Israel-Hamas war: What happened on day 47?

Shortly after Hamas militants took hostages during their deadly assault on southern Israel on October 7, the government of Qatar contacted the White House with a request: Form a small team of advisers to help work to get the captives freed.

That work, begun in the days after the hostages were taken, finally bore fruit with the announcement of a prisoner swap deal mediated by Qatar and Egypt and agreed by Israel, Hamas and the United States.

The secretive effort included tense personal diplomatic engagement by US President Joe Biden, who held a number of urgent conversations with the emir of Qatar and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the weeks leading up to the deal.

It also involved hours of painstaking negotiations including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, CIA Director Bill Burns, national security adviser Jake Sullivan and his deputy Jon Finer, and US Middle East envoy Brett McGurk, among others.

Two officials involved in the effort provided extensive details of the work that led to an agreement in which 50 hostages are to be freed in exchange for 150 Palestinian prisoners during a four-day pause in fighting.

Mossad Director David Barnea will visit Qatar to discuss the hostage release deal with the Prime Minister and other Qatari officials, it was reported on Wednesday.

There, Barnea received the list of received hostages who are expected to be released on Thursday. Accompanying Barnea is Maj.-Gen. (res.) Nitzan Alon, who was appointed to handle a variety of security and intelligence operations issues related to the hostages.

Every day, Barnea will receive a list with the names of the hostages who will be released the following day, according to N12. Israel will then, according to the hostage list, prepare their own list of security prisoners it will release. The lists will be sent to the Red Cross on both sides.

IDF Spokesman R-Adm. Daniel Hagari said the same day that "We have a duty to do everything to return the hostages, the elderly, the women, and of course our children to their homes.

"This is a complex process that will take time and continue in several stages. Our guiding principle was and remains to update the families of the hostages first, and then update the public. The coming days will include moments of pain, and moments of joy, and may include attempts at psychological terror."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with US President Joe Biden on Wednesday evening on the phone and thanked him for his assistance in reaching a plan for the release of hostages currently in Gaza.

This is a developing story.

If the truce between the Hamas militant group and Israel is not extended, the war will spread across the Middle East, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian told Lebanese broadcaster Al Mayadeen on Wednesday.

Israel and Hamas agreed on Wednesday to a ceasefire in Gaza for at least four days, to let in aid and free at least 50 hostages held by militants in the Palestinian enclave in exchange for at least 150 Palestinians jailed in Israel.

IDF Spokesman R-Adm. Daniel Hagari said on Wednesday that "We have a duty to do everything to return the hostages, the elderly, the women, and of course our children to their homes.

"This is a complex process that will take time and continue in several stages. Our guiding principle was and remains to update the families of the hostages first, and then update the public. The coming days will include moments of pain, and moments of joy, and may include attempts at psychological terror."

Smoke billowed from northern Gaza neighborhoods on Wednesday as Israel and Hamas prepared for a ceasefire. Numerous areas in northern Gaza were still the centers of fighting. The smoke could be seen from Sderot and also highways around Ashkelon. It looked like southern Israel was on fire. It was thick black smoke – and also white smoke caused by explosions from artillery shells. In addition, flares hung in the air. A helicopter hovered overhead.

I went down to Sderot on the eve of the ceasefire to conduct interviews with an IDF unit. After the interviews, I drove to an area in Sderot which has been set aside for journalists. Sderot was one of the targets of the Hamas attack on October 7. On that dark day, Hamas drove into the city with a pickup truck full of terrorists as well as other vehicles. They waylaid cars and massacred unsuspecting civilians early in the morning. Then they attacked the police station.

A friend of mine who arrived in Sderot early on October 7 saw bodies in the streets. At first, he called me and said he saw terrorists who had been killed. Then he caught himself and wondered aloud, maybe they were victims of the terrorists. I was near Sderot on the first day of the war as well, on a road near Yad Mordechai. I spent October 8 near Netiv Ha’asara and Zikim. Many bodies were visible on the road that day.

Terrorists were neutralized near Zikim on October 8 – some of the remnants of those who had attacked the South on October 7. I saw two of their bodies eviscerated on a road, near a van that was still running. Later I saw reservists in Merkava tanks arriving and shelling Gaza.

Every week since then has brought new developments in the war.

The IDF and Shin Bet eliminated six terrorists and arrested 29 wanted individuals throughout the West Bank on Wednesday. Three of the arrested are Hamas terrorists.

The six terrorists, among them four senior officers, were eliminated from an air strike under the direction of Shin Bet. The terrorists had taken part in a series of attacks against civilians and IDF soldiers.  The six killed had thrown explosives and fired at Israeli forces.

One of the terrorists who was injured in the airstrike was caught by the Israeli forces before he could escape and was detained for further medical treatment and investigation. 

Violence spreads to Dheisheh refugee camp

In the Dheisheh refugee camp, many weapons and incendiary materials belonging to Hamas were confiscated in a joint IDF and Shin Bet operation. Nine were arrested in the operation, and dozens of suspects were interrogated.

During the operation, charges and stones were thrown at Israeli forces, who responded with live fire. 

Nearly three-quarters of the American public supports short-term humanitarian pauses in the fighting between Israel and Hamas in Gaza in order to allow for the release of hostages, a survey from the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) found.

Some 72% of respondents favored humanitarian pauses, as did 69% of Jewish Americans. 

On the other hand, 20% of respondents were in favor of an immediate, unconditional ceasefire, an outcome favored by 16% of Jewish Americans.

60% of all respondents and 64% of Jewish respondents said that the release of all hostages held by Hamas should be a precondition for a long-term ceasefire. Hamas being removed from power was viewed as a precondition to a long-term ceasefire by 51% of Americans and 58% of Jewish Americans. In a similar vein, 46% of the general public, and 61% of Jewish Americans identified Hamas's "disarmament" as a precondition for a ceasing of hostilities.

"It's clear that the vast majority of Americans understand that an end to the fighting must be tied to releasing the hostages and making Israel safer by removing Hamas from power," said Mimi Kravetz, the Chief Impact and Growth Officer for Jewish Federations of North America. "Understanding these fundamental and widely held views is critical for our policymakers as they work to represent their communities."

The researchers surveyed 1,290 American adults, 843 of whom were Jewish, on November 19 and 20, 2023.

One of the few players who have been influencing the Qataris to become the negotiators for the release of the Israeli hostages taken by Hamas is Ronald Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress (WJC), as well as a number of heads of European Jewish communities. The Jerusalem Post has learned that during a high-level delegation’s discussions in Qatar, which took place between October 30-November 1, the members of this delegation met with Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani.

The WJC wouldn’t speak of the content of the meetings, only confirming that they took place.

The Post has learned that the emir met with the delegation for several hours and held a thorough discussion about the situation of what was believed to be 240 Israeli hostages in Gaza.

There are a number of reasons that the emir accepted to meet with this delegation. First of all, Lauder has been a sort of Jewish diplomat for decades, and is known to be well-connected with heads of state and business icons.

Lauder and the heads of European Jewish communities are assets for Qatar, which wants access to the highest levels of European countries such as Germany, and the United Kingdom, as well as the European Union. And it’s not only about access, but Qatar also seeks the stamp of approval of these Jewish communities, with the aim of being seen in a new light by the leaders of those countries.