Red Cross says it helped facilitate release of two more hostages from Hamas The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said that they helped facilitate the release of two hostages held by Hamas, in a new post to X. In the statement posted online, ICRC confirmed that they transported the two hostages out of Gaza Monday evening. “Our role as a neutral intermediary makes this work possible & we are ready to facilitate any future release,” the ICRC post read. “We hope that they will soon be back with their loved ones.” UN rights chief calls for "immediate humanitarian ceasefire" Volker Türk, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, called on Monday for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire’ in Gaza. In a statement, he said “far too many civilian lives, many of them children, have already been lost”: The first step must be an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, saving the lives of civilians through the delivery of prompt and effective humanitarian aid. This violence will never end unless leaders stand up and take the brave and humane choices that are required by fundamental humanity. Israel has launched repeated airstrikes against Hamas in Gaza in response to its attacks on the country that killed more than 1,400 earlier this month, and appears to be preparing a massive ground invasion. Palestinian authorities have said civilian deaths from the Israeli bombardment have passed 5,000, while the international community remains divided over halting the fighting to facilitate an infusion of aid. Türk’s statement continued: Far too many civilian lives, many of them children, have already been lost - on both sides - as a consequence of these hostilities. And unless something changes, coming days will see more civilians on the brink of death from continuing bombardment. Joe Biden’s earlier abrupt departure from an economic policy speech to urgently head for the White House situation room was entirely innocuous, it seems. There was speculation the US president was called away to deal with a rapidly developing issue, possibly connected to the release Monday of hostages held captive by Hamas in Gaza. Here’s our video of Rishi Sunak addressing the House of Commons earlier today. The prime minister said UK intelligence had concluded that a deadly blast at al-Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza was caused by a rocket fired by a Palestinian militant group, and he announced a further £20m in aid to Gaza. Here’s the statement from the Lifschitz family following the release of Yocheved Lifschitz, one of two Israeli women hostages freed by Hamas on Monday: We can confirm that Yocheved Lifshitz, mother of British citizen Sharone Lifschitz, and Nurit Cooper, were released from Hamas captivity in Gaza. They were handed over to the Red Cross at the Rafah crossing a short time ago, from there they will be transferred shortly to Israel. The families have been informed. Sharone Lifschitz, who lives in London, said: I can confirm that my mother Yochi (Yocheved) Lifschitz was one of two hostages released to the Red Cross this evening. While I cannot put into words the relief that she is now safe, I will remain focused on securing the release of my father and all those – some 200 innocent people – who remain hostages in Gaza. Oded Lifschitz, husband of Yochved, and Sharone’s father, is a veteran Israeli journalist and peace activist who was captured by Hamas with his wife. Their daughter spoke with the Guardian about their situation earlier this month, and has met UK prime minister Rishi Sunak and opposition leader Keir Starmer in recent days to seek their help facilitating her parents’ release. Another elderly hostage with UK links is Ada Sagi, a woman in her 80s whose dual-national son Noam has also spoken with government officials. Shortly after two hostages were released in Gaza, Joe Biden quickly left an event as he was needed in the White House’s Situation room. At the end of an event to promote his economic policy, Biden abruptly left, telling the audience that he had to leave the event and go to the Situation room. While not confirmed, the meeting in the Situation room is likely about the hostages’ release. During the same event, Biden was asked about the possibility of a ceasefire in Gaza. In response, he said: “We should have those hostages released and then we can talk.” Red Cross says it helped facilitate release of two more hostages from Hamas The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said that they helped facilitate the release of two hostages held by Hamas, in a new post to X. In the statement posted online, ICRC confirmed that they transported the two hostages out of Gaza Monday evening. “Our role as a neutral intermediary makes this work possible & we are ready to facilitate any future release,” the ICRC post read. “We hope that they will soon be back with their loved ones.” At least 35 employees with the United Nations’ Agency for Palestine Refugees have been confirmed killed in violence during the Israel-Hamas conflict, the agency reported on Monday. Six staff were killed in Gaza since Saturday, according to a statement posted Monday to X, previously known as Twitter. At least half of those killed were teachers. An agency school in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, was struck and severely damaged on Saturday, with the death toll unknown. The agency added that 40 installations have also been damaged amid the outbreak of fighting. Summary of the day so far It’s just after 10pm in Gaza and Tel Aviv, and here are the developments we’ve been following today in the Israel-Hamas conflict: Hamas says it has released two more hostages from those it’s holding in Gaza. The group named them as Nurit Yitzhak and Yochved Lifschitz, and said they were release on “humanitarian and poor health grounds”. There is no independent confirmation of their release yet, and their whereabouts are currently unknown. Hamas released American mother and daughter Judith and Natalia Raanan on Friday. Earlier today, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said it believed Hamas was still holding 222 hostages in Gaza. Reports from Israel suggested that the release of about 50 hostages held by Hamas could be imminent. The Tel Aviv news channel I24 reported “sources within Gaza” as saying “the finalization of a potential deal” brokered by Qatari was under way for the release of about 50 abductees who hold dual citizenship. Officials of Red Cross are believed to on their way to receive the group, I24 said, and the release could be concluded “in the hours ahead” if there are no obstacles. The White House said Iran is behind attacks by proxy on US troops in the Middle East after a barrage of drone and missile attacks over the weekend. At a media briefing on Monday, John Kirby, strategic communications coordinator for the National Security Council said the US was ramping up its military capabilities in the Middle East and warned Iran or other nations seeking to use the conflict as an excuse to attack US interests: “Don’t do it”. Almost 20,000 people have been internally displaced in south Lebanon and elsewhere since early October, a United Nations agency said on Monday, reflecting escalating violence on the Lebanese-Israeli border. The UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) said 19,646 people had been displaced inside Lebanon since it began tracking movements on 8 October, the day after the assault on Israel by Hamas militants, the AFP news agency reported. The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza has said at least 5,087 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes since 7 October. It said the dead included 2,055 children. Additionally, it said 15,273 people had been wounded. The ministry put the death toll in the past 24 hours at 436, including 182 children. It said most of the fatalities had occurred in the southern Gaza Strip, to where Israel’s military has ordered Palestinians to evacuate. The claims have not been independently verified. Israel’s military said on Monday that ground forces mounted limited raids into the Gaza Strip overnight to fight Palestinian gunmen, and that airstrikes were being focused on sites where Hamas was assembling to attack any wider Israeli invasion. The IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari said: “During the night there were raids by tank and infantry forces. These raids are raids that kill squads of terrorists who are preparing for our next stage in the war. These are raids that go deep.” Washington has advised Israel to delay its expected ground invasion of Gaza in order to buy time to negotiate the release of hostages held by Hamas and allow more aid in to Palestinian civilians, the New York Times reported, citing US officials. A third convoy of aid trucks entered the Rafah crossing from Egypt on Monday bound for the besieged Gaza Strip, an aid worker and two security sources have told Reuters. On Saturday and Sunday 34 trucks passed through. The number of trucks in Monday’s convoy was similar to each of those days, the aid worker and security sources said. UN officials say about 100 trucks would be needed daily to meet essential needs in Gaza. The EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, joined calls on Monday for a humanitarian pause in the conflict to let more aid supplies into Gaza. The leaders of the US, UK, France, Canada, Germany and Italy have called on Israel to adhere to international law and protect civilians, while also reiterating Israel’s right to defend itself against terrorism. In a statement put out after a phone call, the leaders’ offices said: “The leaders reiterated their support for Israel and its right to defend itself against terrorism and called for adherence to international humanitarian law, including the protection of civilians.” Benjamin Netanyahu thanked the Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, for his country’s support as the latter visited Tel Aviv. Netanyahu said of the conflict: “It’s a battle against civilization. It’s civilization against barbarism. We’re on the side of civilization. We have to unite, all together, against Hamas, which is Isis.” The Palestinian prime minister, Mohammad Shtayyeh, has said the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip are exposed to “the Israeli murder and criminal machine”. A Palestinian photojournalist, Roshdi Sarraj, has been killed in the Israeli bombardment of Gaza, Radio France reported. The French broadcaster said Sarraj was killed on Sunday in Israeli strikes on Tel al-Hawa, in Gaza City. His wife and one-year-old daughter were injured. Israel’s military has claimed to have fired at a “suspicious aerial target” attempting to enter Israel from the direction of Lebanon. Turkey sent two cargo planes to Egypt on Monday carrying further medical equipment and supplies for Gaza, the health minister Fahrettin Koca said. He said two more aircraft would be sent with more supplies. A 33-year-old Dutch woman has been killed in an explosion in Gaza, the Dutch foreign ministry has said. Named locally as Islam al-Ashqar, she was visiting relatives at the Nusairat refugee camp in central Gaza and was one of 22 Dutch nationals that the ministry was trying to help leave, the broadcaster NOS said. The two hostages Hamas said on Monday it had released “on humanitarian grounds” were named by the group as Israeli women Nurit Yitzhak and Yochved Lifschitz. There has so far been no immediate independent confirmation of their release, and the women’s whereabouts are unknown. although some social media posts suggest they had reached the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt. Hamas, in a statement from Abu Obaida, a spokesperson for its armed Al-Qassam Brigades, said “compelling humanitarian and poor health grounds” were behind its decision to release the pair. It also said it had tried to release them on Friday, but said without corroboration that Israel had “refused to receive them”. The Guardian spoke earlier this month to Sharone Lifschitz, who lives in London but grew up on a kibbutz in Israel near the border with Gaza. She said her parents were there when Hamas fighters broke through on 7 October, and she feared they were taken across the border as hostages. Hamas says it has released two hostages Hamas has said it released two more hostages Monday, Reuters is reporting. It comes as reports in Israel suggest a deal may be imminent to secure the release of about another 50 abductees with dual nationality. The group released Americans Natalie and Judith Raanan on Friday. No more details were immediately available about Monday’s reported release, but Reuters said it was announced by the armed wing of Hamas and involved “mediation” by Qatar and Egypt. Kirby was also asked at the White House briefing about a possible conflict between US priorities for the war against Hamas, which include pouring in humanitarian aid to Gaza and freeing hostages, and that of Israel, which has committed to destroying the group: We agree. The priority has to be going after Hamas. There’s no daylight here. We also think it’s important for humanitarian assistance to flow and for our hostages to get home with their families, and we’re working all three of those things.