Israel-Gaza war updates: Biden welcomes release of US captives from Gaza

This live page is now closed.

For the latest live coverage of the Israel-Hamas war, follow along here.

You can read about Hamas’s release of two US captives here as well as an analysis of Israel’s widely expected ground incursion into the Gaza Strip here.

We are going to bring our live coverage to an end soon. Here’s a summary of today’s main events:

• Hamas has released two US captives, identified as Judith Raanan, 59, and her daughter, Natalie Raanan, in a move brokered by Qatar.
• The release comes amid reports that the US and its allies are leaning on Israel to hold off on a widely-expected ground invasion of Gaza until more negotiations for the release of captives can take place.
• The Palestine Red Crescent Society says Israel’s military warned it to evacuate Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza City immediately, saying it would be bombarded.
• The humanitarian group says about 500 patients – many of whom are unable to be moved – as well as 12,000 displaced people are staying at the hospital and that an evacuation is impossible.
• US President Joe Biden says he expects humanitarian aid to enter Gaza via the Rafah crossing with Egypt “in the next 24 to 48 hours”, although it remains unclear when the promised 20 trucks would be able to go in.
• Fighting has continued along the Israel-Lebanon border in what some say is an effort by the Lebanese group Hezbollah to divert Israeli forces to the north.

Rashida Tlaib, a progressive member of the US House of Representatives, has called on Biden to respond to an Israeli order for the evacuation of Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza City.

As we reported earlier, the Palestine Red Crescent Society says it received an order to evacuate immediately but that it is impossible to evacuate about 500 patients and 12,000 displaced people sheltering at the hospital.

Tlaib asked Biden: “Are you going to remain silent?”

“You must demand that your BFF [best friend forever] Netanyahu withdrawal his evacuation order,” she wrote on X. “Our country can’t keep supporting this massacre of civilians.”

.@POTUS are you going to remain silent?

400 patients + 12,000 people are sheltering in this hospital. Where are they supposed to go? Where!

You must demand that your BFF Netanyahu withdrawal his evacuation order. Our country can't keep supporting this massacre of civilians. https://t.co/80ILi3Abyy

— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) October 20, 2023

The White House has said the US president spoke with Judith Raanan, 59, and her daughter, Natalie Raanan, shortly after they were released by Hamas.

“He relayed that they will have the full support of the US government as they recover from this terrible ordeal,” the White House said.

Biden also spoke to the family of the pair, it said.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says it is aware of “worrying reports” of the Israeli evacuation order sent to Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza City.

“Sick & injured patients, and health workers, are inside,” the WHO said on social media.

“The sanctity of health care must be respected at all times.”

Worrying reports of evacuation orders sent to Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza. Sick & injured patients, and health workers, are inside. Hundreds more — mostly women and children — are seeking shelter on the hospital’s grounds. The sanctity of health care must be respected at all times. pic.twitter.com/HQpyCaswI5

— WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean (@WHOEMRO) October 20, 2023

In a call with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has rejected the “policy of forced, mass displacement of Palestinians in Gaza”, the kingdom’s official news agency SPA said.

Bin Salman also called for lifting the siege on Gaza and bringing international aid into the territory, according to SPA’s statement.

US officials have called for a “safe passage” between Gaza and Egypt, raising concerns about possible plans to permanently remove Palestinians from the territory.

In a separate call with French President Macron, the crown prince stressed the need for abiding by international law and “stopping military operations against civilians and the infrastructure that affects their lives”, SPA said.

In a joint statement following talks in Washington, DC, the US and EU have said they are “concerned by the deteriorating humanitarian crisis in Gaza” but stopped short of calling on Israel to end its bombardments of the territory.

Instead, the European and US leadership said it was “crucial to prevent regional escalation”.

“We call for the immediate release of all hostages and emphasize our shared view that a two-state solution remains the viable path to lasting peace,” the statement said.

Abdelhamid Sayim, a professor of Middle Eastern studies at Rutgers University, has called Hamas’s release of two US captives “a signal”.

“I think this is a signal to gesture to the international community and to the concerned parties that if you reciprocate and you give us back something we will continue releasing the hostages,” he told Al Jazeera.

“And I think [Hamas] are mainly concerned about getting the supplies inside Gaza and easing the [Israeli] bombardment or stopping the bombardment.”

Sayim continued: “This is a message that could be picked up by the other party. It will also encourage countries who have some good relations with Hamas, like Qatar, to continue this path of negotiation.

“I believe Qatar will continue this path. They will try to release more hostages, not only Americans but third-country nationals.”

Former US Congressman Justin Amash has said several of his relatives were killed in the Israeli attack on the Saint Porphyrius Orthodox Church in Gaza, which killed 18 people.

“They had been sheltering, when part of the complex was destroyed as the result of an Israeli airstrike. Give rest, O Lord, to their souls, and may their memories be eternal,” Amash wrote in a social media post.

“The Palestinian Christian community has endured so much. Our family is hurting badly.”

Amash, who represented a Michigan district, left the Republican Party in 2019 and decided not to seek reelection a year later.

I was really worried about this. 😔 With great sadness, I have now confirmed that several of my relatives (including Viola and Yara pictured here) were killed at Saint Porphyrius Orthodox Church in Gaza, where they had been sheltering, when part of the complex was destroyed as… pic.twitter.com/w5k1xEeTgF

— Justin Amash (@justinamash) October 20, 2023

Israel’s military and Hezbollah have said that fighting continues along the Israel-Lebanon border.

Hezbollah said it had targeted Israeli forces near the Branit barracks.

Israel’s military, meanwhile, said it struck a Hezbollah post in Lebanon. It said it had returned fire after anti-tank missiles were fired from Lebanon.

The military said it had also intercepted “a target” headed towards Israel’s airspace from Lebanon.

Dozens of Hollywood artists have penned a letter to Biden urging him to call for a ceasefire in Gaza, saying that the US can play a “vital diplomatic role” in ending the ongoing suffering.

“We urge your administration, and all world leaders, to honor all of the lives in the Holy Land and call for and facilitate a ceasefire without delay – an end to the bombing of Gaza, and the safe release of hostages,” reads the letter, which was signed by 55 artists.

“Half of Gaza’s two million residents are children, and more than two thirds are refugees and their descendants being forced to flee their homes.”

Signatories include Alyssa Milano, Joaquin Phoenix, Kristen Stewart, Mark Ruffalo, Ramy Youssef and Wanda Sykes.

US House of Representatives member Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said the families she met said they were calling for the release of captives while also opposing Israeli occupation.

“They said: ‘We can do it all. We can fight for our families held hostage by Hamas, stand against occupation, stand with impacted Israelis, stand up for innocent Palestinians.'”

“May their humanity be an example,” she wrote.

Ocasio-Cortez is among a handful of House Democrats supporting a resolution calling for a ceasefire.

Yesterday I met with family members of hostages currently in Gaza.

They said: “We can do it all. We can fight for our families held hostage by Hamas, stand against occupation, stand with impacted Israelis, stand up for innocent Palestinians.”

May their humanity be an example.

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) October 20, 2023

New analyses by the UK-based Forensic Architecture research group and the Earshot audio investigation group have again drawn into question the Israeli military’s account of the mass casualty bombing of Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City on Tuesday, which killed almost 500 people.

Both groups’ analyses specifically “cast doubt” on the Israeli military claim that the explosion at the hospital was caused by a failed Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) rocket fired from the southwest of the hospital, rather than an Israeli air attack as Palestinians have said.

Forensic Architecture analysed photos of the impact crater at the scene, saying that “patterns of radial fragmentation on the southwest side of the impact crater, as well as a shallow channel leading into the crater from the northeast” indicate the projectile likely came from the northeast – “the direction of the Israeli-controlled side of the Gaza perimeter”.

Chris Cobb-Smith, an investigator and explosives expert, also agreed the evidence indicated the projectile may have come from the opposite direction claimed by the Israeli military, according to Forensic Architecture.

Meanwhile, a so-called “Doppler Effect analysis” by Earshot, which looks at sound waves related to distance, found the missile likely approached from the northeast, east, or southeast, but not from the west as Israel’s military has claimed.

Earshot’s forensic analysis of an audio recording, purportedly of two Hamas fighters talking about a PIJ rocket released by the Israeli military, also showed that the audio was actually recorded on two separate channels and then edited together.

However, the Doppler Effect that we hear indicates that the missile was closer to the camera before hitting the hospital. This would mean that the missile approached the hospital from north-east, east or south-east. #AlAhli #IDF 5/7 pic.twitter.com/4IhU4GQhB4

— earshot.ngo (@earshot_ngo) October 20, 2023

The Palestine Red Crescent Society has shared footage from inside al-Quds Hospital, showing men, women and children sitting on mats and blankets on the floor of a long corridor inside the building.

“This is AL-Quds #Hospital that is facing threats of bombardment and demands for the evacuation of 12,000 citizens who sought refuge in this place for safety,” the group said.

This is AL-Quds #Hospital that is facing threats of bombardment and demands for the evacuation of 12,000 citizens who sought refuge in this place for safety.#NotATarget #Gaza_under_attack_now pic.twitter.com/jCbV9dVObP

— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) October 20, 2023

It’s around 20:45 GMT (11:45pm in the Palestinian territories and Israel) and here are the latest developments:

• US President Joe Biden welcomes the release of two American citizens held captive in the Gaza Strip.
• A spokesman for Hamas’s armed wing, Abu Obaida, says the mother and daughter were released “for humanitarian reasons” amid efforts by Qatar.
• The US captives, identified as Judith Raanan, 59, and her daughter, Natalie Raanan, are on their way to a military base in central Israel, the Israeli prime minister’s office says.
• US Secretary of State Antony Blinken thanks Qatar for its assistance in securing the pair’s release, says 10 more Americans remain unaccounted for.
• Israel’s aerial bombardments of the Gaza Strip continue, with attacks ramping up in the last hour or so.
• Biden says he expects much-needed humanitarian aid to enter the besieged Palestinian territory via the Rafah crossing with Egypt “in the next 24 to 48 hours”.
• The Palestine Red Crescent Society says Israel has demanded the evacuation of al-Quds Hospital, which is sheltering thousands of displaced civilians in Gaza City; The society says that is impossible.

Former senior US diplomat PJ Crowley has said that by sharing few details about the release of the two captives, Blinken is signalling that there are ongoing talks to free more Americans in Gaza.

“We now do know that there is an active process under way involving the United States, Israel, Qatar, perhaps others,” Crowley told Al Jazeera.

“In a sense, we now have an active negotiation among all these parties over the conditions under which more hostages will be released.”

The former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak has said that Israel is “determined to destroy” Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital, despite it hosting hundreds of civilians who have had to flee from their homes to escape Israeli bombing of the enclave.

Barak, who is a former leader of Israel’s nominally left-wing Labor Party, claimed – without evidence – that the hospital was on top of a Hamas “central command post”, in an interview broadcast by the BBC on Thursday.

Barak said that Israel would “never attack the hospital” while patients were inside it. Israel has repeatedly warned several hospitals to evacuate, threatening to attack the sites (17:27 GMT), despite the presence of thousands of patients and sheltering civilians inside them.

An Israeli air attack on al-Ahli Arab Hospital on October 17 killed almost 500 people, according to Palestinian officials – although Israel has denied its involvement.

The French president said he hoped releases similar to the two US citizen released today would would happen in the coming days.

He added he would not attend a meeting in Egypt on Saturday focused on the war, but would travel to the region in the coming days or weeks if he felt it could reduce tensions.

Netanyahu has pledged to “bring home” all Israeli captives held by Hamas after the Palestinian group released two US citizens in Gaza.

“The Government of Israel, the [Israeli military] and the entire security apparatus will continue to do all they can, using any means available, to locate all those missing and bring home all the kidnapped,” the Israeli prime minister’s office said in a statement.

Blinken says getting humanitarian aid to Gaza through the Rafah crossing with Egypt has been a priority for the Biden administration in its regional diplomacy.

“My expectation is that you’ll see that moving soon,” he said.

Israeli officials had declared a complete siege on Gaza and repeatedly bombed the Rafah crossing.