Hamas-led militants freed eight hostages on Thursday in the latest release since a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip took hold earlier this month. Israel was expected to release another 110 Palestinian prisoners.
Israel instructed buses carrying Palestinian detainees slated for release under the Gaza ceasefire deal with Hamas to return to prisons, an official involved in the operation told Reuters on Thursday.
Hostages Arbel Yehud and Gadi Moses were expected to be released later Thursday morning along with five Thai nationals. Yehud, 29, and Moses, 80, are civilians. The release of the Thai nationals is not part of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal. It's part of a separate deal between Hamas and the Thai government.
An agreement has been reached between Israel and Hamas that involves the release of additional hostages and the return of Palestinians to the northern part of the Gaza Strip.
Iman Helles, a displaced mother sheltering in a facility run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees in Gaza, fears that she will now be “thrown out to the streets” with her three children.
MughrabiABOARD AIR FORCE ONE/Cairo (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump said Jordan and Egypt should take in Palestinians from war-ravaged Gaza, a suggestion rejected by Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that runs the enclave,
Follow NBC News live updates for the latest coverage of the ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas.
Hamas confirmed the death of Mohammed Deif, head of its military wing, six months after Israel announced he was killed. It was the first statement Hamas has released on Deif’s condition since the Israeli military announced last August that he was killed in an airstrike in southern Gaza the month before.
Israel was due to free 110 prisoners, including 30 minors, in exchange for the three Israelis released on Thursday, the Palestinian Prisoners' Club advocacy group said. It is the third hostage-prisoner exchange under a 19 January ceasefire deal aimed at ending the war in Gaza.
Thursday’s prisoner-for-hostage swap marked the third round of exchanges as a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas entered its second week.