Hamas hands over 17 more hostages including three foreign nationals as third day of fragile truce deal holds, IDF says
HAMAS has handed over 17 further hostages on the 50th day of fighting between the terror group and Israel.
The IDF said Hamas released 14 Israeli civilians and three foreigners to the Red Cross on the third day of their fragile truce.
The terrified civilians were apparently handed over to the Red Cross in Gaza, AFP reports.
Hamas has also confirmed the release of more hostages, but said they let 13 Israeli civilians go along with three Thai nationals and one Russian-Israeli citizen.
The dual citizenship may explain the difference in figures.
It comes on day three of the temporary ceasefire between Hamas and Israel – where the parties had agreed to exchange Israeli civilian hostages for Palestinians kept in Israeli prisons.
The terror group has released 26 Israeli hostages so far, as well as others of different nationalities, in exchange for dozens of Palestinian prisoners.
But the truce hit shaky ground on Saturday when Hamas delayed the release of its hostages over alleged violations of the agreement by Israel.
Israeli PM Netanyahu today visited northern Gaza for the first time since the start of the war.
He said: “We are making every effort to return our hostages, and eventually we will return them all.”
“We have three goals for this war: eliminating Hamas, returning all our hostages, and ensuring that Gaza does not become a threat to the State of Israel again.
“We will continue until the end, until victory. Nothing will stop us.”
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