After delay, Hamas releases another group of hostages, Israeli military says: Updates
Editor's Note: For the latest on the Israel-Hamas conflict, please see our live updates file here.
Another group of hostages was released by Hamas late Saturday, officials said, after hours of delay and indications the temporary truce between Israel and Hamas could be breaking down.
Close to midnight local time, the Israeli military said its troops were were with the hostages and they were being taken for medical assessments and will be reunited with their families at Israeli hospitals.
The hostages include about a dozen Israeli citizens and several foreign nationals who had been held captive seven weeks since Hamas' October 7 attack in Israel, according Majed Al Ansari, a spokesman for the Qatari foreign ministry.
"After a delay, obstacles to release of prisoners were overcome through Qatari-Egyptian contacts with both sides," Al Ansari said in a post to social media.
The Palestinians being released from jails are 33 children and six women, he said, while the Israeli hostages released are eight children and five women.
Hamas said earlier Saturday that the amount of humanitarian aid flowing into Gaza was not as much as had been promised, and that not enough of it was reaching the northern part of the territory, which had been the focal point of fighting before the cease-fire.
“This is putting the deal in danger and we have spoken mediators about that,” Osama Hamdan, a senior Hamas official, said in Beirut.
Friday saw the successful exchange of 24 hostages for 39 prisoners, a relief for family members who had anxiously awaited any news of their loved ones since Hamas' October 7 attack. No Americans were among the captives released on Friday, when the temporary cease-fire first went into effect. President Joe Biden has said Americans will be among the 50 hostages released but that it wasn’t clear when.
Brokered by the United States, Qatar and Egypt, the deal called for a four-day pause in fighting and the release of 50 hostages held by Hamas in exchange for 150 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons. Many, if not all of those released from both sides will be women and children. Israel also agreed to extend the fighting pause one day for every 10 additional hostages Hamas releases.
Israel has vowed to resume its offensive after the truce, though Biden has expressed hope for an extension of the truce.
More than 13,300 Palestinian people have been killed since Oct. 7, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health. That does not include updated numbers from hospitals in the north, where communications have broken down. The ministry says some 6,000 people have been reported missing, feared buried under rubble. Israeli officials said about 1,200 people have been killed, and an estimated 240 were taken hostage by Hamas.
Family and friends of hostages speak out
Relatives and friends of hostages pleaded with the international community on Saturday not to forget the plight of their loved ones during a Saturday press conference organized by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.
Among them was Alexandra Fridman, who is raising awareness for the missing, including Sapir Cohen and missing members of the Trupanob family. Fridman said she has a video of Cohen’s being brought into Gaza on a motorbike.
“It’s heartbreaking,” she said.
Hamas militants killed Vitaly Trupanob, 50, in the October 7 attack on Kibbutz Nir Oz. Cohen was taken alongside her boyfriend, Sacha, his mother, Elena, and his grandmother, Irina Trupanob.
“Hamas took the whole family,” Fridman said. “We don’t know if they’re still alive.”
Fridman said that they have no information about the condition of the missing. “I just know that Sapir went through a terrible journey and she’s going through – she and Sacha, and everyone is going through very rough times.”
“I feel like every minute they spend there can be critical, because we already have some news about other hostages that are killed by Hamas,” Fridman said. “I really ask from the whole world, and you, to tell everyone our story and to help us bring everyone home. We want everyone home.”
Israel: Additional fuel aid delivered to Gaza
The United Nations will deliver over 50 trucks of humanitarian aid to Gaza on Saturday, according to the Israeli military, part of a larger humanitarian aid effort underway during the four-day cease-fire. Eight tankers carrying fuel and cooking gas entered Gaza Saturday morning, the military said.
“The fuel and cooking gas are designated for operating essential humanitarian infrastructure in Gaza,” according to COGAT, the Coordinator for Government Activities in the Territories, an Israeli agency that coordinates with the Palestinians on civilian issues.
The agency said four tankers carrying fuel and four tankers carrying cooking gas were transferred from Egypt to UN humanitarian aid organizations in the southern Gaza Strip. The agency said that some 200 trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered the Gaza Strip on Friday.
The aid is entering the Gaza Strip as part of an agreement that calls for the release of a total of 50 hostages taken by Hamas and 150 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.
Hostages and Palestinians in prison awaiting release
The hostages released Friday included 13 Israelis, 10 Thai nationals and one Filipino citizen, according to Majed al-Ansari, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry of Qatar. The Palestinians released from prison Friday included 24 women and 15 teenagers.
Hamas is believed to be holding more than 200 hostages, and about nine Americans are unaccounted for. Three Americans were among the hostages set for release including 4-year-old Avigail Edan, whose parents were killed during the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, as well as two women, according to a senior Biden administration official.
"Over the coming days we expect that dozens more hostages will be returned to their families, including American citizens," Biden said Friday. "We will not stop until all hostages are released by Hamas."
The Palestinians released from prison Friday including 15 teenagers jailed for offenses like throwing stones and 24 women, including some convicted of attempted murder for attacks on Israeli forces.
Addameer, a Palestinian prisoner rights group, said there are 7,000 "political prisoners" in Israel. There are 2,070 "administrative detainees," or people held indefinitely without charges. At least 200 of the people in prison are children and 62 are women, according to the organization.
International and Palestinian human rights organizations have long alleged that Israel mistreats its child detainees, whom it prosecutes in military courts and holds for indefinite periods of time. Israel says they are detained for suspected terror-related offenses.
One of the earliest proposals was put forward Oct. 12, and it called for releasing all women and children held by Hamas and other Palestinian militants in Gaza, in return for freeing all Palestinian women in Israeli prisons, according to Egyptian officials. The Israelis rejected that proposal, but it “opened the door for more talks,” an Egyptian official said.
Contributing: Associated Press