Hamas is holding 136 hostages in Gaza, IDF says
From CNN's Hagi Cohen Boland and Stephanie Halasz
At least 136 hostages are still being held in Gaza, according to the Israel Defence Forces.
IDF spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said the number includes 17 women and children.
The Israeli military said the body of one hostage, Ofir Tzarfati, was brought back to Israel.
He was confirmed dead Thursday, with the IDF not specifying when and where Tzarfati was killed.
White House won't say if US has seen more deliberate targeting from Israel since fighting resumed
From CNN's Samantha Waldenberg and Donald Judd
National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby declined to say if the US has seen more deliberate targeting from Israel since following the expiration of the truce early Friday.
"I'm just not going to armchair quarterback," he told CNN's MJ Lee.
Israel is “a sovereign country -- they make these decisions, they write these plans, they execute them, they should speak to them,” Kirby said. “What I can tell you is that we have been clear and consistent since the very beginning about the need to abide by the law of war and to minimize civilian casualties and to do everything that you can in targeting to make it precise, deliberate, cautious and careful.”
Kirby also declined to weigh in on reports from Gaza’s Hamas-run Ministry of Health that Israeli strikes have killed more than 100 Palestinians since the truce expired.
“The Israelis made it clear that without a pause in place, that they were going to restore operations against Hamas – that is for them to speak to, I've been scrupulously avoiding doing a play by play for them,” he said. “We believe they have every right and responsibility to conduct operations against Hamas – we also believe that they carry a special burden, and Secretary (Antony) Blinken has talked about that special burden, including just in his last trip to the region: to avoid civilian casualties to the maximum extent possible, to be as precise and targeted and deliberate as they can be.”
Thousands of people have been killed in Gaza since the Israel-Hamas war began, many of them civilians, including women and children. Since the end of the truce and the resumption of fighting, Israel is facing increased pressure to employ more calculated techniques to minimize civilian casualties in the next stage of the war.
Hamas battle plans: Kirby also said that the White House was “not in a position” to confirm details reported by The New York Times about Hamas’s battle plans.
On Friday, the Times reported that Israeli officials had obtained a document describing Hamas’ battle plan for its October 7 terror attack more than a year before the militant group carried out the surprise assault. Officials reportedly dismissed the plan, assessing it as too difficult for Hamas to execute, according to the Times.
Israeli brother and sister reunited after both were taken hostage by Hamas from music festival
From CNN's Shirin Faqiri and Jennifer Griffiths
New pictures show sister and brother – Maya and Itay Regev – reuniting Thursday after they had been taken hostage by Hamas at the Nova music festival on October 7.
Maya can be seen touching her brother's face during their reunion and smiling while leaning into Itay, as he buries his face in his hand and his mother hugs him, in photos shared by the Soroka Medical Center.
Maya had been released on Sunday while Itay was released on Wednesday. It is unclear whether the siblings had been held together for any period during their captivity.
In an interview with CNN, their father Ilan replayed a terrifying call Maya had placed the day of the attack.
“Dad, they shot me, they shot me!” Maya screamed into the phone to her father. “He is killing us, Dad, he is killing us.”
After Maya’s release, Soroka Hospital and Israel’s Ministry of Health said in a statement that she was in stable condition and her injury was not life-threatening.
In a video posted earlier this week, before Itay’s release, their mother, Mirit Regev, ran to hug Maya after she arrived at the hospital. Maya can be heard sobbing while she embraces her family after being held in captivity for 51 days.
More than 260 Palestinians detained by Israeli forces during truce, Palestinian Prisoner Society says
From CNN’s Louise McLoughlin, Celine Alkhaldi, Abeer Salman, Kareem Khadder, and Eyad Kourdi
More than 260 Palestinians were detained by Israeli forces in the West Bank during the period of the now-expired truce, according to the Palestinian Prisoner Society.
The group has revised the number of arrests several times this week. The IDF has publicly acknowledged at least 100 arrests during the truce through press releases.
In a subsequent update, the society and the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs said 12 more were arrested on Friday.
“Accordingly, 3,400 arrest cases have been recorded since October 7, including those who were arrested from their homes, checkpoints and others who surrendered themselves under threat and held as hostages,” the joint statement said.
The IDF said Friday that since the beginning of the war, 2,100 Palestinians in the West Bank had been arrested -- 1,100 of whom it says had ties to Hamas.
Israel’s far-right finance minister calls for an end to negotiations
From Tamar Michaelis and CNN's Lauren Izso
Israel’s far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich has called for Israel to back out of the hostage negotiations and cut all contact with Hamas and mediators.
The Israeli government should only look at the enemy through a military lens until Hamas is completely destroyed and the remaining hostages are returned, Smotrich said in a Hebrew-language post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
“We are very glad to have hostages returning, but now the pause frameworks has been exhausted,” Smotrich wrote in his post.
More on Smotrich: Smotrich is head of the far-right Religious Zionism party and has been a controversial figure in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. Earlier this year, the US State Department harshly condemned controversial comments by Smotrich calling for a Palestinian town "to be erased" after it was attacked by Israeli settlers. He has also denied the existence of a Palestinian people and the right of Palestinians to statehood.
Smotrich also holds a supervisory role responsible for Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which are considered illegal by much of the international community. He voted in support of the original truce agreement after initially speaking out against it.
Qatar says continued Israeli military operations in Gaza complicate mediation efforts
From CNN's Hamdi Alkhshali
Qatar, which has played a key role in negotiations between Israel and Hamas, expressed its deep regret at the renewed “Israeli aggression” on Gaza following the expiration of the humanitarian truce.
“The continued bombing of the Gaza Strip in the first hours after the end of the truce complicates mediation efforts and exacerbates the humanitarian catastrophe in the Strip,” the Qatari foreign ministry said in a statement Friday.
Qatar vowed to take all necessary measures to restore calm.
The ministry said negotiations between the Palestinian and Israeli sides are continuing with the aim of returning to a state of truce.
Qatar condemns all forms of targeting civilians, collective punishment and attempts to forcibly displace Gaza residents, the ministry said.
Qatar also demands “an immediate ceasefire and to ensure the continuous and unhindered flow of relief convoys and humanitarian aid, in a way that meets the actual needs of the residents of the Strip,” the statement adds.
Israeli singer protests UN over Hamas' violence against women
From CNN's Rob Picheta
An Israeli singer has released a music video highlighting what she describes as “silence” from the United Nations over violence against women by Hamas militants during their October 7 attack on Israel.
Gal De Paz’s song “Bring Them Home” calls for the return of hostages still held by Hamas and focuses on violence against women and girls during the attacks and in the weeks since.
“It is unperceivable, unbelievable, what is happening here; the world won’t see it but we can feel it. We hear it and see it everywhere,” De Paz sings.
And she criticizes the UN Women organization for apparent inaction.
Last week the body’s Executive Director Sima Bahous told the UN Security Council that “every act of violence against women and girls, including sexual violence, is unequivocally condemned, and must be fully investigated.”
“Each day that passes marks another 24 hours of unspeakable fear and uncertainty for the hostages, including the women and girls held by Hamas,” Bahous said.
De Paz’s video depicts pictures of kidnapped women and children, and also features female singers handcuffed and gagged to symbolize the hostages’ situation.
Some context: Hamas has released dozens of hostages in recent days under a deal with Israel, most of them women and children, but more than 100 remain in captivity.
"Nightmare" returns for civilians caught in renewed fighting, Red Cross director-general says
From CNN's Becky Anderson, Laura Ford, and Jen Deaton
The "nightmare" for civilians caught in the Israel-Hamas war has returned as fighting has picked up again, Robert Mardini, director-general of the International Committee of the Red Cross, told CNN Friday.
"The nightmare is back for civilians in this conflict. Gazans, of course, but also Israelis on the other side of the front line," Mardini told CNN's Becky Anderson. "And after seven days of respite that made a huge difference in terms of humanitarian support to the people who need the support most, this is now being challenged by the resumption of fighting."
Mardini emphasized the importance of holding out hope for another truce.
"We need to keep the hope alive. Let's not forget that there has been seven full days of truce," he said. "That was a glimmer of hope. That was humanity prevailing in the midst of chaos and conflict. It is also international humanitarian law in action when these operations can take place following a negotiation between the parties."
The director-general also said both sides in the conflict "must work harder to protect civilians, because it is their obligation, period."
On hostages: The ICRC has played a crucial role in the delicate process of handing over hostages held by Hamas to Israeli authorities. Mardini described the process as "a very simple operation because it is facilitating the transfer, but at the same time it is very complex, because at every step of the way it can derail, because every single detail is part and parcel of negotiations between the parties."
"And our teams have to implement those negotiations in a very disciplined way," he added.
He also commended the work of his team on the ground in Gaza. "A lot of credit should go to them today," he said.The ICRC staff and volunteers are "caught between a rock and a hard place," as they face the same challenges as civilians and are in the line of fire, he said.
If Hamas provides suitable list of hostages for release, sources say hostilities would pause
From CNN’s Alex Marquardt, MJ Lee and Arlette Saenz
As fighting resumes in the Israel-Hamas war, both sides continue to negotiate through mediators over the potential release of hostages from Gaza, which would prompt another pause in hostilities, three sources familiar with the discussions said.
The negotiating parties — Israel and Hamas, in consultation with Qatar, the US and Egypt — are still actively discussing the release of the rest of the women hostages, one of the sources said.
There is an understanding that a Hamas list of captives deemed acceptable by Israel would bring back the truce, according to those sources. Israel believes there are 20 women and two children under the age of 18 still being held hostage, the prime minister’s office said Friday, out of a total of 137 hostages.
If and when what is presumed to be the last group of remaining civilian women were to be successfully released, the parameters of the negotiations would quickly turn to another categories of hostages: civilian men, as well as military reservists — both male and female, two sources said.
Some background: Over the course of the negotiations that stretched into early Friday and past the truce expiration deadline, Hamas failed to produce a list of hostages that Israeli officials could accept, sources said. In particular, one source said, there has been a fraught back-and-forth over Hamas’ claims that some of the women they are holding captive are soldiers – which Israel rejects.
Hamas has previously argued that women under 45 should be considered reservists and not civilians, according to a person familiar with the talks. Most of the women still being held hostage are under the age of 45, according to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.
Hamas has claimed they do not have more women and children in their custody to release, suggesting those remaining may be in the hands of other groups. Under the previous agreement, Hamas had to release 10 women and children hostages for each day of the truce, with three Palestinians released from Israeli prisons for each hostage.