Hamas hands over another 13 Israeli hostages after delaying release for hours
Despite a last-minute dispute, 13 Israeli hostages and several foreign nationals have been released, along with 39 Palestinian prisoners, ITV News' David Harper reports
Hamas released 13 Israeli hostages and four Thai nationals on Saturday after an hours-long delay over a dispute about aid which threatened to derail the process.
Israel released 39 Palestinian prisoners in return as part of the deal.
A four-day ceasefire between Israel and Hamas began at 7am local time (5am GMT) on Friday.
Hamas released the first 24 hostages to Israel as part of the deal on Friday, which also saw 150 Palestinian prisoners set free.
More than 13,300 Palestinians have died since the start of the war, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.
At least 1,200 people were killed in Israel following Hamas' October 7 attack in the south of the country.
Hamas has handed over 13 Israeli hostages and four foreign nationals to the Red Cross after delaying their release for several hours on Saturday.
As of 9pm UK time, the hostages were travelling through Gaza on their way to the Rafah border crossing with Egypt before being taken to Israel.
In return under the four-day ceasefire currently in place, 39 Palestinian prisoners were released from Israeli jails.
Earlier on Saturday afternoon, the Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, accused Israel of not following the terms of the deal, calling on the country to send aid trucks to the northern Gaza strip.
Hamas also said not enough veteran prisoners were freed in the first swap on Friday. It delayed the release of Israeli captives for a number of hours, but by around 7pm UK time it appeared the situation had been resolved.
In a statement Islamist group said it had "responded to the valued Egyptian-Qatari efforts that were mobilised throughout the day to ensure the continuation of the temporary ceasefire agreement after they conveyed the occupation's commitment to all the conditions stipulated in the agreement".
Hamas initially said in a statement that it would release seven foreign nationals, but so far only four foreigners - all Thai nationals - have been confirmed to be released.
The names of all 13 Israeli hostages released on Saturday
Emily Hand: 9 years old, from Kibbutz Be'eri. She celebrated her birthday on Friday, November 17.
Sharon Avigdori: 52 years old, a drama therapist who works with people on the autism spectrum.
Noam Avigdori: 12 years old, about to celebrate her Bat Mitzvah.
Alma Or: 13 years old, Kidnapped from her home in Kibbutz Be'eri along with her older brother Noam and their father Dror. Their mother Yonat was murdered. Dror has not been released
Noam Or: 17 years old, kidnapped from his home in Kibbutz Be'eri along with his sister and father
Hila Rotem: 13 years old, managed to escape from her home in Kibbutz Be'eri from which her mother Raaya was kidnapped. She hid in the bushes where she was then found and kidnapped.
Maya Regev Jirbi, 21
Noga Weiss
Shiri Weiss
Shoshan Haran: 67 years old founder of non-profit organisation Fair Planet and has previously worked in Africa on agricultural projects to help residents. Eight other members of her family were kidnapped and three were murdered (her husband, sister, and brother-in-law).
Adi Shoham: Aged 38, a clinical psychologist who lives with her husband and their two children in Ma'ale Tzviya. All four of them were kidnapped together from Kibbutz Be’eri during a visit with five other members of the family.
Yahel Shoham: Aged three, was kidnapped along with her parents, and her older brother Nave from Kibbutz Be’eri during a visit with five other members of the family.
Naveh Shoham: Aged 8, was kidnapped along with his younger sister and their parents from Kibbutz Be’eri during a holiday visit with five other members of the family.
While aid trucks have been entering Gaza via the Egypt's Rafah border crossing, Israeli authorities have been searching them before allowing them past, with Israel Defence Forces spokesperson Lt. Col. Richard Hecht saying it would be a "slow process".
US president Joe Biden spoke with the emir of Qatar in an attempt to resolve the delay in releasing hostages, CNN reports.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office says it has received a new list of captives who are to be released under a four-day truce with Hamas, adding that it has notified their families.
It comes after 24 hostages - 13 Israelis, 10 Thai citizens and one Filipino - were transported from the enclave through the Rafah Crossing into Egypt from Gaza on Friday evening before returning to Israel where they were taken to hospital.
On Saturday Poland's foreign ministry said a Polish citizen was also among the freed hostages. It is not clear whether they held Israeli-Polish dual nationality.
Most of the Israeli hostages were said to be in good health, the hospital said. In exchange, Israel freed 39 Palestinian prisoners, including 24 women and 15 teenagers.
The Israelis released included three mums, four children, five women in 70s and one in her 80s. Several left behind husbands and fathers who continue to be held by Hamas.
Among them was Daniel Aloni, 44, and her five-year-old daughter Emilia Alony and 85-year-old holocaust survivor, Yaffa Adar.
Under the deal, Hamas will release at least 50 hostages, while Israel will free 150 Palestinian prisoners over the four days.
Israel has said the truce can be extended an extra day for every additional 10 hostages freed – something US President Joe Biden said he hoped would occur.
Mr Biden welcomed the first release of hostages, saying: "It's only a start, but so far it's gone well."
He promised the US "will not stop" until all hostages are home.
The Palestinian detainees released on Friday included 24 women, some of whom had been sentenced to years-long prison terms over attempted stabbings and other attacks on Israeli security forces.
Others had been accused of incitement on social media.
There were also 15 teenage boys, most of them charged with stone-throwing and "supporting terrorism". According to CNN, teenagers were aged up to 18 – the youngest of whom was 14.
A report by Save the Children published in July said that the offence of stone throwing "can carry a 20-year sentence in prison for Palestinian children”.
In 2018, a report by Amnesty International said that "many detainees' families, particularly those in Gaza, were not permitted entry to Israel to visit their relatives".
The human rights group added: "The authorities continued to substitute administrative detention for criminal prosecution, holding hundreds of Palestinians, including children, civil society leaders and NGO workers, without charge or trial under renewable orders, based on information withheld from detainees and their lawyers."
Palestinians rejoiced at the return of the detainees. Some of those released were draped in Palestinian flags, others in the green flags of Hamas.
On Saturday evening in Tel Aviv, several thousand people packed a central square called "the square of hostages" awaiting news of the second release.
“Don’t forget the others because it’s getting harder, harder and harder. It’s heartbreaking,” said Neri Gershon, who lives in the city.
The pause in fighting will also allow increased aid to enter Gaza. Hamas has said that 200 aid trucks a day will enter Gaza.
During the ceasefire, Israel has agreed to allow the delivery of 130,000 litres of fuel a day - amounting to roughly double what it has previously permitted.
Palestinians say a longer ceasefire is needed to recover from the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, but the halt in fighting has brought the uprooted population a moment to salvage any belongings from homes destroyed by Israeli rockets, and try to find increasingly scarce food, water and other basic supplies.
Since the war began, Israel barred all imports into Gaza, except for a trickle of supplies from Egypt. Its ban on fuel, which it said could be diverted to Hamas, caused a territory-wide blackout.
Hospitals, water systems, bakeries and shelters have struggled to keep generators running. Amid food shortages, UN officials had warned in recent weeks of potential starvation.
WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus said: "We welcome the start of the humanitarian pause in #Gaza and the movement of humanitarian aid, including for health.
"It's a step in the right direction, but much more is needed. We continue to call for sustained ceasefire to end further civilian suffering."
Prime minister Netanyahu has said he will press ahead with the war after the ceasefire expires.
More than 13,300 Palestinians - many of them women and children - have currently been killed in the war, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.
The ministry had stopped keeping a death toll after it claimed to have lost the ability to do so because of the health system's collapse in northern Gaza.
At least 1,200 people died in southern Israel when Hamas launched its surprise attack there on October 7.
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