The Times of Israel is liveblogging Thursday’s events as they unfold.
Former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger dies aged 100
Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, the diplomat with the thick glasses and gravelly voice who dominated foreign policy as the United States extricated itself from Vietnam and broke down barriers with China, died Wednesday, his consulting firm says. He was 100.
With his gruff yet commanding presence and behind-the-scenes manipulation of power, Kissinger exerted uncommon influence on global affairs under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, earning both vilification and the Nobel Peace Prize. Decades later, his name still provoked impassioned debate over foreign policy landmarks long past.
Father of freed American-Israeli hostage thanks Biden for his efforts
The father of the American-Israeli hostage freed earlier today thanks US President Joe Biden for his efforts to secure his daughter’s release.
“I’m glad that President Biden is the president. I don’t see any other person around who would be able to manage the current situation as well as he has,” says Yehuda Beinin, the father of freed hostage Liat Beinin Atzilli, during a CNN interview.
Biden called Yehuda Beinin earlier this evening following his daughter’s release and invited him to the White House.
“Once again, the president has shown… that [he] is sharp as a tack and any intonation to any other state of his mind is patently ridiculous,” Beinin says, dismissing concerns regarding the 81-year-old Biden’s mental fitness.
Freed hostages arrive at hospitals in Israel, to reunite with families
The 10 Israeli hostages and four Thai nationals freed tonight begin to arrive at hospitals in Israel for treatment and monitoring and to reunite with their loved ones, the Health Ministry says.
Two Israeli women with dual Russian citizenship were freed earlier in the evening as a “gesture” to Russian President Vladimir Putin, separate from the deal with Israel.
If Hamas proposal for release of next group of hostages doesn’t change, war to resume, says source
An Israeli source tells Channel 12 early Thursday that if Hamas’s proposal for the release of the next group of Israeli hostages doesn’t change by morning, Israel would resume fighting.
Israel’s war cabinet is meeting to weigh proposals to extend the truce, now in its sixth day, if more hostages are released, specifically women and children
Israel, Hamas yet to reach agreement on next group of Israeli hostages set for release
Israel and Palestinian terror group Hamas have yet to reach an agreement via mediators on the next group of Israeli hostages set for potential release Thursday, which would secure truce agreement for a seventh day.
The truce is set to expire at 7.am. this morning.
The war cabinet is meeting into the night to reach agreement on Israel’s next move.
Channel 12 reports that mediators have submitted a list of hostages that is not acceptable to Israel.
According to the report, Israel made it clear the list must be amended for the extension to go ahead.
White House not seeking conditions on military aid to Israel, says senator
After the Biden administration appeared to leave open the possibility that the US might condition aid to Israel in the future, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told lawmakers this week that the White House isn’t seeking conditions on the aid for Jerusalem that it is asking Congress to pass.
Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen, who was among lawmakers who met privately with Sullivan on Tuesday, tells The Associated Press that Sullivan “made it clear that the White House is not asking for any conditionality in aid. So I want to leave that very clear.” A second person directly familiar with the meeting confirmed the account.
During the meeting, Sullivan took questions from Senate Democrats about how the administration would ensure that any American weapons provided to Israel would be used in accordance with US law, AP reports.
Several progressive Democrats have called for conditioning aid to Israel, as the civilian casualty figures in Gaza increase along with frustration over Israel’s conduct in the West Bank.
Asked last week about the proposal, Biden said it was a “worthwhile thought,” but argued that he would not have managed to secure the release of hostages, the increase of aid into Gaza and the implementation of a temporary ceasefire had he taken a more hardline approach toward Israel.
Still, his top aides refused to categorically rule out the idea of conditioning aid when asked in several interviews earlier this week.
Sullivan’s remarks to lawmakers appeared to all but put the proposal — which wouldn’t be able to pass Congress regardless — to bed.
AP contributed to this report.
UN chief says accounts of sexual violence ‘during abhorrent acts of terror by Hamas’ must be probed
After UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for the first time called for an investigation into allegations of sexual violence committed during the October 7 Hamas massacres, his official X account posts a quote from the speech in which he made the call and adds the words “by Hamas,” which were not uttered in his speech.
“There are numerous accounts of sexual violence during the abhorrent acts of terror by Hamas on 7 October that must be vigorously investigated and prosecuted,” the Guterres tweet reads. “Gender-based violence must be condemned. Anytime. Anywhere.”
Israel’s Foreign Ministry tore into the women’s rights group UN Women last week for taking 50 days to comment on the evidence of sexual violence perpetrated during Hamas’s onslaught last month, only to issue a brief statement expressing “alarm” on the matter, then delete the post.
On Instagram, UN Women posted the condemnation of Hamas before deleting it shortly after, and replacing it with a call to release all hostages in Gaza.
US warship shoots down drone launched from Yemen
An American destroyer shot down a drone today that was launched from a part of Yemen controlled by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels, the US military’s Central Command says.
“At approximately 1100 (Sanaa time), while in the South Red Sea, the Arleigh-Burke Class Guided Missile Destroyer USS Carney (DDG 64) shot down an Iranian-produced KAS04 unmanned aerial vehicle launched from Huthi-controlled areas of Yemen,” CENTCOM says in a statement.
Biden: We’re determined to secure release of every person taken hostage by Hamas
US President Joe Biden welcomes the release of an American-Israeli hostage from Hamas captivity tonight and says Washington will keep working to help secure the release of all hostages taken by Hamas.
Sixteen Israeli and Thai hostages were freed earlier tonight, among them Liat Beinin — a high school teacher, a guide at Israel’s Holocaust Museum Yad Vashem and an American.
“Jill and I are deeply gratified that she will soon be reunited with her three children and her father, who have been wracked with worry for her safety, and we remain determined to secure the release of every person taken hostage by Hamas during its brutal terrorist assault on Israel on October 7, including Liat’s husband Aviv,” Biden says.
The US president notes that the tonight’s releases were the result of a truce between Israel and Hamas that the US worked tirelessly to secure in order free now nearly 100 hostages and to deliver significant amounts of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
The truce is in its sixth day, following a two-day extension of what was initially a four-day truce. The US says it hopes the temporary ceasefire will be further extended and talks toward that end are ongoing.
Biden again thanks the leaders of Israel, Qatar and Egypt for their help in securing the truce.
The statement details at length US efforts to surge humanitarian aid into Gaza as the Biden administration continues to come under fire from the far-left flank of the Democratic party over its support for Israel right to self-defense following Hamas’s October 7 massacre.
Four-year-old Abigail Edan, an Israeli-American dual citizen, was the first US hostage to be released under the ceasefire. Both of her parents were killed in the Hamas attack that started the war on Oct. 7.
White House officials believe seven or eight Americans remain in captivity.
AP contributed to this report.
Blinken arrives in Israel for talks on Gaza truce, aid
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives in Tel Aviv tonight for talks with Israeli leaders on the truce with Hamas in Gaza, the hostages held by the terror group, and the provision of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.
It is Blinken’s third visit to the Middle East since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, sparked by the shock October 7 assault on southern Israel by the terror group, when thousands of terrorists massacred people in their homes and at an outdoor music festival. About 1,200 people were killed, and around 240 were taken hostage.
Earlier, 10 more Israeli and four Thai hostages were released by Hamas in Gaza as part of a truce agreement that saw.
Over the past week, 97 civilians have been released from Hamas captivity in Gaza: 73 Israelis, 23 Thai nationals and 1 Filipino.
Prior to the current agreement, 4 hostages were released, 1 was rescued and 2 bodies were recovered.
Around 145 hostages are estimated to remain in Gaza.