A statement from the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose government has promised to work to release all hostages held by Hamas, said Israeli security officials are reviewing the list.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said that the released hostages, including Israeli women and children and Thai farm workers, were transferred out of Gaza and handed over to the Egyptian authorities at the Rafah border crossing, accompanied by eight Red Cross employees in a convoy of four cars. They were then transferred to Israel for medical examinations and to be reunited with their relatives.
Qatar, which played the role of mediator in the truce agreement, said that 13 Israelis, some of whom hold another nationality, were released, in addition to ten Thais and a Filipino farmworkers who were working in southern Israel when they were taken hostage. In return, thirty-nine Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons were released.
Among the Israeli hostages who were freed were four children, accompanied by four members of their families, and five elderly women.
US President Joe Biden said that there is a real opportunity to extend the truce and that stopping the fighting represents a decisive opportunity to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza. This truce is the first stop in the war that broke out seven weeks ago.
Biden refused to predict how long the war between Israel and Hamas would last. When asked at a press conference about his expectations, Biden said that Israel’s goal of eliminating Hamas is a legitimate, but difficult, task.
“I don’t know how long it will take,” he added.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society said that 196 trucks loaded with humanitarian aid, including food, water and medical supplies, were delivered through the Rafah crossing on Friday, the largest aid convoy to Gaza since the Hamas attack on Israel and the Israeli bombing of the Strip in response. She added that about 1,759 trucks have entered the sector since October 21.
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