Israel-Hamas war updates: Gaza truce enters fifth day; UN chief calls for further talks toward cease-fire

The U.N.’s human rights office has noted that deliveries of cooking gas have reached the Gaza Strip but remain below local needs, despite a move to broaden humanitarian aid to the enclave during the limited cease-fire.

“Over the past three days, cooking gas has entered Gaza, contrary to the time before the pause. However, the amounts fall well below the needs,” the office said in a Monday statement. “Queues at a filling station in Khan Younis have reportedly extended for about 2 kilometres, with people waiting at them overnight. Meanwhile, reports indicate that people are burning doors and window frames to cook.”

It noted that the bulk of an estimated 1.7 million of internally displaced persons is now in the region south of the Wadi Gaza wetlands, with aid distribution picking up locally since the truce was implemented. Key infrastructure and service providers, including hospitals and sanitation and water facilities, have been receiving daily fuel supplies to operate generators, the U.N. said.

— Ruxandra Iordache

Marc Ostwald, global strategist and chief economist at ADM Investor Services, discusses the Bank of Israel’s decision to keep it’s rates unchanged at 4.75% and what it could mean for the country’s economy long term.

The U.N. Relief Works Agency for Palestine and the Palestinian Red Crescent on Monday delivered clean water to civilians sheltering in the north of the Gaza Strip, which has been starkly deprived of resources and bombarded since the start of the war.

The two agencies brought in “ready-to-eat food, tents, water & urgent medical supplies,” UNRWA said, adding, “This was the first delivery of clean water that reached people sheltering in the north since the war began.”

Clean water has been a prized commodity throughout the conflict, with supplies sharply dwindling after local desalination units went offline amid fuel and electricity shortages.

— Ruxandra Iordache

There is a “limit” to how much further the truce between Israel and Hamas can be prolonged, an Israel Defense Forces spokesperson said.

“Hamas are primed to play for time, using hostages in order to get a respite from fighting. That’s the formula,” Jonathan Conricus said in a CNN TV interview, speaking ahead of the now-announced two-day extension of the humanitarian pause and hostage release agreement.

“There’s also a limit for this to happen, in the future, we’re not there yet. But we do understand what game Hamas is playing, they’re doing psychological warfare, and they’re trying to buy more time for themselves, not for humanitarian needs in Gaza, but only for their military needs, and maybe to live to see another day,” he stressed.

An initial four-day truce was implemented on Friday and was stretched for another two days on Monday. The extension raises hopes that Palestinian militant group Hamas will release more than the 69 hostages it has so far returned out of the nearly 240 captives it has held in the Gaza Strip since their abduction during the terror attacks of Oct. 7.

Israel has previously said it would consider lengthening the humanitarian pause in fighting by one day for every 10 freed hostages, although it was unclear if these were the terms agreed in the latest extension.

— Ruxandra Iordache

U.S Secretary of State Antony Blinken will return this week to the Middle East for the third time since Israel’s war with Hamas began, a senior State Department official said Monday.

Blinken will travel to Israel and the West Bank after attending Ukraine-focused meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday in Brussels and Skopje, Macedonia, where foreign ministers from NATO and the Organization for Peace and Security in Europe are gathering, the official said. The official spoke to reporters traveling with Blinken on condition of anonymity ahead a formal State Department announcement.

— Associated Press

A Red Cross bus carrying Palestinian prisoners released by Israel arrived in the West Bank city of Ramallah early Tuesday.

Israel’s prison service said it was releasing 33 Palestinian prisoners in the fourth such release as part of the cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas.

The prisoners were greeted by cheering crowds who surrounded the bus as it made its way through the streets of the West Bank city.

So far, 150 Palestinians have been released from Israeli prisons.

— Associated Press

Around 200 container trucks brought humanitarian aid into Gaza on Monday after being inspected by Israel, including a small amount of fuel, according to the Israeli military body that handles civilian affairs.

“Four containers carrying diesel fuel and four containers carrying cooking gas were transferred from Egypt to U.N. humanitarian aid organizations in the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing,” COGAT said in a statement.

The aid trucks brought “food, water, shelter equipment, and medical supplies,” the statement said.

— Associated Press

The IDF said the 11 hostages released by Hamas today are now with IDF forces and in Israel’s territory.

“After they undergo an initial medical assessment of their health, our forces will accompany them until they are reunited with their families,” the IDF said in a statement.

A spokesperson from kibbutz Nir Oz confirmed that all 11 hostages were from their community, which was attacked by Hamas on Oct. 7. The spokesperson noted that 49 community members remain in captivity in Gaza.

The Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum has released the names and ages of the 11 hostages released by Hamas today. They are:

Sharon Aloni Cunio, 34

Emma Aloni Cunio, 3

Julie Aloni Cunio, 3

Or Yaakov, 16

Yagil Yaakov, 12

Sahar Kalderon, 16

Erez Kalderon, 12

Karina Engel-Bart, 52

Mika Engel, 18

Yuval Engel, 11

Eitan Yahalomi, 12

— NBC News