Israel-Hamas war: First group of Israeli hostages handed over to Red Cross, says local media

Key points

• Israeli hostages ‘transferred to Red Cross’
• 12 Thai hostages have been released
• Hamas leader says he is committed to truce
• No reports of fighting since truce began at 7am local time
• Aid trucks have entered the Gaza Strip from Egypt
• The ceasefire is set to last for four days
• Irish-Israeli national Emily Hand (9) is not in the first batch of captives due to be set free

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The first group of Israeli hostages – comprised of women and children – has been released and handed over to aid workers from the International Committee for Red Cross, the Times of Israel reports.

The paper cites an Israeli official as it says the freed people are in ambulances on the way from Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, to the Rafah crossing into Israel. The families of the hostages are reportedly on their way to hospitals, where they are all to be reunited.

Israeli hostages in Gaza ‘transferred to Red Cross’ and are on their way to the Egypt border crossing, according to Israeli reports

Thai prime minister Srettha Thavisin says 12 hostages have been released. Posting on social media, he has said: It has been confirmed by the Security Department and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that there are 12 Thai hostages already released.

Embassy officials are on their way to pick them up in another hour. They should know their names and details. Please stay tuned.

Egypt said its mediation efforts have secured the release of 12 Thai hostages and 13 Israelis, including women and children.

A future Palestinian state could be demilitarised and have a temporary international security presence to provide guarantees to both it and to Israel, Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on Friday.

“We said that we are ready for this state to be demilitarised, and there can also be guarantees of forces, whether Nato forces, United Nations forces, or Arab or American forces, until we achieve security for both states, the nascent Palestinian state and the Israeli state,” Mr Sisi said during a joint news conference in Cairo.

A political resolution which requires a Palestinian state based on the June 4, 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital, has remained out of reach, he added.

Arab nations have rejected suggestions that an Arab force provide security in the Gaza Strip after the end of Israel’s current campaign there against the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which has controlled Gaza since 2007.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said he is committed to the truce and success of the hostage-swap deal as long as Israel is committed as well, Reuters reports

And some background:

Haniyeh, the Hamas leader based in Qatar, has been the tough-talking face of the Palestinian group’s international diplomacy as war has raged back in Gaza where his family home was destroyed in an Israeli air strike in November.

Appointed to the militant group’s top job in 2017, he has moved between Turkey and Qatar’s capital Doha, escaping the travel restrictions of the blockaded Gaza Strip and enabling him to act as a negotiator in the latest ceasefire deal or talk to Hamas’ main ally Iran.

“All the agreements of normalisation that you (Arab states) signed with (Israel) will not end this conflict,” Haniyeh declared on Qatar-based Al Jazeera television shortly after Hamas fighters launched their assault on Israel on October 7th, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 200 people hostage.

Reuters reports on Israeli preparations for the release of hostages:

The first Israeli women and children to go free from Gaza on Friday under a truce with their Hamas captors will be flown home under military guard, with measures meant to reduce the duress and attend to any immediate medical complications.

Ahead of the 4pm (local time) release of the 13 hostages, who have not been identified, Israel’s air force published images of dolls, colourful throw-rugs and personal hygiene kits set up at locations scheduled to receive them by helicopter.

Hamas is due to deliver the group – among around 240 people held in the Gaza Strip – to neighbouring Egypt. In return, Israel will release 39 Palestinians from its jails.

“Today is the first light at the end of the tunnel,” an air force lieutenant colonel was shown saying in a video briefing. “We are all in this together.”

A military statement asked the public to respect hostages’ privacy. After landing in Israel, they will receive preliminary medical care and be sent to several hospitals for reunions with their families.

An Israeli official said military transport helicopters would take part in the repatriation, suggesting they would pick the hostages up at an Egyptian airport – perhaps in El Arish, near Gaza. That has not been formally confirmed by Cairo.

The helicopter crews would include a commando squad, doctors and liaison officers with training in communication and counselling – the first Israelis to greet the former captives.

“The personnel will introduce themselves by name, with a visible face and a smile, and maintain eye contact and distance in order to allow the caregivers and support teams to do their work in the best possible way,” the Israeli official said.

Among other measures designed to reduce stress would be the issuing of noise-cancelling headphones, including for the children among them, “to make the flight experience easier and provide them with peace and quiet,” the official said.

Health officials have said separately that the hostages would receive psychological attention and specialised care for any who may have suffered sexual assault.

While the adults released can expect to be questioned by Israeli security officials for information about their captivity and the fate of the others still held by Hamas, the child hostages will be spared this, local media reports have reported.

Four hostages have been returned alive previously while a fifth was rescued by Israeli troops. Israel has recovered the bodies of at least two more. The condition and locations of the remaining hostages was unclear.

There have been no reports of fighting in the hours after the truce began, according to Associated Press.

Sirens sounded in Israel’s southern Red Sea resort of Eilat on Friday, the military said, warning of a possible long-range aerial attack from Yemen.

Yemeni Houthis have previously launched drones and missiles at Israel in solidarity with the Palestinian militants Israel has been battling in the Gaza Strip.

Israel will on Friday release 39 Palestinian prisoners, among them 24 women and 15 teenaged males, in the occupied West Bank in exchange for 13 hostages due to be freed from the Gaza Strip by Hamas, a Palestinian official said.

The inmates, all of them from the occupied West Bank or Jerusalem, will be handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross at Israel’s Ofer military jail around 4pm local time, said Qadura Fares, Palestinian commissioner for prisoners.

That would coincide with the planned handover at the Gaza-Egypt border of 13 women and children who were among some 240 people taken hostage by Hamas gunmen.

“After the Red Cross receives the (Palestinian) prisoners, the ones from Jerusalem will go to Jerusalem and the ones from the West Bank will gather in Betunia municipal council where their families will be waiting,” Mr Fares told Reuters.

Not sure exactly what’s in the ceasefire deal? Associated Press have an overview:

What’s in the deal?

Qatar announced that 50 hostages will be released in exchange for what Hamas said would be 150 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. Those freed by both sides will be women and minors.

The plan is for the hostages, part of the 240 people abducted last month, to be released in bursts throughout the four-day ceasefire. Once the first batch is released, Israel is expected to free the first group of Palestinian prisoners.

Those prisoners include many teenage boys detained during a wave of violence in the West Bank in 2022 or 2023 and charged with offences such as stone-throwing or disturbing public order, according to a list of eligible prisoners published by Israel’s Justice Ministry.

Israel holds nearly 7,000 Palestinians accused or convicted of security offences.

Israel said the truce would be extended by a day for every 10 additional hostages released.

Qatar said Israel would also allow more fuel and humanitarian aid into Gaza, but did not provide details.

Hamas said hundreds of trucks carrying humanitarian aid and fuel are to be allowed to enter Gaza every day as part of the deal. Supplies would also reach northern Gaza, the focus of Israel’s ground offensive, for the first time, Hamas said.

Israel’s government statement did not refer to increased aid and fuel deliveries. Israeli Channel 12 TV reported that as part of the deal, Israel will allow a “significant” amount of fuel and humanitarian supplies into Gaza, but did not specify how much.

Israel has severely limited the amount of aid, especially fuel, allowed into Gaza during the war, prompting dire shortages of water, food and fuel to run generators.

The fighting is expected to come to a temporary halt: Israeli jets and troops will hold their fire while militants are expected to refrain from firing rockets at Israel.

Hamas said Israel’s warplanes would stop flying over southern Gaza during the truce and for six hours daily over the north. Israel made no mention of halting flights and it was not clear if this would include its sophisticated intelligence drones, which have been a constant presence over Gaza.

What has been left out?

A significant number of hostages will likely remain in Hamas captivity, including men, women, older people and foreign nationals.

The families who are not included in the current deal are likely to keep up the pressure on Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu to try to secure their own loved ones’ release with a future deal.

Mr Netanyahu said on Wednesday that under the deal, the International Committee of the Red Cross will visit the remaining hostages and provide them with any medicine they need. Neither Hamas nor the Red Cross confirmed that.

Although the ceasefire will grant Palestinians in Gaza a brief calm, the hundreds of thousands who have fled the combat zone and headed south are not expected to be able to return home. Israeli troops are expected to remain in their positions in northern Gaza.

What are the possible implications of the deal?

The deal involves only a short break in the fighting. Israel, which has made destroying Hamas and saving the captives its goals, is expected to continue where it left off once the ceasefire ends.

Mr Netanyahu said that the ceasefire will allow the army to prepare for the continued fighting and will not harm its war effort – and that the war would continue once it expires.

When it does, airstrikes will likely resume and troops will continue their push throughout northern Gaza before their expected foray into the south at an unknown time.

A break in fighting would also grant Hamas time to shift around militant positions and perhaps regroup after Israel claimed it had killed large numbers of fighters and destroyed many of the group’s military assets.

Yehya Sinwar, the Hamas leader in Gaza and presumed mastermind of the October 7th attack, could also try to turn a four-day pause in fighting into a longer ceasefire by offering to release more hostages.

A longer truce would make it harder for Israel to restart the war, both operationally and in the eyes of global public opinion.

The Israeli government would face growing domestic pressure to secure the release of more hostages.

Hopes have risen that 23 Thai nationals being held hostage in Gaza could return home after it was reported they are set to be released by Hamas without conditions.

Thai officials are yet to confirm the development, which was reported by Al-Araby Al-Jadeed news site on Friday.

At least 26 Thai nationals are being held by Hamas, while 39 Thai nationals have been killed, according to Thai officials. Three people remain in hospital.

Thousands of Thais worked in Israel’s agricultural sector prior to October 7th, and the Israeli government has said they make up the biggest group of foreign people killed or missing in the Hamas attacks.

The purported release is not related to the recent deal reached by Israel and Hamas to hand over dozens of Israeli hostages as well as Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, the report by Al-Araby Al-Jadeed said.

“The war is not over yet,” an Israeli military spokesman has said in a message in Arabic to Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Avichay Adraee said: “The humanitarian pause is temporary. The northern Gaza Strip is a dangerous war zone and it is forbidden to move north. For your safety, you must remain in the humanitarian zone in the south. It is only possible to move from the north of the Strip to the south via Salah al-Din Road. The movement of residents from the south of the Strip to the north is not allowed and dangerous.”

Aid trucks have begun entering the Gaza Strip from Egypt around 90 minutes after a truce began between Israel and Hamas fighters, according to Reuters TV footage. Two of the trucks, representing Egyptian organisations, sported banners that said: “Together for Humanity.” Another said: “For our brothers in Gaza.”

The Israeli military (IDF) said sirens warning of potential incoming rockets had sounded in two Israeli communities near Gaza but there was no immediate confirmation that attacks had occurred or of any damage or casualties.

A CNN team in the southern Israel city of Sderot meanwhile reported “loud booms” that sounded like Israeli artillery fire landing in Gaza, up to 15 minutes after the ceasefire was meant to be in place. Smoke was also continuing to rise from Gaza, the source of which was unknown, the team said.

Hostilities appeared to have continued until the last moment, with Israeli forces reportedly attacking the Indonesian hospital in northern Gaza overnight, as well as striking a residential building in Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. – Guardian

Good morning.

The truce between Hamas and Israel in Gaza officially came into effect at 7am local time (5am Irish time) on Friday, although it is difficult to say whether it was holding, the Guardian reports.

The four-day ceasefire in Gaza came after negotiators worked out the final details of the deal, which will lead to the release of dozens of hostages held by militants as well as Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.

Under the truce agreement, 13 Israeli hostages will be handed over to Red Cross representatives later today.

Nine-year-old Irish-Israeli national Emily Hand, who was taken hostage from kibbutz Be’eri on October 7th, is not in the first batch of captives due to be set free by Hamas on Friday.

The ceasefire is set to last for four days, during which a total of 50 Israeli hostages – children, mothers and elderly women – are expected to be released, in return for some 150 Palestinian prisoners, including women and minors, most of them residents of the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem.