Hamas on Wednesday, November 29, released Israelis, some of dual nationality and Thai hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners still held by Israel. Mediators worked urgently to negotiate another extension to a Gaza truce just hours before its scheduled expiration.
Hamas has freed 10 Israeli and 4 Thai hostages on Wednesday, November 29, in exchange for Palestinian prisoners still held by Israel, as mediators raced to broker another extension to a Gaza truce hours before it was due to expire.
Five Israeli minors and five women were released from Gaza tonight, Qatar Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Majed Al Ansari said, with 5 of them being of dual nationality, a Dutch minor, three Germans and one American.
The cessation of hostilities is scheduled to end early Thursday after a six-day halt in a conflict sparked by deadly Hamas attacks that prompted a devastating Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip.
Underlining the sense of urgency, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was due to make his third wartime visit to the Middle East as part of efforts to prolong the pause in fighting.
In a sign of the challenges facing negotiators, a Hamas source said the Palestinian militant group was not satisfied with Israel’s proposals for another extension.
“What is being proposed in the discussions to extend the truce is not the best,” the source told the media, adding that the talks were focused on extending the pause by “two days or more”.
A senior Hamas official said the Islamist movement was ready to release all the Israeli soldiers it is holding captive in exchange for all Palestinian prisoners held in Israel, amid negotiations to extend a truce over Gaza.
Israel’s war cabinet was meeting late Wednesday over proposals to extend the truce, media reports said.
Hamas also said it had freed two women hostages with Russian citizenship.
Their release was outside the scope of the Israel-Hamas agreement, in what the Palestinian group described as recognition of the “efforts” of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Complicating matters, some of the remaining hostages in Gaza are in the hands of another Palestinian militant group, Islamic Jihad.
The Islamic Jihad and Hamas were “committed” to respecting the truce agreement “as long as the occupier does so, and we are ready to pursue a political route to make the occupier pay”.
Baby Hostage Reported Dead
Israel’s army said it was investigating a report by Hamas’s armed wing that a 10-month-old baby hostage, his four-year-old brother and their mother had all been killed in an Israeli bombing in Gaza.
The military was “assessing the accuracy of the information”, it said in a statement.
“Hamas is wholly responsible for the security of all hostages in the Gaza Strip,” it added. “Hamas’ actions continue to endanger the hostages, which include nine children.”
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‘Willing to extend truce’
After the pause in hostilities entered its sixth day, a source close to Hamas told media on condition of anonymity, the militant group “informed the mediators that it is willing to extend the truce for four days”.
Under that arrangement, “the movement would be able to release Israeli prisoners that it, other resistance movements and other parties hold during this period, according to the terms of the existing truce,” the source added.
Khalil Wakim, with AFP
