World
Hamas, Israel swap hostages, prisoners as Gaza cease-fire begins
Hamas on Friday released 24 hostages it held captive in Gaza for weeks, and Israel freed 39 Palestinians from prison in the first stage of a swap under a four-day cease-fire that offered a small glimmer of relief to both sides.
Israel — wrenched by the abduction of nearly 240 people in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack that triggered the war — cheered as 13 Israeli women and children emerged free from Gaza. Most were in their 70s or 80s, and the youngest was a 2-year-old. Also released were 10 people from Thailand and one from the Philippines.
In Gaza, the truce’s start Friday morning brought the first quiet for 2.3 million Palestinians reeling and desperate from relentless Israeli bombardment that has killed thousands, driven three-quarters of the population from their homes and leveled residential areas. Rocket fire from Gaza militants into Israel went silent as well.
Increased supplies of food, water, medicine and fuel promised under the deal began to roll into Gaza, where U.N. officials had warned that Israel’s seal on the territory threatened to push it to starvation.
But relief has been tempered — among Israelis by the fact that not all hostages will be freed and among Palestinians by the briefness of the pause. The short truce leaves Gaza mired in humanitarian crisis and under the threat that fighting could soon resume.
Israel says the cease-fire could be extended if more hostages are released, but it has vowed to resume its massive offensive once the truce ends. That has clouded hopes that the deal could eventually help wind down the conflict, which has fueled a surge of violence in the occupied West Bank and stirred fears of a wider conflagration across the Middle East.
Under the deal, Hamas is to release at least 50 hostages, and Israel 150 Palestinian prisoners over the four days. Both sides were starting with women and children. Israel said the four-day truce can be extended an extra day for every additional 10 hostages freed.
After nightfall Friday, a line of ambulances emerged from Gaza through the Rafah Crossing into Egypt carrying the freed hostages, as seen live on Egypt’s state-run Al-Qahera TV. The freed Israelis included nine women and four children 9 and under.
The released hostages were taken to three Israeli hospitals for observation. The Schneider Children’s Medical Center said it was treating eight Israelis — four children and four women — and that all appeared to be in good physical condition. The center said they were also receiving psychological treatment, adding that “these are sensitive moments” for the families.
At a plaza dubbed “Hostages Square” in Tel Aviv, a crowd of Israelis celebrated at the news.
Yael Adar spotted her mother, 85-year-old Yaffa Adar, in a TV newscast of the release and was cheered to see her walking. “That was a huge concern, what would happen to her health during these almost two months,” she told Israel’s Channel 12.
But Yael’s 38-year-old son, Tamir Adar, remained in captivity. Both were kidnapped on Oct. 7 from Kibbutz Nir Oz. “Everyone needs to come back. It’s happiness locked up in grief.”
The hostages included multiple generations. Nine-year-old Ohad Munder-Zichri was freed along with his mother, Keren Munder, and grandmother Ruti Munder. The fourth-grader was abducted during a holiday visit to his grandparents at the kibbutz where about 80 people — nearly a quarter of all residents of the small community — are believed to have been taken hostage.
The plight of the hostages has raised anger among some families that the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was not doing enough to bring them home.
Hours later, 24 Palestinian women and 15 teenagers held in Israeli prisons in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem were freed. In the West Bank town of Beituna, hundreds of Palestinians poured out of their homes to celebrate, honking horns and setting off fireworks that lite up the nights sky.
The teenagers had been jailed for minor offenses like throwing stones. The women included several convicted of trying to stab Israeli soldiers, and others who had been arrested at checkpoints in the West Bank.
“As a Palestinian, my heart is broken for my brothers in Gaza, so I can’t really celebrate,” said Abdulqader Khatib, a U.N. worker whose 17-year-old son, Iyas, was freed. “But I am a father. And deep inside, I am very happy.”
Iyas had been taken last year into “administrative detention,” without charges or trial and based on secret evidence. Israel often holds detainees for months without charges. Most of those who are tried are put before military courts that almost never acquit defendants and often don’t follow due process, human rights groups say.
According to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, an advocacy group, Israel is currently holding 7,200 Palestinians, including about 2,000 arrested since the start of the war.
CEASE-FIRE TAKES HOLD
Friday’s halt in fighting brought Gaza’s uprooted population a moment to catch their breath after weeks of fleeing for shelter, searching for food and fearing for family.
After the truce began Friday morning, four trucks of fuel and four trucks of cooking gas entered from Egypt, as well as 200 trucks of relief supplies, Israel said.
Israel has barred all imports into Gaza throughout the war, except for a trickle of supplies from Egypt.
Its ban on fuel, which it said could be diverted to Hamas, caused a territory-wide blackout. Hospitals, water systems, bakeries and shelters have struggled to keep generators running.
During the truce, Israel agreed to allow the delivery of 130,000 liters (34,340 gallons) of fuel per day — still only a small portion of Gaza’s estimated daily needs of more than 1 million liters.
Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people are crowded into the southern portion of the territory, with more than 1 million living in U.N. schools-turned-shelters. The calm brought a chance for displaced residents of the south to visit homes and retrieve some belongings.
But the hundreds of thousands who evacuated from northern Gaza to the south were warned not to return in leaflets dropped by Israel. Israeli troops hold much of the north, including Gaza City.
Still, hundreds of Palestinians tried walking north Friday. Two were shot and killed by Israeli troops and another 11 were wounded.
Sofian Abu Amer decided to risk checking his home in Gaza City.
“We don’t have enough clothes, food and drinks,” he said. “The situation is disastrous. It’s better for a person to die.”
Israel’s northern border with Lebanon was also quiet on Friday, a day after the militant Hezbollah group, an ally of
Hamas, carried out the highest number of attacks in one day since fighting there began Oct. 8.
Hezbollah is not a party to the cease-fire agreement but was widely expected to halt its attacks.
A LONGER PEACE?
The war erupted when several thousand Hamas militants stormed into southern Israel, killing at least 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking scores of hostages, including babies, women and older adults, as well as soldiers.
The hope is that “momentum” from the deal will lead to an “end to this violence,” said Majed al-Ansari, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry of Qatar, which served as a mediator along with the United States and Egypt.
But hours before it came into effect, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told troops that their respite would be short and that the war would resume with intensity for at least two more months.
Netanyahu has also vowed to continue the war to destroy Hamas’ military capabilities, end its 16-year rule in Gaza and return all the hostages.
The Israeli offensive has killed more than 13,300 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza government. Women and minors have consistently made up around two-thirds of the dead, though the latest number was not broken down. The figure does not include updated numbers from hospitals in the north, where communications have broken down.
The ministry says some 6,000 people have been reported missing, feared buried under rubble. The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and militants in its death tolls.
Israel says it has killed thousands of Hamas fighters, without presenting evidence for its count.
AP
The New York judge presiding over President-elect Donald Trump’s hush money case, on Friday, set sentencing for 10 days before his January 20 inauguration and said he was not inclined to impose jail time.
Judge Juan Merchan said Trump, the first former president ever convicted of a crime, can appear either in person or virtually at his January 10 sentencing.
In an 18-page decision, Merchan upheld Trump’s conviction by a New York jury, rejecting various motions from Trump’s lawyers seeking to have it thrown out.
The judge said that instead of incarceration he was leaning towards an unconditional discharge –- meaning the real estate tycoon would not be subject to any conditions.
The sentence would nevertheless see Trump entering the White House as a convicted felon.
The 78-year-old Trump potentially faced up to four years in prison but legal experts — even before he won the November presidential election — did not expect Merchan to send the former president to jail.
“It seems proper at this juncture to make known the Court’s inclination to not impose any sentence of incarceration,” the judge said, noting that prosecutors also did not believe a jail term was a “practicable recommendation.”
Trump is expected to lodge an appeal that could potentially delay his sentencing.
Trump was convicted in New York in May of 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels on the eve of the 2016 election to stop her from revealing an alleged 2006 sexual encounter.
Trump’s attorneys had sought to have the case dismissed on multiple grounds, including the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling last year that former US presidents have sweeping immunity from prosecution for a range of official acts committed while in office.
Merchan rejected that argument but he noted that Trump will be immune from prosecution once he is sworn in as president.
“Finding no legal impediment to sentencing and recognizing that Presidential immunity will likely attach once Defendant takes his Oath of Office, it is incumbent upon this Court to set this matter down for imposition of sentence prior to January 20, 2025,” the judge said.
“This lawless case should have never been brought and the Constitution demands that it be immediately dismissed,” Cheung said in a statement.
“President Trump must be allowed to continue the Presidential Transition process and to execute the vital duties of the presidency, unobstructed by the remains of this or any remnants of the Witch Hunts,” he said.
“There should be no sentencing, and President Trump will continue fighting against these hoaxes until they are all dead,” Cheung added.
Trump also faced two federal cases brought by special counsel Jack Smith but both were dropped under a long-standing Justice Department policy of not prosecuting a sitting president.
In those cases, Trump was accused of conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 election he lost to Joe Biden and removing large quantities of top secret documents after leaving the White House.
Trump also faces racketeering charges in Georgia over his alleged efforts to subvert the 2020 election results in the southern state, but that case will likely be frozen while he is in the White House.
China is facing a growing health crisis with a surge in respiratory illnesses, including human metapneumovirus (HMPV), five years after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Reports obtained by Core News indicate that hospitals are overwhelmed, particularly children’s facilities, as multiple viruses spread rapidly across the country.
A Surge in Viral Infections
Social media posts and videos show overcrowded hospitals, with one widely shared claim stating, “China is battling a surge in Influenza A, HMPV, Mycoplasma pneumoniae, and COVID-19. Hospitals and crematoriums are under strain, and cases of pneumonia and ‘white lung’ syndrome are on the rise.”
Speculation of a state of emergency has surfaced online, but Chinese authorities have not confirmed this.
New Monitoring System in Place
In response to the outbreak, China’s National Disease Control and Prevention Administration is testing a system to track pneumonia of unknown origin. The aim is to strengthen early detection and establish protocols for handling new pathogens—a gap identified during the early days of COVID-19.
State broadcaster CCTV reported that this system involves laboratories reporting cases, which disease control agencies then verify and manage. Officials say respiratory illnesses, particularly among children under 14, have been on the rise, with northern provinces seeing the highest numbers.
Winter Adds to the Pressure
As the country heads into winter, experts warn of an expected increase in respiratory infections. Alongside HMPV, other viruses like rhinovirus and Mycoplasma pneumoniae are contributing to the surge. However, authorities predict fewer total cases this year compared to 2024.
No Vaccine for HMPV
Medical experts are urging caution in the use of antiviral drugs, as there is currently no vaccine for HMPV. The virus causes symptoms similar to the common cold but can lead to severe illness in vulnerable populations, including children and the elderly.
A Critical Test for China’s Health System
This outbreak underscores the ongoing challenges of managing infectious diseases. While China’s new monitoring system aims to provide better preparedness, the country’s healthcare system faces a critical test in the months ahead as infections continue to rise.
Health officials and the global community are closely watching how China addresses this growing crisis.
A ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah has come into effect hours after United States President Joe Biden said a proposal to end the “devastating” conflict had been reached, promising to halt nearly 14 months of cross-border fighting that has killed thousands of people.
The ceasefire began at 4am local time (02:00 GMT) on Wednesday amid concerns as to whether the truce would hold and lead to the permanent end of fighting between Israel’s military and Hezbollah forces.
“The fighting across the Lebanese-Israeli border will end — will end. This is designed to be a permanent cessation of hostilities,” Biden said when announcing on Tuesday night that an agreement had been reached.
“Civilians on both sides will soon be able to safely return to their communities and begin to rebuild their homes, their schools, their farms, their businesses and their very lives,” Biden said.
Hezbollah, which did not participate in any direct talks on the ceasefire – with Lebanese parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri mediating on the group’s behalf – has yet to formally comment.
Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said he told Biden that he welcomed the deal to end hostilities between the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah and Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also told the US president that his government had approved the truce and that he appreciated his “understanding that Israel will maintain its freedom of action in enforcing it”, his office said.
As part of the ceasefire agreement, Israel will “gradually withdraw” its forces from southern Lebanon over the next 60 days, and the Lebanese Army and state security forces would deploy to the territory.
Biden released a joint statement with French President Emmanuel Macron that emphasised both countries “will work with Israel and Lebanon to ensure this arrangement is fully implemented and enforced”.
The US and France also committed “to lead and support international efforts for capacity-building of the Lebanese Armed Forces as well as economic development throughout Lebanon to advance stability and prosperity in the region”.
Lebanon began striking Israel on October 8, 2023, in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. Cross-border attacks persisted for months. Then, at the start of last month, Israel invaded southern Lebanon.
At least 3,768 Lebanese have been killed and 15,699 wounded since the fighting began.
Ongoing fighting
Despite the anticipated ceasefire, Israel’s bombardment of Lebanon continued to rage on Tuesday, with Israeli warplanes pounding Beirut’s southern suburbs.
Reporting from the Lebanese capital, Al Jazeera’s Zein Basravi said Israeli strikes continued in the minutes immediately after Biden spoke.
“Right now, all of the politics we’ve heard in the last half hour to one hour, none of that matters,” Basravi said. “This evening, tonight in Beirut, in the capital of Lebanon, across multiple areas in this country, the war is still very much going.”
“Within five minutes or so of Biden completing his speech, we heard loud explosions in Beirut. Once again, sirens started sounding in northern Israel,” he said.
“In upper Galilee, Hezbollah fired a large amount of rockets across the border into Israeli territory, fulfilling a pledge that if the Israelis strike inside central Beirut, that Hezbollah will strike Israel,” he said.
Earlier in the day, the Israeli military said that one barrage of strikes had hit 20 targets in the city in just 120 seconds.
Seven people were killed and 37 others wounded in Israeli attacks on a Beirut building housing displaced people, the National News Agency reported, citing Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health.
“The Israeli strike on the Nweiri area in Beirut destroyed a four-storey building housing displaced people,” Lebanon’s official news agency said.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry said earlier that Israeli strikes had killed at least 31 people on Monday, mostly in the south of the country.
A new push for a Gaza ceasefire
Reporting from the White House, Al Jazeera’s Kimberly Halkett noted that the ceasefire announcement comes in the waning days of Biden’s term.
Republican President-elect Donald Trump is set to take office on January 20.
The Biden administration has repeatedly sought to broker a ceasefire agreement in Gaza but has come up short. It has repeatedly refused to leverage US military aid to Israel in its push for peace.
“The fact is [Tuesday’s ceasefire] falls short of the Biden administration’s goal, in that it does not in any way speak to the conflict in Gaza,” Halkett said.
Still, during the address, Biden pledged to “make another push with Turkey, Egypt, Qatar, Israel and others to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza” in his final days in office.
He also said he would work towards forging new normalisation agreements between Israel and several Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, a goal which had been set back amid the war in Gaza.
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