Johnathan Paoli
Hamas has confirmed that a group of hostages seized in the 7 October attack on Israel were handed over on Friday as a temporary truce took hold in Gaza following weeks of fighting.
A first tranche of 13 women and child hostages were expected to go back to Israel on Friday under a deal that followed weeks of talks involving Israel, Palestinian militant groups, Qatar, Egypt and the United States.
In addition, Thailand’s Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin announced that Thai hostages kidnapped during Hamas’s 7 October raids into Israel were also released on Friday.
During the four-day truce, at least 50 hostages are expected to be freed, leaving an estimated 190 in the hands of Palestinian militants, in exchange, 150 Palestinians prisoners, women and children, are expected to be released.
Ziv Agmon, legal adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, told reporters that the hostages would be received individually or in groups by the International Committee of the Red Cross, taken across the border and handed to the Israeli army, with flights expected to depart from El-Arish, in the Sinai into the country.
So far 41 hostages have been released in the first two days of the truce. Thirteen Israeli civilians were freed along with 11 foreign nationals in the initial exchange on Friday, followed by another 13 Israelis and four foreign nationals on Saturday.
According to Israel, initial reports indicated that Hamas captured 240 hostages in the 7 October attack, with additional captures still unaccounted for.
Following reports on the ceasefire deal, Israel released a list of 300 names in Hebrew of detainees that it said would be eligible for release.
On the list are 123 minors, with the youngest aged 14 who was arrested in May on offences listed as “sabotage activity… assault against a police officer and throwing stones” – being one of five who are also 14 years old.
The eldest on the list is 59 year old Hanan Saleh Barghouti who was arrested in September and released on Friday.
She was among several being held in administrative detention, which means a person is held without trial or charge – something international and Palestinian rights groups said could amount to arbitrary detention and so a war crime, and eerily similar to laws experienced in this country.
The armed wing of Hamas, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, confirmed that a truce would begin on Friday, accompanied by the “cessation of all military actions from the Qassam Brigades and the Palestinian resistance” during the truce.
Hamas official Bassem Naim said “marathon negotiations” were behind the agreement, which represented an important step towards alleviating the suffering of our people.
The Israeli prime minister’s office said authorities were in contact with the families of all the hostages being held in Gaza after receiving a publicly unspecified list of names.
The pause in the conflict has cast a new light for many, however, as thousands of Palestinians, who sought refuge and safety took the opportunity to return home and get hold of loved ones.
Israel’s retaliatory air, artillery and naval strikes alongside a ground offensive have killed about 15,000 people, the Hamas government in Gaza said.
According to the UN, 1.7 million of Gaza’s 2.4 million people are estimated to have been displaced by the fighting.
Gazans have struggled to survive with shortages of water and other essentials. Trucks carrying more aid, including fuel, gas, and food, began moving into Gaza from the Rafah crossing with Egypt shortly after the truce began at 7:00 am on Friday.
Reports have arisen that Israeli military have communicated to Palestinians that the war is not over and warned them not to return to North Gaza, the one of the main focus points of Israel’s military campaigns.
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