Hamas was expected to swap more of its hostages Saturday for Palestinians held in Israeli prisons on the second day of a ceasefire that has allowed critical humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip and given civilians their first respite in seven weeks.
On the first day of the four-day ceasefire, Hamas released 24 of the about 240 hostages taken during its Oct. 7 attack on Israel that triggered the war, and Israel freed 39 Palestinians detained in prison. Those freed from captivity in Gaza included 13 Israelis. A Philippine national and 10 Thai citizens — farm workers employed in southern Israel when they were seized — were freed under a separate agreement.
The families of hostages expressed mixed emotions, fearing for those left behind.
“I’m not dead, I’m not dead,” Thai farm worker Vetoon Phoome told his family, who thought he had been killed in the Hamas attack seven weeks ago, according to his sister, Roongarun Wichagern.
She told Reuters from her home in northeastern Thailand that her 33-year-old brother’s survival was a “miracle.”
Thailand said 20 of its nationals remain captive, with Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin urging their release “as soon as possible” in a post on social media.
More hostages, detainees to be released
A source briefed on the negotiations said the Thai release was unrelated to the truce deal with Israel and followed a separate track of talks with Hamas mediated by Egypt and Qatar.
Under the agreement, Hamas will release one Israeli hostage for every three Palestinians held in Israeli prisons. Israel’s Prison Service said Saturday it was preparing 42 Palestinians for release, suggesting Hamas would release 14 hostages. It was not immediately clear how many non-Israeli captives may also be released.
There has been no official Israeli announcement on the number of hostages to be freed Saturday, though Hamas handed a list of names to the authorities late Friday.
It was not immediately clear how many non-Israeli captives may also be released.
During the four days, Hamas is to release at least 50 Israeli hostages, and Israel will release 150 Palestinians, all women and minors.
Israel has said the truce can be extended an extra day for every additional 10 hostages freed — something U.S. President Joe Biden said he hoped would come to pass.
“I’m excited for the families who today are going to hug their loved ones,” Shelly Shem Tov, the mother of Omer Shem Tov, 21, said in an interview with Israel’s Channel 12. Her son was not among those released on Friday.
“I am jealous. And I am sad. Mostly sad that Omer is still not coming home.”
After nightfall Friday, a line of ambulances carrying the freed hostages emerged from Gaza through the Rafah Crossing into Egypt. The freed Israelis included nine women and four children aged nine and under.
The released hostages were taken to three Israeli hospitals for observation. The Schneider Children’s Medical Center in Petah Tikva, near Tel Aviv, said it was treating eight Israelis — four children and four women — and that all appeared to be in good physical condition. The centre said they were also receiving psychological treatment, adding that “these are sensitive moments” for the families.
Gilat Livni, director of pediatrics at the hospital, told CBC’s Briar Stewart on Saturday that those staying at the facility had lost some weight during their seven weeks in captivity. They ate mostly plain food, like rice and vegetables, she said.
Livni said some of the former hostages have asked to stay for a few days because they feel supported by staff. “Of course, with love, we accept them and we’re trying to do our best,” she said.
Featured VideoJonathan Dekel-Chen, whose 35-year-old son Sagui is being held in Gaza, says he’s committed to securing the release of everyone held by Hamas.
At a plaza dubbed “Hostages Square” in Tel Aviv, a crowd of Israelis celebrated the news.
Hours later, 24 Palestinian women and 15 teenage boys held in Israeli prisons in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem were freed. In the West Bank town of Beitunia, hundreds of Palestinians poured out of their homes to celebrate, honking horns and setting off fireworks that lit up the night sky.
The teenagers had been jailed for minor offences like throwing stones. The women included several convicted of trying to stab Israeli soldiers, and others who had been arrested at checkpoints in the West Bank.
According to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, an advocacy group, Israel is currently holding 7,200 Palestinians, including about 2,000 arrested since the start of the war.
Gaza residents assess homes
The start of the truce Friday morning brought the first quiet for 2.3 million Palestinians reeling and desperate from relentless Israeli bombardment that has killed thousands, driven three-quarters of the population from their homes and levelled residential areas. Rocket fire from Gaza militants into Israel went silent as well.
For Emad Abu Hajer, a resident of the Jabalia refugee camp in the Gaza City area, the pause Friday meant he could again dig through the rubble of his home, which was flattened in an Israeli attack last week.
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Featured VideoDr. Hagai Levine, who leads a medical team that will assist hostages, says medical teams will look to address any urgent medical needs first and then turn to emotional, psychological and other needs.
He found the bodies of a cousin and nephew, bringing the death toll in the attack to 19. With his sister and two other relatives still missing, he resumed his digging Saturday.
“We want to find them and bury them in dignity,” he said.
Amal Abu Awada, a 40-year-old widow who fled a Gaza City-area camp for Khan Younis with her three children earlier in November, ventured out Friday to a UN facility looking for food and water but said there was none available.
“We went back empty-handed,” she said. “But at least there are no bombs, and we can try again.”
Israel has vowed to resume its massive offensive once the truce ends. That has clouded hopes that the deal could eventually help wind down the conflict, which has fuelled a surge of violence in the occupied West Bank and stirred fears of a wider conflagration across the Middle East.
More aid sent into Gaza
Meanwhile, more relief supplies were rolling into Gaza on Saturday. Trucks were lined up at Rafah Crossing to deliver food, fuel, water and medical supplies. Under the agreement, 200 trucks a day will be permitted to cross.
Featured VideoVideo shows what appear to be Thai hostages and some Israeli hostages being escorted out of vans by masked and armed men, joined by Red Cross workers as they are transferred to other vans.
The United Nations said the pause is enabling it to scale up the delivery of food, water and medicine to the largest volume since the resumption of humanitarian aid convoys on Oct. 21. It has also been able to deliver 129,000 litres of fuel — just over 10 per cent of the daily pre-war volume — as well as cooking gas, a first time since the war began.
Aid also reached northern Gaza, the focus of Israel’s ground offensive. The Palestinian Red Crescent said 61 trucks carrying food, water and medical supplies headed to northern Gaza on Saturday, the largest aid convoy to reach the area since the start of the war.
The UN said it and the Palestinian Red Crescent were also able to evacuate 40 patients and family members from a hospital in Gaza City, where much of the fighting has taken place, to a hospital in Khan Younis.
The relief brought by the ceasefire has been tempered, however, for both sides — among Israelis by the fact that not all hostages will be freed and among Palestinians by the brevity of the pause. The short truce leaves Gaza mired in a humanitarian crisis and under the threat that fighting could soon resume.
Israel launched its assault on Gaza after Hamas fighters burst across the border fence into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people — including several Canadians.
Since then, Israel has bombarded the Hamas-ruled enclave, killing some 14,000 Gazans with around 40 per cent of them children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.