Israel-Hamas updates: Hamas frees third group of hostages

A US Navy warship responded to a distress call from a commercial tanker in the Gulf of Aden that had been seized by armed individuals but is now safe, US officials said.

They did not identify the attackers.

The AP news agency has reported that the vessel, Central Park, was Liberian-flagged and managed by Zodiac Maritime, part of Israeli businessman Eyal Ofer's Zodiac Group.

A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that the destroyer USS Mason had responded to the distress call.

Early Monday morning, Zodiac said the vessel carrying phosphoric acid and its crew of 22 sailors were "unharmed."

"We would like to thank the coalition forces who responded quickly, protecting assets in the area and upholding international maritime law," the company said.

It offered no details on how the attackers left the vessel, nor did it identify them.

The incident is the latest in a series of attacks in Middle Eastern waters since a brutal war between Israel and the Palestinian militant-Islamist group Hamas broke out on October 7.

Elon Musk, the world's richest man, is set to meet Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Monday along with Israelis whose relatives have been held by Hamas in Gaza.

The office of Israeli President Isaac Herzog confirmed the meeting on Sunday night.

"In their meeting, the president will emphasize the need to act to combat rising antisemitism online," Herzog's office said in a statement.

Musk has recently been accused by civil rights groups of amplifying anti-Jewish hatred on his social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

Israel's Channel 12 TV reported that Musk would also meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

On a visit to Jerusalem, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Israel was left fighting for its existence after the October 7 terrorist attacks by Hamas militants.

"We stand in solidarity with Israel," Steinmeier said at a joint press conference with Israeli President Isaac Herzog.

"It is not only with Israel as a victim of terror. Our solidarity is also with the Israel that defends itself, that fights against an existential threat," Steinmeier added. 

"The terrorist organization Hamas must never be allowed to achieve its declared goal, namely the annihilation of Israel."

Hamas has been classified as a terrorist organization by Germany and the European Union, along with the United States and many other countries.

However, Steinmeier also added that it was necessary to protect civilians in the besieged Gaza Strip.

Steinmeier and his wife, Elke Büdenbender, who accompanied him on his trip to Israel, are reportedly close friends with Herzog and his wife Michal.

Herzog called Steinmeier a "true friend" and said his visit was "an expression of the firm alliance between our countries."

The Hamas militant group has said it would be willing to extend the four-day pause in fighting if serious efforts are made to free more Palestinians.

The truce began on Friday, with Hamas releasing groups of hostages on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. 

Israel has responded by freeing Palestinian prisoners from its jails. 

On Sunday, US President Joe Biden said his goal was to extend the cease-fire for as long as possible.

French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna told French broadcaster BFMTV that she was also hoping for an extension.

"We demand the release of our hostages and all the hostages. It would be good, helpful and necessary for the truce to be extended to this end," Colonna told BFMTV.

Earlier, Israel said the truce could be extended by an extra day for every additional 10 hostages freed, but has vowed to quickly resume its offensive once it ends.

This position was reaffirmed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a phone call with Biden on Sunday.

Netanyahu told Biden he would welcome prolonging the truce if 10 hostages are freed per day, but added that "at the end of the deal, we are returning full power to carry out our aims," according to a report in The Times of Israel.

These aims include destroying Hamas, ensuring that "Gaza won't return to what it was" and freeing the hostages, Netanyahu was quoted as saying.

Following the news that Hamas had released a third group of hostages, Israel's prison service confirmed 39 Palestinian prisoners had been released on Sunday. Both sides had agreed to the exchange under the terms of a truce agreement.

A fourth prisoner exchange is expected to take place on Monday, which is also the fourth and final day of the scheduled truce.

International mediation efforts led by the US, Egypt and Qatar are seeking an extension of the cease-fire.

The halt in fighting is the first since Israel declared it was at war with the Hamas militant group, following the terror attacks launched on October 7.

A 4-year-old American girl has been freed from Gaza, US President Joe Biden said on Sunday.

"She's free and she's in Israel now," said the US leader.

"She's been through a terrible trauma," Biden said of the 4-year-old, whose parents were murdered by Hamas militants when members of the Islamist group launched a large-scale terror attack on Israel on October 7.

The girl was among 13 people released by the militant group in the third round of exchanges on Sunday.

Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen has said he has summoned Ireland's ambassador over a social media post made by Prime Minister Leo Varadkar earlier Sunday.

Varadkar was celebrating the release of 9-year-old Emily Hand, who had been held hostage by the Hamas militant group since October 7.

Hand was initially thought to have been killed when Hamas launched its terror attacks, but it later emerged that the militants had abducted the young girl and taken her into Gaza.

"This is a day of enormous joy and relief for Emily Hand and her family. An innocent child who was lost has now been found and returned, and we breathe a massive sigh of relief," Varadkar posted on social media platform X, formerly Twitter. "Our prayers have been answered."

Israel has objected to Vardakar saying Hand had been "lost," and his comment elicited a furious response from Israel's foreign minister.

"Mr. Prime Minister, It seems you have lost your moral compass and need a reality check! Emily Hand was not 'lost,' she was kidnapped by a terror organization worse than ISIS," Cohen posted in response.

Cohen then said he had summoned Ireland's ambassador to Israel for a reprimand.

Varadkar has supported Israel's right to defend itself, but earlier in November he said Israel's actions in Gaza now "resembles something more approaching revenge."

Thousands of people gathered in London on Sunday for a march against antisemitism.

Protesters held placards with messages expressing their support for British Jews.

The march comes amid a rise in hate crimes against Jews since the terror attacks launched by Hamas militants on October 7, which were quickly followed by Israel hitting Gaza targets in response.

London's Metropolitan Police received reports of 554 antisemitic offences between October 1 and November 1, up from 44 a year earlier, a more than tenfold increase. Reports of Islamophobic offences almost tripled to 220 in the same period.

Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was among those who took part in the march. He was joined by the UK's chief rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis.

Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, former leader of the far-right English Defence League, was detained by police after ignoring instructions to leave.

Yaxley-Lennon — better-known by his alias Tommy Robinson — was among crowds of counterprotesters who clashed with police during an Armistice Day march in London earlier this month.

Another group of Israeli hostages were handed over by the Hamas militant group on Sunday in the third such exchange since the beginning of a four-day truce.

"Based on information that was received from the Red Cross, 14 Israeli hostages and three foreign national hostages have been transferred to the Red Cross," the IDF posted on X, formerly Twitter.

However, the Reuters news agency cited Hamas as saying 13 hostages were Israeli, three were Thai, and one was a Russian national. The reason for the discrepancy was not immediately clear.

Hamas held up the second round of exchanges on Saturday after accusing Israel of violating the terms of the truce by not allowing aid into Gaza. Israel denied the accusation.

However, mediators in Qatar later announced that the issue had been resolved, and Hamas released 17 hostages late Saturday night, including 13 Israelis and four Thai citizens. In return, Israel freed 39 Palestinian prisoners. On Friday, Hamas released the first group of 24 Israeli and foreign hostages.

A tanker with links to an Israeli-affiliated company has been seized off the coast of Yemen, according to reports citing a US defense official.

"There are indications that [...] armed individuals seized the M/V Central Park in the Gulf of Aden November 26. US and coalition forces are in the vicinity and we are closely monitoring the situation," the official told the AFP news agency.

AFP cited maritime security firm Ambrey as saying that "US naval forces are engaged in the situation" following the incident involving the vessel, which it reports is owned and managed by a UK-based, Israeli-linked company.

The AP news agency has reported that the vessel was Liberian-flagged and managed by Zodiac Maritime, part of Israeli businessman Eyal Ofer's Zodiac Group.

While it's not immediately clear who is behind the seizure of the vessel, Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels had previously threatened to attack the tanker if it did not divert to the port of Hodeida, the maritime security firm is reported to have said.

The Houthi rebels, backed by Iran, have threatened to target Israeli vessels in the Red Sea and have also launched drone and missile attacks toward Israel since October.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has landed in Israel for a two-day visit, in a sign of solidarity with the Middle East nation following the Hamas attacks.

Steinmeier is accompanied by his wife, Elke Büdenbender, and German parliamentary speaker Bärbel Bas.

The German delegation was invited by Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who is close friends with Steinmeier.

In a video message on Saturday ahead of the trip, the German president restated Israel's right to self-defense against Hamas.

However, he also called for compliance with humanitarian rules, adding that every precaution to get civilians out of the line of fire was necessary.

"That is what is required under international humanitarian law, and that is what we Germans also expect," he said.

Steinmeier spoke out again in favor of a two-state solution in the long term, in which Israelis and Palestinians could live peacefully side by side.

He was critical that the opportunity for this solution had been missed due to Israel's settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank.

Steinmeier's Middle East trip will also include stops in Oman and Qatar.

After some hostages were freed by Hamas, Pope Francis said Sunday he welcomed the temporary cease-fire between Israel and Hamas and prayed for further releases.

"Today we thank God because there is finally a truce between Israel and Palestine and some hostages have been freed," the pope said in a statement.

"We pray that they all may be [freed] as rapidly as possible and that more humanitarian aid arrives in Gaza and that they insist on dialogue," the 86-year-old added.

A colleague read the statement as the pope recited Sunday's Angelus prayer from his residence rather than the balcony overlooking St Peter's Square due to health issues. The pope himself described it as an "inflammation in the lungs" after his aides said he was suffering from a mild flu.

Under the four-day pause in fighting, brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the United States, Hamas has agreed to free 50 hostages in exchange for the release by Israel of 150 Palestinian prisoners.

The armed wing of Hamas, Al-Qassam Brigade, said in a statement on Sunday that four of its military commanders had died in the Gaza Strip. 

This included the commander of its northern Gaza brigade, Ahmad Al-Ghandour, it said in a statement published on Telegram. 

The militant group did not say where or when he was killed. 

Al-Ghandour is the highest-ranking member of the Al-Qassam Brigade thought to have been killed in Israel's retaliation in Gaza since Hamas' October 7 attack. 

He had survived at least three Israeli attempts to kill him, going back to 2002, according to the Counter Extremism Project, an advocacy group based in Washington. 

Hamas' military wing also said three other senior officers had been killed. One of them, Ayman Siyyam, was previously reported in Israeli media to be in charge of Al-Qassam Brigade's rocket-firing units.

Israeli forces operating in the occupied West Bank killed at least eight Palestinians over the weekend, Palestinian health officials said on Sunday. 

The Palestinian Health Ministry said that five were killed in the militant stronghold Jenin, while three others were killed in separate areas of the West Bank since Saturday morning. 

Israel's military said its forces entered the Jenin refugee camp to arrest a Palestinian suspected of killing an Israeli father and son earlier in the year. 

The military made no mention of clashes or deaths in its Sunday statement but said that operations were ongoing in the area. 

The official Palestinian news agency WAFA wrote that Israeli troops attacked the camp "from several directions" and called for a strike in Jenin on Sunday to commemorate the dead. 

The Health Ministry said six others were wounded in Jenin.

Israel had not commented on the other reported deaths elsewhere in the West Bank. There has been an uptick in both Israeli military activity and settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank since Hamas' October 7 terror attacks.

Israel released 39 Palestinian prisoners in all on Saturday, under the 3-1 ratio agreed as part of the Qatari-mediated truce with Hamas, which the EU, US and others recognize as a terrorist group. 

Some of the Palestinian prisoners were released in east Jerusalem, while the bulk returned home to a hero's welcome in the occupied West Bank. 

In east Jerusalem, Israeli troops eventually drove away journalists who gathered outside the home of Israa Jaabis, who had been imprisoned since 2015 after being convicted of carrying out a bombing attack that wounded an Israeli police officer and left her with severe burns on her face and hands. 

In the West Bank, fireworks were set off and crowds filled the streets to welcome back former prisoners. 

Among them was Nurhan Awad, who was 17 in 2016 when she was sentenced to more than 13 years in jail for attempting to stab an Israeli soldier with a pair of scissors. 

Another Palestinian former prisoner, Shorouk Dwayyat, who had served roughly half of a 16-year sentence, told Al Jazeera TV: "I feel like I am in a dream, but I hope that the war on Gaza will stop as soon as possible." 

Under the truce deal, Israel has agreed to release a total of 150 Palestinian women and minors imprisoned in Israeli jails.