ceasefire foreseen by the agreement between Israel and Hamas began this morning at 6.30. The first hostages will be released today. And the truce should last 4 days. And in the meantime we are starting to deal with the losses and what is happening around the Israel-Hamas situation.
Since Saturday morning, October 7, 1,225 Israeli civilians have been killed. 390 IDF soldiers were killed in action. More than 8,822 wounded Israelis have so far been evacuated to hospitals. 236 confirmed IDF civilians and soldiers were abducted. Among the dead there are 33 minors and 25 aged 80 and over. 35 of the kidnapped are children and adolescents, of which 10 are under 5 years old. 18 of the abductees are elderly people aged 75 or older. 288 of those dead and 15 of those missing have foreign citizenship (even double). 121 of the abductees have foreign citizenship (including dual citizenship). Since the start of hostilities, over 10,000 rockets have been fired at Israel.
As of November 21, approximately 126,000 Israelis were officially forced by a government directive to leave their homes in communities and cities adjacent to the northern border and the Gaza Strip (97 communities in the north and south), and have since were placed in various locations across the country (70 thousand displaced in the South, around 60 thousand in the North). Many more people evacuated their homes on their own initiative from communities not covered by the government’s plan (bringing the unofficial total to 256,000 displaced people). 360,000 Israeli IDF reservists have been recruited. Efforts to identify victims continue thanks to the police update: so far 860 civilians murdered in the war have been identified.
The prisoner exchange under the preliminary agreement included the exchange of 50 women and children detained by the radical Hamas movement for approximately 150 Palestinian prisoners. But apparently the United States, in the person of President Joe Biden, contributed to improving the agreement with Israel for the release of some hostages held in Gaza. Bejaniamin Netanyahu said it. He himself declared: “The Israeli authorities are preparing to make a “difficult but correct decision” on the agreement for the release of some of the hostages held by Palestinian radicals in the Gaza Strip, all the country’s security structures support it” he stated Netanyahu.
Under the agreement, the terms of which were published by Israeli media before the end of the meeting, 50 people will be released during the first phase of the four-day ceasefire. Of these, 30 children, eight mothers and 12 other women. In exchange, Israel will release 150 Palestinian detainees – women and minors – who are in its prisons on non-murder charges.
According to statements from sources close to the al Qassam brigades. “For your information and reminder, the 50 prisoners held by Al-Qassam, who will be exchanged for 150 Palestinian women and children, are foreigners of different nationalities and are the ones who, at the beginning of the war, Abu Ubaida announced would be released without compensation and that they were guests of Al-Qassam, but due to the irresponsible practices of the occupation they were handed over in exchange for an exchange agreement.”
The Israeli Association of Victims of Terrorism Almagor filed a lawsuit at noon on November 22 in the High Court of Justice of Israel against the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons as part of a deal to release hostages held by radicals in Gaza Strip, reports the newspaper The Times of Israel.
The IDF says that since the start of the ground operation in the Gaza Strip, 400 mines in Hamas tunnels have been discovered and destroyed.
On November 22, a Hamas delegation arrived in Lebanon, its members were received by Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrullah source Al Manar. The Iranian Foreign Minister is also visiting the Lebanese capital Beirut.
On November 22, the Houthis declared, through the official spokesperson of the Ansar Allah Houth group: “we will support any initiative undertaken by the Palestinian factions”.
At the border with Egypt, hundreds of trucks in Al-Arish are waiting to enter the Gaza Strip once the truce begins.
Vladimir Putin said: “We must help the people in the Gaza Strip who are suffering due to current events, this is our sacred duty.” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, re-elected last week, will inform Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that his country will soon be ready to recognize the State of Palestine, El Confidencial newspaper reported, citing sources close to the Spanish prime minister’s progress. of the Minister in Israel.
Sanchez is expected to make the announcement during a planned trip to Israel, where he and his Belgian counterpart Alexander de Croo plan to meet Netanyahu and Israeli President Isaac Herzog, as well as Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.
Meanwhile, clashes continued in southern Lebanon. The US Deputy National Security Advisor said: “The truce agreement between Israel and Hamas does not mark the end of the war.” At 18:00 ET on November 22, the Al-Quds Brigades stated: “In today’s hours, our mujahideen managed to target 11 different Israeli military vehicles with “tandom” shells and guerrilla bombs in the areas of incursion into the neighborhood of Al-Zaytoun, Tal Al-Hawa, Al-Shati, Sheikh Radwan and the Juhr Al-Dik area”.
And now a look at the Battle for Gaza: IDF operation update from 4.00 pm on 22 November 2023.
In the morning Hamas and Israel announced a truce and ceasefire, which should come into force on November 23rd starting from 10.00. However, since our last update on the situation in the Gaza Strip, the configuration of the front line has changed significantly.
The IDF advances from the northern outskirts of the enclave: the Israelis have wedged themselves deep into the sector from the Erez checkpoint and have reached the Indonesian hospital. The entire coast of the northern Gaza Strip is firmly under IDF control and Gaza itself is completely surrounded.
The Palestinians periodically manage to bomb Israeli cities in the south and center of the country. Twice yesterday, IDF fighter jets struck Hezbollah infrastructure and a military site belonging to the terrorist organization Hezbollah in Lebanon. Additionally, IDF planes along with artillery hit a Hezbollah cell that fired from Lebanese territory towards the area near Hanita in northern Israel. Additionally, on November 22, shots were fired from a military site in Lebanon towards the Mattat area where IDF soldiers were operating. In response, the military site was hit. Furthermore, following reports of sirens being sounded in northern Israel, numerous launches from Lebanon towards Israel were identified. In response, the IDF struck the sources of the launches.
Antonio Albanese e Graziella Giangiulio
