An earlier edition of this article incorrectly indicated the Galaxy Leader’s location in a satellite symbol taken on Sunday. The location near the Zubair organization is from the Yemeni islands, not the Hanish Islands.
How We Deal with Corrections
— Christiaan Triebert and David Botti reporting from the Visual Investigations team
As Israel and Hamas negotiate the release of some 240 hostages taken in the armed group’s Oct. 7 attacks, the outlines of an imaginable deal are taking shape, officials say, though obstacles remain.
After weeks of indirect talks, facilitated in part by Qatar, National Security Council spokesman John Kirthrough said on Monday, “We believe we are closer than ever,” but asserted that “there is more work to be done. “The Qatar-based Hamas political leader told Reuters on Tuesday that the armed organization “is close to reaching a truce agreement” with Israel.
Here’s what we know about the negotiations:
Talks revolve around a brief lull in fighting. During the pause, the hostages would be exchanged for Palestinian prisoners. Israeli officials have said in recent days that negotiations have focused on Hamas releasing 50 women and youth held hostage in exchange for roughly the same number of Palestinian women and children held in Israeli jails, and a pause in the hostilities for several days. An Israeli official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the talks, said there were still disagreements over how long the pause would last. how many hostages would be released and how many prisoners would be held.
What Israel wants: The Israeli government has publicly taken a hard line on the hostages, stating that there will be no ceasefire until the captives are freed. However, closed-door discussions suggest there may be room for maneuver. The Israeli official said negotiations had proposed slow exchanges, but that some members of the Israeli government were demanding that all hostages be released immediately.
What Hamas wants: Hamas has said it seeks a complete ceasefire and the release of all Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails. He also added a new condition for the release of civilian hostages: the delivery of fuel to Gaza’s ruined hospitals. Israel has allowed the entry of fuel. Gaza in recent days for UN aid operations, but has opposed further deliveries, arguing they could be diverted through Hamas for military purposes.
There are still outstanding issues, but it may be the right time to reach an agreement. The Israeli official said any deal would require a vote through the government, and some right-wing Israeli politicians have hinted that they would oppose any deal with Hamas. Israel believes that by taking over Al-Shifa hospital, which Hamas uses as a military command center and its patients as human shields, the militant organization is losing a key asset and is more susceptible to hostage exchanges. officials said. under pressure from the families of the hostages, who do not find it easy to lose their loved ones.
— Patrick Kingsley reporting from Jerusalem
On Monday, Hezbollah claimed responsibility for a heavy cross-border rocket attack on an Israeli army base, the latest sign that the Lebanese Defense Forces are stepping up the use of more complicated weapons while trying to undermine the strength of Israeli forces already fighting Hamas. . .
Although the Israeli military reported casualties in the attack, photographs of the site verified by the New York Times showed damage to at least six buildings, in addition to one completely reduced to rubble and set on fire.
Hezbollah said it targeted the Biranit military base, the headquarters of the IDF’s 91st Division, with two Burkan rockets, a rugged improvised munition that the organization is increasingly opposed to by Israeli forces. The organization’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, said the weapons could fire up to 500 kilograms of explosives.
A video recorded in Lebanon, released through Hezbollah and verified by The Times, shows two munitions hitting the base.
Nasrallah said in a speech earlier this month that his organization intended to increase pressure on Israel by attacking Israeli territory deeper with newer, more complex weapons. “There has been a quantitative improvement in terms of the number of operations and the availability of weapons. “used,” Mr. Nasrallah said.
Fabian Hinz, a researcher at the International Institute for Strategic Studies who specializes in missile proliferation in the Middle East, said the use of the Burkan, which has a higher explosive velocity than weapons used through Hezbollah, represents an escalation.
“What is being used is a heavier weapon,” he said. But, he added, the use of the Burkan — which is short-range and can only hit targets without delay across the border — may have less prospect of escalation than “a longer weapon. “-range rockets to provoke deeper movements in Israel. “
Hezbollah, which de facto controls southern Lebanon, also claimed responsibility on Monday for another Burkan rocket attack on another Israeli army base, as well as three explosive drone strikes against Israeli infantrymen near Kiryat Shmona, Lebanon’s northernmost town. Israel.
The Israeli military said it responded to the attacks by attacking Hezbollah’s operational command centers and infrastructure in Lebanon. Photos verified by the Times showed damage to St. George’s Church in Yaroun, as well as a collapsed residential building in Khiam. In Mays al-Jabal, the home of a member of the Lebanese parliament was also hit by an Israeli attack, according to the country’s official news agency.
It was the latest in a series of retaliatory exchanges that have intensified since October 7, when Hamas operatives launched a deadly cross-border attack from Gaza.
After an Israeli drone strike killed a woman and three women in southern Lebanon earlier this month, Hezbollah targeted Kiryat Shmona with a barrage of Grad rockets, the first time the organization has deployed the weapon since fighting began. A little more than a week later, a number of Israeli electricians were hit by an anti-tank missile as they raced along the border, killing one user and injuring several others.
And on Saturday, Hezbollah claimed to have used a surface-to-air missile to shoot down an Israeli Hermes 450 drone. The Israeli military said a drone forced an “emergency landing” in northern Israel and responded by attacking what it called an “advanced” surface-to-air missile system.
Video of the attack released by the Israeli military and published by the Times shows that it took place about 10 kilometers from the border, farther toward Lebanon than most of the fighting so far.
“The Burkan is something new. Surface-to-air missiles are something new. Suicide drones are something new,” said Elias Hanna, an army analyst and former Lebanese army general. “They’re the ones sending a message: We have the firepower. “and the willingness to use it. “
Hwaida Saad contributed reporting from Beirut.
—Euan Ward and Haley Willis
A group of foreign ministers from Arab and Muslim-majority countries met with China’s foreign minister in Beijing on Monday, the first part of a tour aimed at pushing for an end to the war in the Gaza Strip.
It is unclear what effect the ministers’ tour might have on the conflict. China, unlike the United States, has little influence over Israel, which has expressed “deep disappointment” at Beijing’s relatively muted reaction to Hamas’ attack in southern Israel. on October 7, according to Israeli authorities.
Six weeks after the attack, foreign pressure is mounting for Israel to suspend fighting in Gaza and allow more aid to reach the enclave. Israel’s staunchest allies, in addition to the United States, have suggested that the country do more with civilians. So far, the Israeli government’s military campaign has killed more than 12,000 people in Gaza, according to local health authorities.
After Beijing, the organization will travel to “several capitals,” Prince Faisal bin Farhan, Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister, told reporters in Manama, Bahrain, on Saturday. Its goal is to “convey a transparent message that there will have to be a ceasefire soon and that humanitarian aid will have to reach Gaza quickly,” he said. “We will have to work to end this crisis and end this war in Gaza as soon as possible.
On Monday, the delegation met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Chinese state broadcaster reported. The delegation’s discussions in Beijing were aimed at achieving “in-depth communication and coordination to promote a cooling of the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, coverage of civilians, and a just solution to the Palestinian issue,” the report said.
The delegation included Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Indonesia and the Palestinian Authority, China’s Foreign Ministry said on Sunday.
Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries have tried to get their message across to the United States, Israel’s main foreign backer. But senior Israeli and U. S. officials continued to reject calls for an unconditional ceasefire with Hamas. Instead, they said that in order to institute “humanitarian pauses” (brief pauses in the fighting), Hamas needed to release the more than 200 people it had captured in the attacks.
On Monday, Chinese President Xi Jinping tried to find a non-unusual meeting point with French President Emmanuel Macron in a phone call that included a discussion of the fighting in Gaza. The official Chinese summary of their verbal exchange published through the Xinhua news firm read: “The two leaders agreed that it is imperative that there be a further escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli situation and, in particular, that an even more serious humanitarian crisis emerge. “
—Vivian Nereim and Chris Buckley
“My joy at giving birth was a nightmare in every sense of the word, or something like a horror movie,” said Wajiha al-Abyad, 29.
Her contractions began around nine o’clock at night. on October 29. We called an ambulance, but they told us they couldn’t come. The streets were empty and black, and there was no sound of planes or bombings.
After about 40 minutes an ambulance arrived. He sped through Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. “Most of the streets have been badly damaged. I was stuck inside, suffering with contractions and jerks as the ambulance raced along ruined roads.
In Gaza, women, young people and newborns disproportionately bear the burden of war, whether in terms of casualties or reduced access to fitness services. The UN estimates that there are around 50,000 pregnant women in Gaza and that more than 160 young children are each born. every day.
Within a few weeks, Ms. al-Abyad’s life was turned upside down. She fled her home in Gaza City with several of her relatives on October 14, after the Israeli army ordered more than a million people to leave northern Gaza. She dreaded the idea of giving birth under those circumstances. “The tension and anxiety I feel are more painful than the contractions,” she said.
Since the beginning of the war, the crossings into Gaza have been closed, so her husband in the United Arab Emirates was able to be by her side. Instead, his mother joined him in the ambulance.
Together, they went to Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat, about a 20-minute drive from his home. They discovered that the hospital’s maternity ward was no longer functioning: it had been remodeled to care for a gigantic number of war victims.
“There was a lot of tension and shouting, and the doctors were under excessive pressure,” al-Abyad said. “The patients were bleeding and they didn’t know what to do for them. “
Less than an hour later, Mrs. al-Abyad gave birth to a baby boy named Ahmed. “Every five minutes there is shelling right in front of the hospital, so close that mothers hide their newborns under their clothes, for fear that the windows would break and the windows would fall on them,” he said.
“All I think is ‘Am I going to leave?’How will I get home?
Early the next morning, just hours after giving birth, she left the hospital with her mother and newborn baby. They walked the streets for more than 3 hours before I was able to avoid a car regardless. “I was just praying that it’s possible for us to succeed in our destiny,” he said.
Palestinian health officials say more than 3,300 women and 5,000 young people have been killed since the start of the war in Gaza. The territory has been under siege since Hamas carried out attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, which killed about 1,200 people, according to Israeli officials.
Shelling, mass displacement, collapse of water and electricity materials (in addition to being limited to food and medicine) are severely disrupting maternal, newborn and child health care. About two-thirds of the number one hospitals and clinics in the Gaza Strip are no longer functioning. working, according to the UN. For weeks, officials in Gaza’s Health Ministry have warned of the collapse of the fitness system.
“The last time I was able to check my baby’s physical condition was a month before the war started,” said Noor Hammad, 24, who is seven months pregnant. “I’m really scared of wasting my baby. “
Ms. Hammad worked as a nutritionist before the war broke out. She fled her home in Deir Al-Balah after her apartment was bombed and now works as a volunteer nurse at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis six hours a day. Like many Palestinians in Gaza, he drinks dirty water and eats small amounts of canned food to survive. And he’s worried about the consequences for the fetus.
“These foods have no nutritional value for me or my baby,” she says.
After giving birth, Ms. al-Abyad and her son Ahmed, despite everything, returned to the apartment in Deir Al-Balah where they live with their mother, their 3-year-old son Taim, as well as their brothers, his aunt and his cousins. — about 20 more people in total. She says that right now Gaza is not in a position to raise a newborn.
“We are looking to get out of Gaza by any means possible,” he said. “I need to live in a safer position, where there is electricity, water and food. A position where young people are respected.
-Neil Collier
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