Israel, Hamas Agree to 24-Hour Cease-Fire Extension

Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at the last-minute extension of an Israel-Hamas cease-fire, Day One of COP28 climate negotiations, and the death of former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

One More Day

Israel and Hamas agreed to a 24-hour extension of their temporary cease-fire on Thursday. The truce’s last-minute continuation allowed two more Israeli hostages to be released early in the day: a 40-year-old Israeli woman and a 21-year-old woman with dual French and Israeli citizenship who was seized at an Israeli music festival. More Israeli hostages are expected to be freed soon as Egypt and Qatar work to extend the deal for another two days.

In return, Israel released 30 Palestinian prisoners on Wednesday, including activist Ahed Tamimi, who was arrested on suspicion of inciting violence in the West Bank via social media following Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack but had not been charged. Her father, also a prominent activist, remains in prison without charge.

Over the past week, more than 100 hostages (including Israelis as well as foreign nationals) held by Hamas and 210 Palestinian prisoners detained by Israel have been returned. The temporary cease-fire also allowed greater humanitarian aid and Red Cross medical services into Gaza, though the situation there remains dire. The deal’s original terms dictated that Israel free three Palestinian prisoners for each hostage released by Hamas, with an additional 10 hostages released for every additional day agreed to by both sides.

But with more than 140 hostages remaining in Gaza, according to Israel—many of whom are men, including soldiers—some regional experts believe the truce’s terms will have to be renegotiated. As for a longer, more durable cease-fire, “considering the high levels of support across Israeli society for decisively eliminating Hamas as a political and military entity, a cease-fire is likely to remain elusive,” FP columnist Anchal Vohra argues.

Mere hours after the 24-hour truce extension was clinched, two Hamas militants opened fire on a bus stop in Jerusalem, killing at least three people, including a rabbi, and injuring 13 others. The suspects, who were brothers, were armed with an M-16 rifle and handgun. Hamas’s armed wing, al-Qassam Brigades, took responsibility for the attack, saying it was “a direct response to the unprecedented crimes committed by the occupying [Israeli] forces.”

“This event proves again how we must not show weakness, that we must speak to Hamas only through [rifle] scopes, only through war,” far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said following the shooting, reiterating Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pledge to “eradicate Hamas.” But Israeli officials indicated on Thursday that the shooting would not jeopardize the day’s cease-fire.

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What We’re Following

COP28’s rocky start. World leaders, scientists, and environmental activists kicked off the United Nations’ climate change summit in Dubai on Thursday with a dire warning. According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), 2023 is “virtually certain” to be the hottest year in recorded history. “We are going in the wrong direction,” WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas said at Thursday’s gathering, pointing to record-high greenhouse gas emissions and rising sea levels.

Nearly 200 leaders convened in the United Arab Emirates for this year’s 12-day summit. Their top agenda items include reversing deforestation in the Amazon, reducing state reliance on fossil fuels, and pushing the World Bank to provide greater climate funding. Already, COP28 participants approved a blueprint on Thursday to fund nations hit hardest by climate change.

But with the summit’s host nation accused of using COP28 to advance its own oil deals and with wealthier nations reluctant to shoulder the financial burden, climate activists worry the next two weeks will see few tangible steps to combat climate change.

Remembering Kissinger. Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger died late Wednesday at age 100. His years of foreign-policy service under the Nixon and Ford administrations made him one of the most influential realists in political science. Kissinger’s accomplishments included spearheading the start of “shuttle diplomacy” in the Middle East, advocating for an open-door policy with China, and his controversial win of the 1973 Nobel Peace Prize.

But “Kissinger also came to be reviled, especially by liberals, for practicing what they regard as a cold-blooded projection of American power that contributed to countless deaths,” FP columnist Michael Hirsh writes. His foreign-policy record includes aiding the 1971 genocide in Bangladesh, backing Chile’s 1973 military coup, directing the U.S. carpet-bombing of Cambodia from 1969 to 1973, and taking actions in Africa that historians say prolonged the war in Angola and bolstered apartheid in South Africa. As one of the most influential realist intellectuals in U.S. history, Hirsh writes, Kissinger’s long career also spelled out some of Washington’s greatest failures—and dubbed him a war criminal by many.

Thin ice for India. U.S. prosecutors charged an Indian national on Wednesday with attempting to assassinate a U.S. citizen. Nikhil Gupta was accused of trying to hire a hit man for $100,000 to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a lawyer for the New York-based Sikhs for Justice, which advocates for Punjab succession from India. Gupta was caught after the hit man he contacted turned out to be an undercover U.S. government official.

Even more concerning, U.S. prosecutors allege that an official inside the Indian government orchestrated the assassination attempt against Pannun, whom India designates as a terrorist. This is the second time in just three months that New Delhi has been accused of involvement in a high-level plot to kill a foreign national. In September, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused New Delhi of assassinating Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia in June—straining Canadian-Indian relations to a historic low.

Odds and Ends

British bear enthusiasts shed a tear on Thursday over the departure of the United Kingdom’s two giant pandas. Both Yang Guang and Tian Tian said their final goodbyes to Edinburgh Zoo before returning to China, marking an end to 12 years of panda diplomacy. Zookeepers had hoped that the bears’ stay would produce a cub, but with no such luck—and the United States also forced to give back its three pandas—Edinburgh reluctantly returned its favorite black-and-white friends.