Militants in the Gaza Strip released eight hostages on Thursday, handing them over to the Red Cross amid chaotic crowds as part of a swap that is set to see 110 Palestinians released from Israeli prisons later in the day.
Agam Berger, a 20-year-old soldier, was handed over first at a site in the heavily destroyed urban refugee camp of Jabaliya in northern Gaza, followed hours later by two more Israelis and five Thai farm workers who were handed over amid a chaotic crowd in the city of Khan Younis.
It's the third such exchange since ceasefire took hold in the Gaza Strip earlier this month.
The tenuous ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is aimed at ending the war in Gaza and securing the release of dozens of hostages held by the militant group, as well as hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned or detained by Israel.
Under the ceasefire, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have jubilantly returned to northern Gaza over the past three days. However, their homecoming has been bittersweet as nearly everyone has friends or relatives who died, and many northern neighborhoods have been transformed into an apocalyptic landscape of devastation by more than 15 months of war.
Israeli Red Cross says it has received 7 more hostages
Israeli officials have filed an angry complaint to international mediators over chaotic scenes surrounding the release of hostages.
Militants led Israeli hostage Arbel Yehoud through a chaotic crowd in Gaza ahead of her release, hours after Hamas handed a captive Israeli soldier over to the Red Cross in the Gaza Strip.
A group of friends of Arbel Yehoud, a hostage set to be released Thursday, watched in tears and worried silence as the Israeli hostage appeared to be freed, surrounded by a large crowd of Palestinians.
Thailand’s ambassador to Israel said she was “holding her breath” along with the entire country of Israel for the release of five Thai agricultural workers who were kidnapped on Oct. 7.
The Israeli military says it has intercepted a surveillance drone launched toward Israeli airspace by the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon.
Red Cross vehicles arrived at a location in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis where hostages are set to be released.
Hamas handed captive Israeli soldier Agam Berger over to the Red Cross at a ceremony in the heavily destroyed urban refugee camp of Jabaliya in northern Gaza.
Red Cross vehicles arrived at the northern refugee camp of Jabaliya, where hundreds of masked militants and onlookers had gathered ahead of a planned release of hostages held in Gaza.
The Islamic Jihad militant group has released a brief video of two hostages set to be released Thursday as part of the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
Khammee Lamnao, the mother of Thai hostage Surasak Lamnau, said the Thai embassy in Israel had called her Wednesday to let her know her son was one of the five who were to be released.
The Israelis set to be released are Agam Berger, 20, a female soldier; Arbel Yehoud, a 29-year-old civilian woman; and Gadi Moses, an 80-year-old man.
Today's exchange is part of a deal that paused fighting in Gaza on Jan. 19. Israeli forces have pulled back from most of Gaza, allowing hundreds of thousands of people to return to what remains of their homes and humanitarian groups to surge assistance.
It calls for Hamas to release a total of 33 hostages, including women, children, older adults and sick or wounded men, in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.
