In a significant development, Israeli official on Wednesday announced that Hamas will release three Israelis, including two women and an 80-year-old man, and five Thai nationals in the next hostage release. The release of hostages is set to take place on Thursday.
An Israeli official said the three Israeli hostages - Arbel Yehoud, 29 and Agam Berger, 19, and Gadi Mozes, 80 will be freed tomorrow.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record, said the hostages' families had approved publication of their names.
However, the official did not reveal the names of the Thai nationals set to be freed, along with Israeli citizens.
The release of the hostages are part of the settlement between the warring sides - Israel and Hamas - who recently entered a ceasefire deal. The development comes at a time when hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza are streaming toward the north of the war-ravaged territory to return to what is left of their homes, after being told to evacuate the area earlier on in Israel's war against Hamas.
Hamas freed 4 female Israeli soldiers
Earlier on January 25, four female Israeli soldiers who were taken in the attack that sparked the war in Gaza returned to Israel after Hamas militants paraded them before a crowd of thousands in Gaza City and handed them over to the Red Cross.
Israel later released 200 Palestinian prisoners in the second exchange of a fragile ceasefire.
The four Israelis smiled, waved and gave the thumbs-up from a stage in Palestine Square, with armed, masked militants on either side as Hamas again sought to show it remained in control in Gaza after 15 months of war. The hostages likely acted under duress. Previously released ones said they were held in brutal conditions and forced to record propaganda videos.
Israel's Prison Service later said it had released of 200 Palestinians, including 121 people serving life sentences after being convicted of deadly attacks against Israelis, while others were held without charge.
Egypt rejects Trump's suggestion on displaced Palestinians
Earlier in the day, the leader of US ally Egypt rejected President Donald Trump's suggestion that Egypt take in displaced Palestinians from Gaza, defying a US President who has shown little patience for dissent from international partners.
After returning to power, Trump suggested Egypt and Jordan should take in Palestinians from war-torn Gaza. However, the idea was rejected by those countries and the Palestinians themselves because they saed it would undermine the notion of Palestinian statehood and foment instability in their states.
Trump said he would urge the leaders of both countries, which are key allies to the US in the Middle East and major recipients of American aid in the region, to accept the idea, saying the resettlement could be temporary or long-term.
It is not clear if Trump could force Egypt or Jordan to agree, but he has in his first days in office and on the campaign threatened hefty tariffs against American allies to get his way.
Trump on Saturday said he would urge Egypt and Jordan to accept people from Gaza so that “we just clean out that whole thing,” calling the territory “a demolition site.”
The 15-monthlong war, set off by Hamas' October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel, has killed more than 47,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children according to local health authorities, who do not distinguish between civilians and combatants in their count.
(With AP inputs)
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