Hamas and Israel swap hostages and prisoners after stand-off is resolved

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Hamas freed a second group of hostages in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners by Israel after a dispute about humanitarian deliveries into the besieged Gaza strip had threatened to derail a temporary truce.

The Israeli military said 13 Israelis and four Thai nationals had arrived in Israel after being transferred by the International Committee of the Red Cross from Gaza, the second group to be released in as many days under a four-day pause in hostilities.

Israeli officials said 39 Palestinian women and boys held in its jails had been released as part of the exchange, according to AP. Al Jazeera broadcast footage of what it said were Palestinian prisoners transported in an ICRC-marked bus early Sunday morning to the occupied West Bank, where they were greeted by throngs of well-wishers.

Hamas had earlier warned that it would not release any more of the people it had seized in its October 7 attack until Israel “commits to the terms of the (truce) agreement relating to entry of aid trucks to northern Gaza”. Relief is being trucked in through Rafah, the sole operational crossing into Gaza, which is not controlled by Israel.

Majed al-Ansari, a spokesman for Qatar’s foreign ministry, said the “obstacles were overcome” through Qatari-Egyptian mediation.

The youngest Israeli hostage to be released on Saturday was three-year-old Yahel Shoham, according to the Israeli prime minister’s office. Her grandmother Shoshan Haran was the eldest in the group, which also included teenage siblings Alma and Noam Or.

Trucks carrying humanitarian aid wait to cross from the southern Gaza Strip into the northern Gaza Strip on Saturday © MOHAMMED SABER/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Hamas freed 24 captives on Friday as part of a deal under which Israel agreed to pause its offensive for four days, release Palestinian women and children held in Israeli prisons and allow more aid into the enclave. Israel released 39 Palestinian women and children from prison on Friday.

Under the truce agreement brokered by Qatar, the US and Egypt, Hamas will free 50 Israeli civilians in groups over the four-day period, in exchange for 150 Palestinian prisoners and an increase in aid deliveries to the strip.

Both sides are supposed to meet commitments each day to ensure the durability of the deal. Saturday’s spat underlined the fragility of the agreement between the warring parties.

Hamas official Osama Hamdan said the group complained to Qatar and Egypt about issues including insufficient aid delivery. He also alleged that Israeli soldiers had shot at Gazans on Friday as they attempted to move northwards.

Under the four-day agreement at least 200 trucks of aid were to be delivered daily to Gaza, to which Israel has laid siege since Hamas’s attack triggered the war.

The UN early Sunday morning said 61 trucks of aid had been delivered to north Gaza on Saturday, from a total of 187 trucks that had entered the strip. In addition, 129,000 litres of fuel were delivered on both Friday and Saturday.

Aid workers had warned of the challenges of getting large amounts of supplies into the strip because of logistical hurdles and Israeli checks. Of the 200 trucks which had been prepared to enter Gaza, only 137 trucks were offloaded inside the enclave on Friday, the UN said.

These convoys represent the largest aid delivery to the strip since October 7 as the coastal enclave, which is home to 2.3mn people, endures severe shortages of food, water, fuel and medicine.

A team of Qatari officials flew into Tel Aviv on Saturday to co-ordinate with the parties and “ensure the deal continues to move smoothly and to discuss further details of the ongoing deal”, a diplomat said.

Israeli hostages Aviv and Raz Asher and their mother Doron greet their father Yoni after being released on Friday
Israeli hostages Aviv and Raz Asher and their mother Doron greet their father Yoni after being released on Friday © via REUTERS

Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups are still holding more than 200 people in Gaza, including elderly people and Israeli soldiers, after its fighters launched a savage assault on communities in southern Israel. Israeli officials said about 1,200 people were killed in the worst attack in the country’s history.

The Hamas assault triggered a ferocious Israeli military response, including a ground invasion. After six weeks of bombardment in which Palestinian officials say at least 13,300 people have been killed and 1.7mn forced to flee their homes, the temporary truce has given Gazans a brief respite.

Palestinians leaving the southern outskirts of Gaza City on Saturday © AFP via Getty Images

The pause in fighting comes as pressure mounts on Israel from allies over the human cost of the war. David Cameron, UK foreign secretary, told the BBC on Friday that “the number of casualties is too high”.

Assaf Orion, former head of a strategic division at the Israeli Defence Force, said that while “Israel has its own interests to decrease the damage to civilian population as collateral . . . at the same time we cannot keep on being, I would say, overcautious and trying to go above and beyond, to do our best in this as we used in the past”.

Additional reporting by Heba Saleh in Cairo

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