🔴 Live: Gaza hostage release under truce deal will not happen before Friday, says Israel

A woman stands at a bus stop in Tel Aviv near a combination of photos and a sign calling for the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip by Hamas militants, on November 21, 2023 in Tel Aviv. © Ahmad Gharabli, AFP

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s national security adviser on Wednesday said the release of hostages from Gaza under a temporary truce agreement will not happen until Friday. The Qatari-negotiated truce deal between Israel and Hamas marked the first major diplomatic breakthrough in the conflict and allows at least 50 hostages and scores of Palestinian prisoners to be freed, while offering besieged Gaza residents a four-day truce and humanitarian aid after weeks of all-out war. Follow our live blog for the latest developments. All times are Paris time (GMT+1).

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About casualty figures from Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry:

Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, the largest in the enclave, receives data from every hospital in the strip. Hospital administrators say they keep records of every wounded person occupying a bed and every body arriving at a morgue. The ministry also collects from other sources including the Palestinian Red Crescent.

The health ministry does not report how Palestinians were killed, whether from Israeli airstrikes and artillery barrages or errant Palestinian rocket fire. It describes all casualties as victims of “Israeli aggression”. The ministry also does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. 

Throughout four wars and numerous skirmishes between Israel and Hamas, UN agencies have cited the Hamas-run health ministry’s death tolls in regular reports. The International Committee of the Red Cross and Palestinian Red Crescent also use the numbers.

In the aftermath of war, the UN humanitarian office has published final death tolls based on its own research into medical records. The UN's counts have largely been consistent with the Gaza health ministry’s, with small discrepancies. 

For more on the Gaza health ministry’s tolls, click here.

(FRANCE 24 with AP) 

Key Developments from Tuesday, November 21:

• At least 13,000 Palestinians, including at least 5,500 children, have been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza since October 7, the government media office in the Hamas-controlled enclave said on Saturday.
• Some 1,200 people have been killed in Israel, mostly during the initial attack by Hamas, and around 240 were taken captive by militants. 

• Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu told his Cabinet Tuesday night that a hostage deal is the "right decision".

• US President Joe Biden said that a deal to free some of the more than 200 hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza was "very close".

• Israel, the US and Qatar, which mediates with Hamas, have been negotiating for weeks to secure a hostage release deal that would be paired with a temporary ceasefire and the entry of more humanitarian aid into Gaza

Read yesterday's blog here.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)