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Israel and Hamas agreed to extend a four-day truce in Gaza by two more days, after Hamas pledged to free more Israeli captives in exchange for Israel releasing more Palestinian prisoners.

For the people of Gaza, it means more relief from bombardment and an increase in humanitarian supplies to Gaza.

So what happens next? What would both sides need to give up to bring about a longer peace?

Or is Israel simply going to return to war?

Presenter: Laura Kyle

Guests:

Mehran Kamrava – Professor of government at Georgetown University in Qatar

Gideon Levy – Columnist at Haaretz newspaper

Omar Rahman – Fellow at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs

Bangkok, Thailand – Somphat Satanavat has big plans for his wedding day.

He has started looking for just the right hotel for the banquet, something in a neoclassical or colonial style. He knows the type of traditional Thai music he wants played and pondered the guest list.

But as a gay man in Thailand, where the law says that marriage must be between a man and a woman, it is still just a dream for him and his partner of 25 years.

For now, Somphat said, “I [am] planning just in my mind.”

That may soon change.

Last week the cabinet of the Thai government endorsed a bill that would amend the country’s Civil and Commercial Code to define marriage as between any two “individuals”.

If approved by Parliament, it would make Thailand the first country in Southeast Asia to legalise same-sex marriage and only the second in all of Asia, after Taiwan.

The government is hoping to move quickly and to hold the first of three votes the bill will need to pass to become law by next month.

“The prime minister [wants to] push [it] very much. He wants to see this bill appear in the Parliament debate as soon as possible,” government spokesperson Chai Watcharong told Al Jazeera.

If and when approved, “all legal rights after they marry will be 100 percent like man and woman,” he said.

“We consider that there is no reason to say no because people should have the right to decide their own way of living. Even though they are male and male, they love each other…so they should have the right,” he added.

Thailand has been here before

The previous two administrations each sponsored a same-sex union or marriage bill of their own. But they failed to make it out of the lower house before Parliament was dissolved to make way for national elections, setting the process back to square one each time.

LGBTQ rights advocates say this is the best chance Thailand has had yet to get the law passed.

Thailand’s current government is only months into a four-year mandate, which allows plenty of time to push the bill through barring a sudden coup or collapse. Major parties on both sides of the aisle are also in favour of the legislation.

Rapeepun Jommaroeng, an adviser and policy analyst for the Rainbow Sky Association of Thailand, which advocates for LGBTQ rights, expects pushback from some religious groups, mainly from the predominantly Buddhist country’s Christian and Muslim minorities. But, he says, they are unlikely to derail the bill.

“The country has been clear that we will not force any religious leaders or priests or monks to perform the [same-sex] marriage ceremony,” Rapeepun said.

“This law is not about forcing people to do things they don’t want to. This is purposefully broad to enable people to have equality,” he said.

“It’s just only to give the liberty and freedom for two people to be united.”

Rapeepun passage of the bill will also be eased by the fact that Thailand allows Islamic law to replace some national laws – except those dealing with defence or security – for Muslims who live in the southernmost provinces, where they are in the majority. That should make the Civil and Commercial Code, and any amendments, inapplicable to southern Muslims.

Chai, the government spokesperson, confirmed to Al Jazeera that the code does not apply to Muslims in those provinces.

For the rest of the country, the LGBTQ community say the bill portends a new dawn for Thailand, one that promises to bring them a greater sense of respect, equality and freedom to be themselves.

If passed, “it means that the country has progressed to another level of civil liberty or civil freedom to recognize the diversity in Thai society,” Rapeepun said.

“This is a time that they can celebrate and they can be themselves and they don’t need to lie any more.”

It can literally mean the difference between life and death, says Tunyawat Kamolwongwat, who was among the first four openly LGBTQ lawmakers elected to Thailand’s Parliament in 2019.

Re-elected this past May, he recalled a trip to the north of the country last year, when a young woman approached him to share the story of a close friend, who was gay, driven to suicide by his family’s rejection.

“He decided to kill himself because his family [did] not accept his life[style]. She told me that story and I [was] crying, and I think it will [soon] change so people can come out,” Tunyawat said.

Tunyawat said recognition of same-sex marriage would give LGBTQ people a voice they had long been denied.

“We can stand up and talk to the one who bullies us that I’m a human because we all have equal rights.”

The law would also allow same-sex couples to adopt children and open up a raft of other opportunities reserved for those who are married.

“It’s not only marriage status, to announce that they are a couple by law. But another thing is it’s related to social welfare and social services and other benefits combined with the law,” said Kath Khangpiboon, a trans woman and advocate who teaches gender studies at Thailand’s Thammasat University.

The benefits include tax deductions and the right for spouses to give each other medical consent, co-manage property and pass on wealth.

Such issues have weighed heavy on the mind of Somphat, who owns a confectionary company and worries about being able to pass on his stake in the operation to his life and business partner if he should die, or about his partner being denied to right to make medical decisions for him should he ever slip into a coma.

For LGBTQ employees of the government, marriage would also give them newfound access to a suite of public health benefits.

Most Thais seem ready

Somphat recalled a friend, a trans woman, who teaches at a government school whose partner needed thousands of dollars to pay for medical care to treat a life-threatening illness.

Because they could not get married, Somphat recounted, the woman could not add her partner to her health plan and they could not afford the treatment, and he died.

“I don’t want just to exchange the rings, have a beautiful day with flowers, with friends,” Somphat said. “We need … our country’s law [to] accept what I am,” he said.

Should Parliament pass the bill, advocates say the law can finally start catching up with Thailand’s image as a country that accepts, even embraces the LGBTQ community.

A 2022 survey by the government’s National Institute of Development Administration found that nearly 80 percent of those polled supported legalizing same-sex marriage.

Advocates blame the lack of progress to date on such a law on the outsize influence of conservative political donors or on the military, which aligns itself with the country’s deeply conservative monarchy and wields significant political power itself, whether directly or via proxy parties.

Rapeepun also ascribed the delay to pressure from some of Thailand’s neighbours.

In Southeast Asia, Brunei and Malaysia, both Muslim-majority countries, and Myanmar all outlaw gay or lesbian sex. He hopes Thailand will soon become a “beacon” of hope for those pining for change elsewhere, or at least a haven for those seeking respite from persecution for their sexual orientation.

Somphat is eager for the day that happens.

“The first day, if possible, I will go to the government office and sign up to get married,” he said.

Then, he added, “I can tell anyone, by the law he’s my husband… I think it will be a very happy time.”

Talks between US and Israeli spy agencies in Qatar, which is key mediator, include issue of captives held in Gaza.

The heads of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Israel’s Mossad have met in Qatar to discuss the extension of a truce between Israel and Hamas as well as the captives being held by the Palestinian group in Gaza.

CIA Director William Burns and David Barnea, head of the Mossad intelligence service, held talks with Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, on Tuesday, a day after Doha announced a two-day extension of an original four-day humanitarian pause in Gaza that had been due to expire.

“We have to read a little bit between the lines here: [The intelligence chiefs were] important in the last meeting, which was on November 9. We believe that was one of the stepping stones getting us to the initial four-day deal,” Al Jazeera’s diplomatic editor James Bays said.

“The fact that we’ve got intelligence chiefs sitting here with the Qatari prime minister, who is also the foreign minister, is interesting because they’ve got the intelligence picture. But also I think it’s interesting partly because of who the US has got leading this effort,” he said, adding that Burns is “more experienced a negotiator than Antony Blinken”, the United States secretary of state. 

Both Israel and Hamas have accused each other of violating the original truce. But they have continued to swap captives for prisoners. Hamas has released captives in its custody, with another 12 freed on Tuesday.

Our teams have successfully facilitated the release and transfer of 12 hostages held in Gaza.

We have been able to carry out this operation thanks to our neutral intermediary role.

— ICRC in Israel & OT (@ICRC_ilot) November 28, 2023

Majed al-Ansari, a spokesperson for Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in a post on X that 30 Palestinian prisoners are set to be released.

On Monday, mediator Qatar said a humanitarian pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas would be extended by two days, hours before the initial four-day truce in Gaza was set to expire.

Qatar, the US and Egypt have engaged in intense negotiations to establish and prolong the truce in Gaza.

Over the course of the initial pause, Hamas released 69 captives – 51 Israelis and 18 people from other nations.

In exchange, 150 Palestinian prisoners– 117 children and 33 women – held in Israeli prisons were released and more humanitarian aid allowed into Gaza.

The talks between the US and Israeli intelligence chiefs and Qatar were also attended by Egyptian officials.

“Is there a way that they can try and deal with the central problem here of keeping this [current truce] going while Israel at the same time wants to remove Hamas?” Bays asked.

“We don’t know anything from the information on the ground, but one possibility that some are suggesting is perhaps a deal could be done for the Hamas military leadership to be persuaded to go into exile in another country,” he said.

“That’s certainly not what we’re hearing from Israeli media sources; the latest we’re hearing from them is that the Israeli government does not want an extension beyond 10 days in total, taking us until the end of Sunday,” according to Bays.

Meanwhile, far-right Israeli Minister for National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to allow soldiers to return to fighting in Gaza to “crush Hamas” as he reacted to an army statement that three explosive devices were detonated in two locations near troops in northern Gaza.

“We must not wait until our fighters are killed. We must once again act in accordance with the goal of the war: the total destruction of Hamas,” the minister posted on X.

 

NewsFeed

“When I leave my home, I feel like a fish out of water.” A family in Gaza chose to return to live in the ruins of their house after it was destroyed in the Israeli bombardment of the besieged enclave.

Washington, DC – Julia Fawzi Saeed Al-Kurd was one year old. She was killed along with several members of her family in an Israeli air raid on Deir al-Balah in central Gaza on October 11.

Her name appeared in local reports on the day of the bombing and later on a list of people killed in Israeli attacks, released by the Palestinian health ministry in Gaza.

As with thousands of other Palestinians who have been wiped out in the Israeli offensive, little is publicly known about Julia beyond her death.

Had she uttered her first word? Did she take her first step? What was her favourite toy? What lullaby did her parents sing to put her to sleep?

But in Washington, DC, some activists are trying to keep the memory of children like Julia alive, with a provocative reminder of the young lives lost during the war in Gaza.

On a chilly Sunday morning in the Capitol Hill neighbourhood, the activists protested silently, passing out leaflets to passersby. At their feet were a row of small figures wrapped in white shrouds, each splattered in blood — and each bearing the name of a real child killed in Gaza. Julia’s name was on one of them.

“We are witnessing a genocide in Gaza. End the injustice NOW,” the flyer read, urging a ceasefire and an end to United States military support for Israel.

The protest was one of daily demonstrations across the Washington area led by an informal group called Die-in for Humanity.

Hazami Barmada organised the protests in an effort to break through pre-conceived notions about the Gaza war, with stark reminders of the humanity of those under siege. Barmada, who is of Palestinian and Syrian descent, estimates the group has handed out more than 14,000 flyers so far.

“The reality is our social media turns into echo chambers and people read the news they want to read,” she said. “So we go into places where your average person is walking around and try to provoke deeper questions and reflections on what’s happening and more awareness about what’s happening to Palestinians.”

Israeli attacks have killed more than 15,000 Palestinians since October 7, making the war one of the deadliest conflicts for civilians and children in modern history.

Where possible, Barmada and her fellow volunteers lie on the ground during protests to mirror the bodies of Palestinians killed in Israeli raids.

“We really hope that people will stop and actually start to question the toll of war, the toll of endorsing this with our tax dollars,” Barmada told Al Jazeera, referring to Washington’s military aid to Israel.

She said the protesters want to make people feel “uncomfortable within a controlled environment” in order to spark meaningful conversations.

“It’s really easy to see statistics online and to divorce yourself from it,” Barmada said.

“Our goal is when someone walks by with their own kids, when you see body bags with children’s names and ages written on them that are the same age as your kids, it provokes a different type of emotional reaction.”

The group has held so-called die-in protests at the White House, State Department and various neighbourhoods throughout the US capital.

Part of the group’s goal is to prompt questions about the US role in the conflict. President Joe Biden and his top aides have expressed staunch support for Israel and Washington has not drawn any “red lines” to limit how Israel can use the military aid it receives, according to officials.

Israel, which leading rights groups accuse of imposing apartheid on Palestinians, receives at least $3.8bn in US aid annually, and Biden is seeking $14bn in additional assistance for the country this year.

Barmada called Biden’s stance disappointing, saying that the war will be a “stain” on his legacy.

“Their handling of this entire issue has not only fuelled fear-mongering, it’s also dehumanised Palestinians. It’s also fuelled animosity and hatred,” she said.

On Capitol Hill on Sunday, many pedestrians nodded approvingly at the protesters or gave them a thumbs up. But Barmada said the reactions were not always positive.

Just a day earlier, the protesters faced a profanity-laden, racist tirade from a woman who accused them of terrorism and told Barmada to “go back to whatever f***ing country” she came from. A video of that interaction has gone viral on social media.

Barmada said she tries to absorb such anger and hatred without reacting to it.

She told Al Jazeera that she started the die-ins after seeing footage of a Palestinian mother whispering in her dead child’s ear in Gaza. It reminded her of how she puts her own child to sleep.

“All I could imagine in that moment was: What would I do if that was my son?” she said, struggling to hold back the tears.

Barmada added that her sorrow made her spring into action.

“There was no conscious decision. There was no process or plan. It was in that moment of deep despair, I couldn’t unsee my own child. And if I can get people here to see their own children, if I can get people here to see their own humanity tied to these body bags, then that to me is a success.”