Truce Extended, But War Will  11/28 05:23

   A truce between Israel and Hamas entered its fifth day on Tuesday, with the 
militant group promising to release more civilian hostages to delay the 
expected resumption of the war.

   TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) -- A truce between Israel and Hamas entered its fifth 
day on Tuesday, with the militant group promising to release more civilian 
hostages to delay the expected resumption of the war and Israel under growing 
pressure to spare Palestinian civilians when the fighting resumes.

   The sides agreed to extend their truce through Wednesday, with another two 
planned exchanges of militant-held hostages for Palestinians imprisoned by 
Israel. But Israel has repeatedly vowed to resume the war with "full force" to 
destroy Hamas once it's clear that no more hostages will be freed under the 
current agreement's terms.

   U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to visit the region later this 
week for the third time since the start of the war, and is expected to press 
for an extension of the truce and the release of more hostages.

   The Biden administration has told Israel it must avoid "significant further 
displacement" and mass casualties among Palestinian civilians if it resumes the 
offensive, and that it must operate with more precision in southern Gaza than 
it has in the north, according to U.S. officials. The officials spoke on 
condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the White House.

   Meanwhile, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres reiterated his call for a 
long-term cease-fire and the release of all hostages, reflecting broad 
international support for a cessation of hostilities.

   Hamas and other militants are still holding about 160 people, out of the 240 
seized in their Oct. 7 assault into southern Israel that ignited the war. 
That's enough to potentially extend the truce for another two weeks under the 
existing framework brokered by the Qatar, Egypt and the U.S., but Hamas is 
expected to make much higher demands for the release of captive soldiers.

   Either way, Israel says it is committed to resuming the war, which is 
already the deadliest round of Israeli-Palestinian violence in decades. It 
blames the soaring casualty toll on Hamas, accusing the militants of using 
civilians as human shields while operating in dense, residential areas.

   Israel has vowed to end Hamas' 16-year rule in Gaza and crush its military 
capabilities. That would almost certainly require expanding the ground 
offensive from northern Gaza -- where entire residential areas have been 
pounded into rubble -- to the south, where hundreds of thousands of displaced 
people have packed into overflowing United Nations shelters.

   HOSTAGES RELEASED

   Hamas freed another 11 women and children on Monday in the fourth and final 
swap planned under the initial cease-fire agreement, which went into effect 
Friday. Israel released 33 Palestinian prisoners.

   Monday's releases bring to 51 the number of Israelis freed under the truce, 
along with 19 hostages of other nationalities. So far, 150 Palestinians have 
been released from Israeli prisons. Israel has said it would extend the 
cease-fire by one day for every 10 additional hostages released.

   The Palestinian prisoners released so far have been mostly teenagers accused 
of throwing stones and firebombs during confrontations with Israeli forces. 
Some were convicted by Israeli courts of attempting to carry out deadly 
attacks. The prisoners are widely seen by Palestinians as heroes resisting 
occupation.

   Most of the freed hostages appeared to be physically well, but an 
84-year-old woman released Sunday was hospitalized in critical condition 
because she had not had access to her medication in captivity. They have mostly 
stayed out of the public eye, but details of their captivity have started to 
emerge.

   In one of the first interviews with a freed hostage, 78-year-old Ruti Munder 
told Israel's Channel 13 television that she was initially fed well in 
captivity but that conditions worsened as shortages took hold. She said she was 
kept in a "suffocating" room and slept on plastic chairs with a sheet for 
nearly 50 days.

   Israel imposed a total blockade of Gaza at the start of the war and had only 
allowed a trickle of humanitarian aid to enter prior to the cease-fire, leading 
to widespread shortages of food, water, medicine and fuel to power generators 
amid a territory-wide power blackout.

   NORTHERN GAZA IN RUINS

   The cease-fire has allowed residents who remained in Gaza City and other 
parts of the north to venture out to survey the destruction and try to locate 
and bury relatives. Footage from northern Gaza, the focus of the Israeli ground 
offensive, shows nearly every building damaged or destroyed.

   A U.N.-led aid consortium estimates that over 234,000 homes have been 
damaged across Gaza and 46,000 have been completely destroyed, amounting to 
around 60% of the housing stock in the territory, which is home to some 2.3 
million Palestinians. In the north, the destruction of homes and civilian 
infrastructure "severely compromises the ability to meet basic requirements to 
sustain life," it said.

   More than 13,300 Palestinians have been killed since the war began, roughly 
two-thirds of them women and minors, according to the Health Ministry in 
Hamas-ruled Gaza, which does not differentiate between civilians and 
combatants. More than 1,200 people have been killed on the Israeli side, mostly 
civilians killed in the initial attack. At least 77 soldiers have been killed 
in Israel's ground offensive.

   The toll on the Palestinian side is likely much higher, as the Health 
Ministry has only been able to sporadically update its count since Nov. 11, due 
to the breakdown of the health sector in the north. It also says thousands of 
people are missing and feared trapped or dead under the rubble.

   FEARS FOR THE SOUTH

   Israel's bombardment and ground offensive have displaced more than 1.8 
million people, nearly 80% of Gaza's population, with most having sought refuge 
in the south, according to the U.N. Office for Humanitarian Affairs. Israeli 
troops have barred people from returning to the north during the cease-fire.

   Hundreds of thousands of people have packed into U.N.-run schools and other 
facilities, with many forced to sleep on the streets outside because of 
overcrowding. It's unclear where they would go if Israel expands its ground 
operation, as Egypt has refused to accept refugees and Israel has sealed its 
border.

   The U.N. says the truce made it possible to scale up the delivery of food, 
water and medicine to the largest volume since the start of the war. But the 
160 to 200 trucks a day is still less than half what Gaza was importing before 
the fighting, even as humanitarian needs have soared.

   Juliette Toma, a spokesperson for the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, 
said people come to shelters asking for heavy clothes, mattresses and blankets, 
and that some are sleeping in damaged vehicles.

   "The needs are overwhelming," she told The Associated Press. "They lost 
everything, and they need everything."