Israiel-Hamas war: Militant group Hamas on Sunday said one of its top commanders Ahmed al-Ghandour has been killed in the war which was triggered Hamas' October 7 attack into Israel.
The militant group announced the death of Al-Ghandour who was a high-ranking member of the group's armed wing and Hamas' top commander in northern Gaza. However, Hamas did not metion when and where he was killed.
He had survived at least three Israeli attempts to kill him, going back to 2002, according to the Counter Extremism Project, an advocacy group based in Washington.
Hamas releases 13 Israelis
Hamas released 13 Israelis and four foreigners. In return, Israel began releasing 39 Palestinian prisoners on Sunday.
Earlier, Hamas agreed to release 13 Israelis and seven foreigners late on Saturday in exchange for 39 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, Qatari and Egyptian mediators said, after the militant group delayed the second round of swaps for several hours and claimed that Israel had violated the terms of a truce deal.
Close to midnight, Hamas said it had handed over all 20 to the International Committee for the Red Cross.
The last-minute delay had created a tense standoff on the second day of what's meant to be a four-day ceasefire. By nightfall, as the hostages should have emerged from Gaza, Hamas alleged that the aid deliveries permitted by Israel fell short of what was promised and that not enough of it was reaching northern Gaza -- the focus of Israel's ground offensive and main combat zone. Hamas also said not enough veteran prisoners were freed in the first swap on Friday.
"This is putting the deal in danger," Osama Hamdan, a senior Hamas official, said in Beirut. But Egypt, Qatar and Hamas itself later said obstacles had been overcome, and Hamas listed six women and 33 teenage boys it said were expected to be released by the Israelis. Two women, Maysoun Jabali and Israa Jaabis, were imprisoned in 2015 after being convicted of carrying out attacks on Israelis. Jaabis suffered severe burns during the incident.
While uncertainty around some details of the exchange remained, there was some optimism, too, amid earlier scenes of joyous families reuniting on both sides.
On the first day of the cease-fire, Hamas released 24 of the roughly 240 hostages taken during its October 7 attack on Israel that triggered the war, and Israel freed 39 Palestinians from prison. Those freed in Gaza were 13 Israelis, 10 Thais and a Filipino.
Overall, Hamas is to release at least 50 Israeli hostages, and Israel 150 Palestinian prisoners, during the four-day truce -- all women and minors. Israel has said the truce can be extended an extra day for every additional 10 hostages freed -- something US President Joe Biden said he hoped would occur.
(With PTI inputs)
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