More hostages to be freed by Hamas as hopes grow for extended truce
Hamas has said it wants to extend the four-day pause in fighting with Israel, as the final set of hostages and Palestinian prisoners are due to be released as part of a truce deal that ends on Monday night.
Israel has previously offered to agree to an extra day for each additional 10 hostages freed, and to release three times the number of Palestinian prisoners each time.
On Sunday, Hamas freed 17 people, including a four-year-old Israeli-American girl, bringing the total number the militant group has released since Friday to 58. Eleven more hostages are set to be released Monday, Associated Press reported.
As part of the deal, Israel released 39 teenage Palestinian prisoners on Sunday, taking the total number of Palestinians freed since the truce began to 117.
The truce came into effect on Friday after several weeks of negotiations mediated by the US, Qatar and Egypt.
Israel and Hamas have raised concerns over the lists of hostages and Palestinian prisoners set to be released on Monday, an official briefed on the matter told Reuters.
The official added that Qatari mediators are working to resolve issues and avoid delays.
“There is a slight issue with today’s lists. The Qataris are working with both sides to resolve it and avoid delays,” the official said.
In the previous three days of the truce Israel and Hamas have submitted the names of people they would release at least 12 hours ahead of the swap.
Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani said more than 40 other women and children held captive in Gaza were not believed to be held by Hamas, adding that the truce could be extended if Hamas was able to use the pause to locate those hostages.
“If they get additional women and children, there will be an extension,” he told the Financial Times.
“We don’t yet have any clear information how many they can find because . . . one of the purposes [of the pause] is they [Hamas] will have time to search for the rest of the missing people.”
About 240 people were captured by Hamas in its cross-border attack on southern Israel on 7 October, which killed more than 1,200 people.
US President Joe Biden said he hoped the truce would go on as long as hostages were being released. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that he spoke to Mr Biden about the hostage release, adding he would welcome extending the truce if more hostages could be freed.
But Israel said it remains committed to crushing Hamas’s military capabilities, with its ground offensive in Gaza likely to expand to the south of the enclave where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have sought shelter.
Mr Netanyahu said that once the truce ends “we will return with full force to achieve our goals: The elimination of Hamas, ensuring that Gaza does not return to what it was; and of course the release of all our hostages”.
Families of hostages have led mass marches and demonstrations accusing Mr Netanyahu of not doing enough to bring them home, and the mounting pressure could push him to extend the truce and make additional concessions to Hamas.
The freed hostages have mostly stayed out of the public eye, but details of their captivity have began to emerge.
Merav Raviv, whose three relatives were released on Friday, said they had been fed irregularly and lost weight. One reported eating mainly bread and rice, sleeping on a makeshift bed of chairs pushed together and waiting for hours to use the bathroom.
The Palestinian prisoners released on Sunday were mostly teenagers accused of throwing stones during confrontations with Israeli forces.
Omar Abdullah Al Hajj, 17, one of the detainees released, said he had been kept in the dark about what was happening in the outside world.
“I can’t believe I’m free now but my joy is incomplete because we still have our brothers who remain in prison, and then there is all the news about Gaza that I am having to learn about now,” he told Reuters.
More than 14,000 Palestinians, including many women and children, have been killed since the current war began, according to the Hamas-run Gaza healthy ministry.
The pause in fighting has given some respite to Gaza’s 2.3 million people after weeks of relentless Israeli bombardment that has driven three-quarters of the population from their homes and levelled entire neighbourhoods.
Additional reporting by agencies
