8am AEDT, 30 November
What’s happening?
Today is the sixth day of the truce. Hamas is due to release 10 Israeli civilian hostages, but the release has been ‘delayed’ as this newsletter is being written. Two Russian-Israelis and a foreign national were released earlier today.
Hamas has apparently expressed a desire to extend the truce for four more days, and negotiations are continued. There are still some women and children in Gaza. Once these have been released, talks will be focused on five categories of hostages: female soldiers, men no longer of the age to do reserve duty, IDF reservists, male soldiers, and the bodies of those killed during the October assault and later in captivity. If the ceasefire is not extended, it will end today.
Hamas has claimed that the Bibas children – the red-headed 10-month-old Kfir and four-year old Ariel – along with their mother have been killed. The IDF warns that this might be psychological warfare and is investigating claims.
Background
A look at the difficulties in Hamas locating all the hostages in Gaza – captured by other terrorist groups as well as civilians.
More intelligence is emerging about Israel’s intelligence failure ahead of 7 October. Meanwhile, the head of Military Intelligence is set to fall on his sword.
The Israeli economy is in for a very rough ride, but no one knows just how bad it will be.
