Israeli forces arrest director of Al-Shifa Hospital for questioning

Israeli forces have arrested the director of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza along with several other medical personnel. A chief department at the Al-Shifa Hospital, Khalid Abu Samra, said, “Doctor Mohammad Abu Salmiya was arrested along with several other senior doctors.” A report by Israel’s Kan public broadcaster said that Salmiya is being questioned by Shin Bet and Israel Defense Forces (IDF) intelligence. Meanwhile, Army Radio says that the director was detained as he was trying to move south of the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, the Qatari government has said that it will announce the exact timing of the hostage deal between Israel and Hamas “in the next few hours.” The decision to delay the execution of the hostage deal to Friday was taken together by Israel, Qatar and Egypt while the US was kept in the loop about the developments. A senior US official told CNN that more time was needed to finalise the details of the deal to avoid “things going wrong.” The hostage deal brokered by Qatar will see the release of 50 Israelis captured by Hamas while 150 Palestinian prisoners will be freed by Israel. White House spokesperson Adrienne Watson said final logistical details for the release were being worked out. “That is on track and we are hopeful that implementation will begin on Friday morning,” Watson said. Israel’s public broadcaster Kan reported that the reason behind the 24-hour delay in the truce was because the agreement was not signed by Hamas and mediator Qatar. “No one said there would be a release tomorrow except the media … We had to make it clear that no release is planned before Friday, because of the uncertainty that hostages’ families are facing,” Kan quoted a source in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office as saying. With inputs from agencies