Hamas began the process of freeing three more Israeli hostages and five Thai captives on Thursday (January 30, 2025), the third such release since a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip took hold earlier this month. Israel was expected to release another 110 Palestinian prisoners.<\/p>\n
The truce is aimed at winding down the deadliest and most destructive war ever fought between Israel and Hamas, whose October 7, 2023, attack into Israel sparked the fighting. It has held despite a dispute earlier this week over the sequence in which the hostages were released.<\/p>\n
Hamas handed female Israeli soldier Agam Berger, 20, to the Red Cross at a ceremony in the heavily destroyed urban refugee camp of Jabaliya in northern Gaza<\/a>. The Israeli government later confirmed that Berger was with its forces.<\/p>\n \n Palestinian Hamas militants release female Israeli soldier Agam Berger held in Gaza since the deadly October 7, 2023 attack, as part of a ceasefire and a hostages-prisoners swap deal between Hamas and Israel, in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip, on January 30, 2025. <\/div>\n Another ceremony was planned in the southern city of Khan Younis, in front of the destroyed home of slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar<\/a>. Both were attended by hundreds of people, including masked militants and onlookers.<\/p>\n Also Read | Israel says it won\u2019t complete its withdrawal from Lebanon by January 26<\/a><\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n In Israel, people cheered, clapped and whistled at a square in Tel Aviv where supporters of the hostages watched Ms. Berger\u2019s handover on big screens next to a large clock that\u2019s counted the days the hostages have been in captivity. Some held signs saying: \u201cAgam we\u2019re waiting for you at home.\u201d<\/p>\n Ms. Berger was among five young, female soldiers abducted in the October 7, 2023, attack. The other four were released on Saturday<\/a> (January 25, 2025). The other two Israelis set to be released Thursday (January 30, 2025) are Arbel Yehoud, 29, and Gadi Moses, an 80-year-old man.<\/p>\n \n Released Israeli hostages, Karina Ariev, Liri Albag and Daniella Gilboa, who were soldiers seized from their army base in southern Israel during the deadly October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas, watch as Agam Berger, a fellow hostage is passed over to the Red Cross, at Beilinson Schneider complex in Petah Tikva, Israel in a handout photo obtained by Reuters on January 30, 2025. <\/div>\n \n Arbel Yehoud and Gadi Moses, hostages held in Gaza since the deadly October 7, 2023 attack, and who are to be released as part of a ceasefire and a hostages-prisoners swap deal between Hamas and Israel, are seen at an unspecified location in this screengrab from video released January 30, 2025. <\/div>\n There was no official confirmation of the identities of the Thai nationals who will be released.<\/p>\n A number of foreign workers were taken captive along with dozens of Israeli civilians and soldiers during Hamas\u2019 attack. Twenty-three Thais were among more than 100 hostages released during a weeklong ceasefire in November 2023. Israel says eight Thais remain in captivity, two of whom are believed to be dead.<\/p>\n Of the people set to be released from prisons in Israel, 30 are serving life sentences after being convicted of deadly attacks against Israelis. Zakaria Zubeidi, a prominent former militant leader and theatre director who took part in a dramatic jailbreak in 2021 before being rearrested days later, is also among those set to be released.<\/p>\n Israel said Ms. Yehoud was supposed to have been freed Saturday (January 25, 2025) and delayed the opening of crossings to northern Gaza when she was not.<\/p>\n The United States, Egypt and Qatar, which brokered the ceasefire after a year of tough negotiations, resolved the dispute with an agreement<\/a> that Ms. Yehoud would be released Thursday (January 30, 2025). Another three hostages, all men, are set to be freed Saturday (January 31, 2025) along with dozens more Palestinian prisoners.<\/p>\n Also Read | Israel kills 2 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, officials say<\/a><\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n On Monday (January 27, 2025), Israel began allowing Palestinians to return to northern Gaza, the most heavily destroyed part of the territory, and hundreds of thousands streamed back. Many found only mounds of rubble where their homes had been.<\/p>\n In the first phase of the ceasefire, Hamas is set to release a total of 33 Israeli hostages, including women, children, older adults and sick or wounded men, in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. Israel says Hamas has confirmed that eight of the hostages to be released in this phase are dead.<\/p>\n Palestinians have cheered the release of the prisoners, who they widely see as heroes who have sacrificed for the cause of ending Israel\u2019s decades-long occupation of lands they want for a future state.<\/p>\n Israeli forces have meanwhile 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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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