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Prominent Palestinian activist Ahed Tamimi is one of 30 prisoners released in the sixth prisoner-captive exchange between Israel and Hamas.

The strikes come as Russia intensifies its attacks in the east and claims to capture the contested village of Khromove.

Russian missile strikes have injured 10 people and left several unaccounted for in Donetsk, Ukrainian officials said, as attacks intensify in the embattled eastern region.

The overnight shelling hurt 10 people, including four children, in several villages in Donetsk, Ukraine’s Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said on Thursday.

He said a family with two children, as well as two 13-year-olds, were among the injured.

“Five more people are being searched for under the rubble,” the minister added.

Later, Donetsk authorities said rescuers found one body while four others, including one child, were still under the rubble.

An apartment block, nine private houses, a police station, cars and garages were damaged in the villages of Pokrovsk, Novogrodivka and Myrnograd.

Klymenko said a police paramedic helped a man with an injured baby get out from under the rubble.

Attacks intensifying

The attacks come as Russia steps up the fighting in Donetsk, of which it occupies most parts and says it intends to take over completely.

Some of the most intense fighting in recent weeks has been waged in the front-line town of Avdiivka.

On Wednesday, Russia said it had captured another contested village in the Donetsk region – Khromove – in what would be a rare advance after weeks of mostly gridlock.

Ukrainian officials offered no comment but said Moscow’s forces were suffering heavy losses while launching fierce attacks.

Unofficial accounts and bloggers acknowledged that part of the village was held by Russian forces, but dismissed any notion it was fully under Russian control.

Ukrainian military spokesperson Oleksandr Shtupun said Russia’s attacks were growing more intense, with air strikes doubling and waves of up to 20 armoured vehicles pushing towards Ukrainian lines. However, he insisted Ukraine was repelling the assaults.

‘We have to continue’

Neither Russia nor Ukraine has made significant breakthroughs on the battlefield for weeks as Moscow’s invasion drags into the 22nd month. Ukraine, which has counted on aid and ammunition from Western allies, is pushing its backers to keep up the support amid funding delays from the United States and Europe.

“We have to continue, we have to keep fighting. Ukraine is not going to back down,” Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s minister of foreign affairs, said at a summit of NATO ministers in Brussels on Wednesday.

“The issue here is not just Ukraine’s security, it is the security and safety of the entire Euro-Atlantic space.”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, also attending the summit, confirmed NATO would back Ukraine for as long as it takes.

“The answer here today at NATO is clear and it’s unwavering. We must and we will continue to support Ukraine,” Blinken said.

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An “epic humanitarian catastrophe” is unfolding in Gaza says UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. He welcomed the extension of a truce between Israel and Hamas but said a true humanitarian ceasefire is needed.

EXPLAINER

An extended truce-deal, attacks in the West Bank, and Hamas’s invite to Elon Musk – here are major updates.

Here’s what to know about the situation on Thursday, November 30, 2023:

Truce, prisoner and captive release

• Minutes before the extended six-day truce was about to expire, Israel and Hamas agreed on Thursday to further extend the ceasefire by at least one more day.
• The Israeli government said it received a new list of captives in Gaza to be released on Thursday. It did not specify the number of captives to be freed.
• Hamas released 16 captives in exchange for the release of 30 Palestinian prisoners by Israel on Wednesday. So far, 210 Palestinian prisoners and 97 Israeli captives have been released.
• One of the captives released on Wednesday included dual Israeli-American national, Liat Beinin. US President Joe Biden expressed his determination to secure the release of Beinin’s husband.
• Prominent Palestinian activist Ahed Tamimi arrived in Ramallah on Thursday after being released from Ofer prison.
• Ruqayah Amro, one of the freed Palestinian prisoners, told Al Jazeera’s Hoda Abdel-Hamid that female prisoners were threatened by Israeli guards with sexual assault.

Latest developments

• Israeli forces surrounded Thabet Thabet Hospital in Tulkarem in the occupied West Bank at dawn on Thursday, according to Wafa news agency. They also obstructed ambulances and interrogated emergency medical workers.
• At al-Nasr children’s hospital in northern Gaza, medical teams found partially decomposed bodies of five premature babies, Wafa reported on Wednesday.
• Israeli forces shot dead a 21-year-old Palestinian outside Ofer prison, west of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, at dawn on Thursday, reported Wafa.
• Israeli forces on Wednesday killed two Palestinian minors – Adam Samer al-Ghoul, eight, and 15-year-old Basil Suleiman Abu al-Wafa – during a raid in Jenin in the north of the occupied West Bank. Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, condemned the killing of the eight-year-old, deeming it an “execution in cold blood”.
• US military’s Central Command said it shot down a drone from Houthi-controlled parts of Yemen on Wednesday.
• On Wednesday, Hamas invited tech CEO Elon Musk to witness the destruction in Gaza, following his visit to Israel.

Diplomacy

• Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian-American member of the US Congress, called for a lasting ceasefire during a vigil outside the White House. She added that temporary pauses in fighting are not enough to end the suffering of the Palestinians.
• On his third trip to the region since October 7, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Israel. He said the Biden administration would like a further extension to the pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas.
• Israeli leaders are reportedly maintaining their stance on continued military operation in Gaza to “eliminate Hamas”. In his latest phone call with US President Joe Biden, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said military activity in the south of the enclave is “necessary”, according to US-based site Axios.
• On Wednesday, the United Nations Security Council discussed Israel-Palestine and the two-state solution.
• As the European Union’s talks on sanctions on Hamas progress, France said on Wednesday that the European Commission should consider sanctions on Israeli settlers who have targeted Palestinians in the West Bank.

Two gunmen were also killed by police shortly after opening fire on the crowd.

Three people have been killed and several wounded after two gunmen opened fire at a bus stop on the outskirts of Jerusalem, Israeli police said. The attackers were also killed.

Police said 16 people were injured in Thursday morning’s shooting. Emergency services evacuated eight of the more seriously wounded victims to nearby hospitals, the Israeli ambulance service said.

Police in West Jerusalem said the gunmen “arrived at the scene in a vehicle armed with firearms”, including an M16 and a pistol, and opened fire towards a crowd of civilians at the bus station.

The attackers, residents of East Jerusalem, were “subsequently neutralised by security forces and a nearby civilian”, police said.

Ammunition and weapons were found inside their car, they added.

Security camera footage aired by Israel’s Channel 12 television showed the moments of the attack. A white car is seen stopped beside a crowded bus stop. Two men then step out, guns drawn, and run at the crowd as people scatter. Shortly afterwards the attackers are gunned down.

The Magen David Adom emergency service said one of the victims was a 24-year-old woman. A 73-year-old man, who was in a critical condition, was pronounced dead at Shaare Zedek Medical Center. A third person also died of his wounds, Israeli media reported.

The ambulance service initially said that five of the wounded had serious injuries and two had moderate to light injuries.

The incident took place just as Israel and Hamas agreed to extend the truce for a seventh day, shortly before the agreement was set to expire.

Israel’s military said on Thursday that the temporary pause in fighting in the Gaza Strip will continue “in light of the mediators’ efforts to continue the process of releasing hostages, and subject to the terms of the agreement”.