Israel, Hamas release prisoners and hostages as part of truce agreement

Twelve Thai and 13 Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza have been released, Al Arabiya reported Friday, citing Egyptian authorities.

In addition, a total of 39 women and children detained in Israeli jails were released as part of a truce agreement between Israel and Hamas, Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesman said in a post on X on Friday.

Thirteen Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip have been handed over to officials from Egypt and the Red Cross, Israeli television channels reported on Friday.

The International Red Cross has received 24 civilian hostages that were held in the Gaza Strip, Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesperson said on Friday.

The International Red Cross confirmed on Friday that its teams had started carrying out a multi-day operation to facilitate the release and transfer of hostages held in Gaza and of Palestinian detainees.

“The deep pain that family members separated from their loved ones feel is indescribable. We are relieved that some will be reunited after long agony,” said Fabrizio Carboni, the International Committee of the Red Cross’s regional director for the Near and Middle East.

An Israeli security source said Friday that 13 Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip had been handed over into Israeli custody.

The source told AFP: “The 13 Israeli hostages are now with the Israeli security services” after they were released on the first day of a four-day truce in the Gaza Strip.

Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said 12 Thai hostages kidnapped by Palestinian militants during Hamas’s October 7 raids into Israel were released on Friday, hours after a truce in the Israel-Hamas war began.

“It has been confirmed by the security side and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that 12 Thai hostages are already released,” he posted on X.

“Embassy officials are on their way to pick them up in another hour. Their names and details should be known. Please stay tuned.”

A total of 25 Thai nationals were among the estimated 240 people taken hostage by gunmen during last month’s wave of cross-border raids into Israel.

A source close to Hamas confirmed some Thai hostages held in the Gaza Strip had been freed on Friday, in addition to hostages released under a ceasefire deal with Israel.

“Hamas made a gesture to also release some Thai foreigners,” the source close to the militant movement told AFP.

The Thai hostages were released in a separate agreement mediated by Qatar and Egypt with Hamas, an official briefed on the talks said, adding that the hostages were all men and were not covered by the truce deal with Israel that relates to women and children.

The separate negotiation track was opened when Thailand’s foreign minister visited Qatar on Oct. 31, which led to a specific agreement with Hamas to release the Thais, the official added.

Two sources close to Hamas told AFP that some hostages seized in the raids on southern Israel on October 7 were on Friday handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross for return to Israel.

“Half an hour ago, the prisoners were handed to the Red Cross who will take them to the Egyptians and the Israelis who are due to receive them,” one of the sources said. The second source confirmed the handover.

Egypt was preparing to receive a number of Israeli hostages that will be released by Palestinian militant group Hamas as part of a truce and hostage swap deal agreed with Israel under Qatari and Egyptian mediation, Egypt’s State Information Service (SIS) said in a statement earlier on Friday.

“Egypt’s mediation efforts have yielded the release of 12 Thai hostages and 13 Israelis, including women and children, held by Hamas,” the government media office had said.

Israel is set to release three times as many Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails -- women and teenage boys -- under the terms of the deal reach with Hamas.

Hamas broke through Gaza’s militarized border with Israel on October 7 to kill, according to Israeli officials, about 1,200 people and seize around 240 Israeli and foreign hostages.

Israel has vowed to “crush” Hamas in response and unleashed a withering military campaign that Gaza’s Hamas government says has killed nearly 15,000 people in the coastal territory.