WORLD BRIEFING: November 25, 2023
Israel - Hamas War
Following a temporary cease-fire in the war between Israel and Hamas, 24 hostages in Gaza were released Friday – 13 Israelis, 10 Thai citizens and one Filipino. Additionally, hundreds of aid trucks carrying fuel and other supplies were permitted to enter Gaza - CBS
Hamas was expected to release a second group of Israelis on Saturday as a planned four-day truce to allow an exchange of 50 hostages for Palestinian prisoners continued to hold in the besieged Gaza Strip. Egyptian security sources said they had received the names of 14 Israeli women and children from Hamas and were waiting for more details on when the hostages would be handed over to Egyptian authorities - Reuters
On 22 November, in cooperation with the Palestine Red Crescent Society, the World Health Organization said it participated in another joint-UN mission to transfer 151 patients, relatives and health workers accompanying them from Al-Shifa hospital in northern Gaza. The mission was undertaken following specific requests from health authorities and hospital officials in Gaza.
IDF Chief of Staff Herzl Halevi stated that following the ceasefire, the IDF will resume operations in the Gaza Strip with the aim of dismantling Hamas. According to him, "The ceasefire did not happen in this agreement if not for the pressure exerted by the IDF. We have no intention, desire, or readiness to halt this effort before bringing back all the hostages." He further added that the military leverages the halt in fighting to learn and prepare its capabilities. "We will return to create immense pressure to bring back as many captives as quickly as possible, every last one of them. We have a duty to fight and endanger our lives so that they can return and live securely in their homes," stated Halevi - Haaretz
Ukraine War
Russia launched its biggest drone attack on Kyiv since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine began last year, Mayo Vitaliy Klychko says. Overnight, 75 Iranian-made Shahed drones fired at the capital, and 74 were shot down. A kindergarten was heavily damaged; some power outages. Five people were wounded
While outwardly expressing full support for Ukraine, behind closed doors in Berlin and Washington plans are being hatched to force Ukraine into talks with Russia to freeze the war on its current front lines, German newspaper BILD said in a report published on Nov. 24. Lithuania’s Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis warned of this yesterday, Bloomberg reported. The German federal government has now set itself the main goal of putting Ukraine in a “strategically good negotiating position,” BILD said. “The country should negotiate with (Russian dictator) Vladimir Putin's regime about its ‘sovereignty and territorial integrity.’ The White House and the Chancellery are coordinating on this,” government sources told BILD. Neither German Chancellor Olaf Scholz nor U.S. President Joe Biden want to directly call on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to bargain on the future status of the Russian-occupied territories at the negotiating table, BILD said.
Elsewhere
Canada's spy agency is warning of a Chinese plot to recruit Canadian government officials and academics. In an alert sent to federal employees earlier this month and seen by CBC News, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) warns of a large-scale email campaign trying to lure workers into an overseas talent program. "The [People's Republic of China] is likely using this recruitment campaign to acquire Canadian knowledge and expertise," says the alert - CBC
China's military will begin "combat training activities" from Saturday on its side of the border with Myanmar, it said on social media, a day after a convoy of trucks carrying goods into the neighbouring Southeast Asian nation went up in flames. The incident, which Myanmar state media called an insurgent attack, came amid insecurity concerns in China, whose envoy met top officials in Myanmar's capital for talks on border stability after recent signs of rare strain in their ties - Reuters
The world's largest iceberg is on the move for the first time in more than three decades, scientists said on Friday. At almost 4,000 square km (1,500 square miles), the Antarctic iceberg called A23a is roughly three times the size of New York City. Since calving off West Antarctica's Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf in 1986, the iceberg — which once hosted a Soviet research station — has largely been stranded after its base became stuck on the floor of the Weddell Sea. Not anymore. Recent satellite images reveal that the berg, weighing nearly a trillion metric tonnes, is now drifting quickly past the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, aided by strong winds and currents - Reuters