Israel-Gaza: Hamas claims responsibility for attack in Jerusalem as truce extended by one day, more hostages to be released

01 December 2023, ABC News

Hamas’s armed wing has claimed responsibility for an attack that killed at least three people in Jerusalem, citing Israel’s attack on Gaza and the escalating violence from settlers in the West Bank. 

Israel and Hamas have extended their ceasefire deal by one day, with Hamas releasing two hostages so far with more expected to come later. 

The truce began on November 24 and was expected to last four-day, but was extended by two days on Monday, before this latest one-day extension. 

Here are the latest developments:

• Hamas’s armed wing claims responsibility for Jerusalem attack
• Two hostages released from Gaza, more expected to come
• Israel recalls Spanish envoy after Spanish PM remarks about Israeli incursion into Gaza

Hamas’s armed wing claims responsibility for Jerusalem attack

Hamas’s armed Al-Qassam Brigades wing has claimed responsibility for a gun attack in Jerusalem that killed at least three people, in a statement posted on Hamas’s channel on social media platform Telegram. 

The attack saw two Palestinians open fire at a bus stop during morning rush hour at the entrance to Jerusalem, killing at least three people.

Both attackers were “neutralised”, police said. 

The two gunmen were shot dead after the attack by “two off-duty IDF soldiers and another civilian who fired at them”, police said in a statement. 

“This event proves again how we must not show weakness, that we must speak to Hamas only through [rifle] scopes, only through war,” said hard-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir at the site of the attack.

Hamas said the attack was a “natural response to the unprecedented crimes of the occupier in the Gaza Strip and against children in Jenin” in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. 

But neither side appeared to treat the attack as an explicit renunciation of the truce. 

A Palestinian official familiar with the truce talks said its terms did not apply to what he characterised as responses to Israeli attacks in the West Bank and Jerusalem.

Two hostages released from Gaza

Two women have returned to Israel after being handed to the Red Cross in Gaza City, Israeli authorities said on Thursday, and further hostages are expected to be released later in the evening, following a last-minute deal struck earlier with Hamas.

Israel named the freed hostages as 21-year-old Mia Schem, who was taken at a dance party along with many of the other hostages abducted into Gaza, and 40-year-old Amit Soussana.

Ms Schem also holds French nationality.

The warring sides had agreed to extend their ceasefire for a seventh day, while mediators pressed on with talks to extend the truce further to free more hostages and let aid reach Gaza.

Earlier, Israel, which has demanded Hamas release at least 10 hostages per day to hold the ceasefire, said it received a list at the last minute of those who would go free on Thursday, allowing it to call off plans to resume fighting at dawn.

Hamas, which freed 16 hostages on Wednesday while Israel released 30 Palestinian prisoners, also said the truce would continue for a seventh day.

Mia Schem had appeared in a hostage video released by Hamas in October which showed her injured arm being treated by an unidentified medical worker.

Her father David told Israel’s Channel 12 TV on Thursday that when they meet, he will not say a word to her. “I don’t want to ask her questions, because I don’t know what she endured.”

Egypt’s state media body said Egyptian and Qatari mediators were working to negotiate a further extension of the truce for two days.

So far militants have released 97 hostages during the truce: 70 Israeli women, teenagers and children, each freed in return for three Palestinian women and teenage detainees, plus 27 foreign hostages freed under parallel agreements with their governments.

With fewer Israeli women and children left in captivity, extending the truce could require setting new terms for the release of Israeli men, including soldiers.

Israel recalls Spanish envoy

Israel summoned the Spanish ambassador for a reprimand and recalled its own envoy from Madrid for consultations after Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez questioned the legality of Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip. 

Mr Sanchez said on Thursday that given the number of casualties among civilians in Gaza, he doubts Israel is respecting international humanitarian law during an interview with Spanish public broadcaster TVE. 

“The footage we are seeing and the growing numbers of children dying, I have serious doubt [Israel] is complying with international humanitarian law,” he said. 

Mr Sanchez said during the interview that the European Union should recognise a Palestinian state to “stabilise the region”. 

“It is in Europe’s interest to address this issue out of moral conviction because what we are seeing in Gaza is not acceptable”, Mr Sanchez said. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he instructed his foreign minister Eli Cohen to call in Spain’s ambassador for a reprimand “after the shameful statement by the Spanish prime minister on the same day that Hamas terrorists are murdering Israelis in our capital Jerusalem,” referring to the attack in which two gunmen killed at least three people at a bus stop. 

In a social media post on X, Mr Cohen said, “I have decided to summon the Israeli ambassador in Spain for consultations in Jerusalem.

“Israel conducts itself and will continue to conduct itself in accordance with international law,” Mr Cohen said.