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The Israeli military says 13 Israeli hostages and four foreigners have been released from captivity in the Gaza Strip on Saturday.
This is a breaking news update. The story will be updated. The text below reflects an earlier version of the story.
A Gaza hostage release deal was back on track on Saturday night after a row over aid supplies to the north of the besieged enclave was resolved following mediation by Qatar and Egypt.
A Palestinian official familiar with the diplomacy said Hamas would continue with the four-day truce agreement with Israel, the first break in fighting in seven weeks of war.
“After a delay, obstacles to release of prisoners were overcome through Qatari-Egyptian contacts with both sides, and 39 Palestinian civilians will be released tonight, while 13 Israeli hostages will leave Gaza in addition to 7 foreigners,” Qatari Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Majed Al Ansari said on social media.
Eight children and five women would be released by Hamas, as well as the seven foreigners, he said.
The armed wing of Hamas said earlier it was delaying Saturday’s scheduled second round of hostage releases until Israel met conditions, including committing to let aid trucks into northern Gaza.
Hamas spokesperson Osama Hamdan said only 65 of 340 aid trucks that had entered Gaza since Friday had reached northern Gaza, which was “less than half of what Israel agreed on.”
Al-Qassam Brigades also said Israel had failed to respect the terms of the Palestinian detainee releases. Qadura Fares, the Palestinian commissioner for prisoners, said Israel had not released detainees by seniority, as was expected.
Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter, a member of Israel’s security cabinet, told Channel 13 News that Israel was “abiding by the deal” with Hamas that Qatar had mediated.
Israel has said 50 trucks with food, water, shelter equipment and medical supplies had deployed to northern Gaza under United Nations supervision, the first significant aid delivery there since the start of the war in early October.
The row over the truce dented hopes of a smooth second day of hostage and prisoner releases after 13 Israeli women and children were freed by Hamas on Friday. Some 39 Palestinian women and teenagers were released from Israeli jails.
Israeli army spokesperson Olivier Rafowicz told French television that Israel was strictly honouring the terms of the truce and that the military had carried out no attacks or offensive operations in Gaza on Saturday.
Toll of war
The Israeli army spokesperson said earlier that Israel had been expecting another 13 hostages to be set free on Saturday, with 39 Palestinian prisoners also to be released — barring last-minute changes.
A total of 50 hostages are to be exchanged for 150 Palestinian prisoners over four days under the truce, the first halt in fighting since Hamas fighters rampaged through southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and taking about 240 hostages, the Israeli government said.
In response to that attack, Israel has vowed to destroy the Hamas militants who run Gaza, raining bombs and shells on the enclave and launching a ground offensive in the north. To date, some 14,800 people — roughly 40 per cent of them children — have been killed, Palestinian health authorities said on Saturday.
Before the delay to the latest hostage and prisoner exchange, Egypt, which controls the Rafah border crossing through which aid supplies have resumed into southern Gaza, said it had received “positive signals” from all parties over a possible truce extension.
Diaa Rashwan, the head of Egypt’s State Information Service, said in a statement that Cairo was holding extensive talks with all parties to reach an agreement which would mean “the release of more detainees in Gaza and Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.”
Israel has said the ceasefire could be extended if Hamas continues to release hostages at a rate of at least 10 per day. A Palestinian source has said up to 100 hostages could go free.
‘Sensitive moments’ for families
After nightfall Friday, a line of ambulances carrying the freed hostages emerged from Gaza through the Rafah border crossing into Egypt. The freed Israelis included nine women and four children aged nine and under.
The released hostages were taken to three Israeli hospitals for observation. The Schneider Children’s Medical Center in Petah Tikva, near Tel Aviv, said it was treating eight Israelis — four children and four women — and that all appeared to be in relatively good physical condition. The centre said they were also receiving psychological treatment, adding that “these are sensitive moments” for the families.
“Sometimes I have tears in my eyes,” said Dr. Gilat Livni, the hospital’s director of pediatrics who was there as the first group of children came to the hospital and reunited with their families.
“We just listened to the parents, to the mothers and the kids as they spoke about what’s happened during these 50 days,” Livni said in an interview with CBC News on Saturday.
Livni said the former hostages are in “reasonable condition.”
They have all lost some weight and some were suffering from diarrhea and infectious diseases. They ate mostly plain food, like rice and vegetables while in Gaza, she said.
Livni said the new patients have received medical tests, including eye exams, as it’s believed they spent most of their time in Gaza underground. When asked where the hostages slept, Livni pointed to the floor.
Ohad Munder, who marked his ninth birthday in captivity, was released with his mother and grandmother, but his 78-year-old grandfather remains in Gaza. He is one of the four children at the hospital.
“I dreamt we came home,” said another former hostage, four-year-old Raz Asher, who was freed along with her mother and two-year-old sister, Aviv. “Now the dream came true,” her father, Yoni, replied.
In Thailand, where authorities welcomed the release of 10 of its nationals under a separate deal mediated by Egypt and Qatar, a mother danced for joy when she saw that her daughter, Natthawaree Mulkan, was among the hostages released by Hamas.
“I was elated … I came out and danced,” 56-year-old Bunyarin Srijan said, pointing to her patio.
For Palestinians, however, joy at the release of detainees from Israeli jails had a bitter tinge to it. Israeli police were seen raiding the home of Sawsan Bkeer on Friday shortly before her daughter, Marah, 24, was released. Israeli police declined to comment.
“There is no real joy, even this little joy we feel as we wait,” Bkeer said. “We are still afraid to feel happy.”
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