Hamas, Israel release more hostages and prisoners in fifth exchange

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said 12 hostages had been evacuated from Gaza. The Israeli military later confirmed that 10 Israelis and two foreign nationals, along with their special forces, were in Israel.

Hamas Israel releases more hostages and prisoners on fourth day of ceasefire — A Red Cross vehicle carrying hostages leaves the Gaza Strip on November 28, 2023. Photo: Reuters

Meanwhile, live footage broadcast by Al Jazeera on Tuesday showed a bus carrying Palestinian prisoners leaving Israel's Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank.

Israel says it has released 30 Palestinian detainees from Ofer and a detention centre in Jerusalem. It had previously said the group would include 15 women and 15 teenage boys.

A spokesman for Qatar's foreign ministry, which is mediating the conflict, said the freed Israeli hostages included nine women and a minor. On Telegram, some of the hostages were handed over by the Al Quds Brigade, the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement.

The ceasefire has brought Gaza its first respite after seven weeks of fighting and shelling that left much of the Strip in ruins. The deal was due to expire overnight on Tuesday but both sides agreed to extend it by two days.

Israel has said the ceasefire could be extended further if Hamas continues to free at least 10 Israeli hostages a day. But with fewer women and children being held, a ceasefire beyond Wednesday may require further negotiations.

The total number of hostages released by Hamas since the ceasefire began last Friday now stands at 81, including 60 Israelis – all women and children – and 21 foreigners, many of them Thai farmers who came to Israel to work. Israel had released 150 prisoners before Tuesday’s release.

After about seven weeks of fighting, more than two-thirds of Gaza's 2.3 million people have been left homeless by the fighting, with thousands of families sleeping in makeshift shelters with only the belongings they can carry.

Many are taking advantage of the ceasefire to return to abandoned or destroyed homes, like Abu Shamaleh, who was rummaging through the rubble of his flattened home in Khan Younis, looking for anything salvageable.

He said 37 family members were killed and there was no machinery to exhume the body of a cousin still buried in the rubble.

“The truce is a time to clear the rubble, find all the missing and bury them. We honor the dead by burying them. What good is a truce if the bodies are still under the rubble?” he said.

Among the Israeli hostages yet to be freed are 10-month-old baby Kfir Bibas and his 4-year-old brother Ariel, along with their parents Yarden and Shiri. Israeli officials say they believe the family is being held by a militant group other than Hamas.

The Israeli blockade has led to the collapse of Gaza’s health care system, especially in the narrow northern part of the strip, where no hospitals are functioning. The World Health Organization says more Gazans could soon die from disease than from bombing.

Huy Hoang (according to Reuters, AJ, AP)

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