Gaza ceasefire extension continues as another 12 hostages released by Hamas
Israel and Hamas continue to release more hostages as their fragile truce has been extended by two days, ITV News Senior International Correspondent John Irvine reports from Tel Aviv
The four-day ceasefire between Israel and Hamas has been extended by two days ahead of the deal's expiry on Tuesday.
Since Friday, Hamas has released 81 hostages, mostly Israeli nationals, while Israel has freed 180 Palestinian prisoners.
More than 15,000 Palestinians have died since the start of the war, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry. The figure includes 6,150 children and 4,000 women.
At least 1,200 people were killed in Israel during Hamas' attack on October 7.
A fifth round of hostages were handed over to the Red Cross on Tuesday, according to the Israel Defence Force (IDF).
The hostages released by Hamas included 10 Israelis and two foreign nationals. Meanwhile, a further 30 Palestinian prisoners have been freed by Israel as part of the temporary truce deal.
One of the Israelis freed from captivity was Ada Sagi, who had been taken hostage by Hamas from her home in Kibbutz Nir Oz during the October 7 attack by the militants.
The elderly mother of London-based psychotherapist Noam Sagi, had been due to celebrate her birthday with family in London just days after she was taken hostage.
Mr Sagi said: “It will be hard to believe it is true until we are able to embrace in person.
"Our first priority is my mum’s mental and physical health and we ask for time and space while we prioritise her wellbeing.
"Seeing my mum will be a moment of unparalleled relief and joy for us personally but comes against a backdrop of unparalleled grief and sorrow for our community."
It comes as part of a two-day extension to the ceasefire in Gaza, fueling hopes of a longer pause in fighting and the release of more hostages.
Most of the Israeli hostages who have been released during the exchange are in "stable medical condition," a Tel Aviv medical official said.
Three-year-old twins, Emma and Yuli Cunio, were among 11 hostages Hamas handed over to the Red Cross in Gaza on Monday night.
Little information has been released about the latest group of Palestinians to be freed.
Cindy McCain, the director of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), said on Sunday that Gaza is “on the brink of famine".
A US State Department spokesperson said in a statement on Monday that Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will return to the Middle East this week in the hopes of extending the truce even further.
Conditions there have remained dire for 2.3 million Palestinians, battered by weeks of Israeli bombardment and a ground offensive that have driven three-quarters of the population from their homes.
Countless of Palestinian families used the truce to return to their homes, only to find more devastation and lives lost.
In the last two weeks of heavy bombardment nobody has been able retrieve bodies that were decomposing under the sun.
But Israel says it remains committed to crushing Hamas’ military capabilities and ending its 16-year rule over Gaza after its October 7 attack into southern Israel.
That would likely mean expanding a ground offensive from devastated northern Gaza to the south.
In one of the first interviews by a freed hostages, 78-year-old Ruti Munder told Israeli broadcaster Channel 13 that conditions in captivity had deteriorated as the situation in Gaza worsened.
Ms Munder said she was initially fed well in captivity until conditions worsened and people became hungry.
She was kept in a “suffocating” room and slept on plastic chairs with a sheet for nearly 50 days.
Ms Munder was abducted on October 7 from her home in Nir Oz, a kibbutz in southern Israel. Her husband, Avraham, also 78, was taken hostage too and remains in Gaza. Her son was killed in the attack.
Released Israeli hostages share what conditions were like
Another Israeli hostage, 84-year-old Elma Avraham, had to be intubated and sedated upon her release because she was just "hours from death," her daughter, Tali Amano, told local media.
Ms Avraham had a body temperature of 28 degrees Celsius because she "didn’t get any of her lifesaving medication” while she was being held hostage, Ms Amano said.
Her mother suffered from several chronic conditions that required regular medications but was stable before she was kidnapped, she added.
Nine-year-old Emily Hand was among the younger Israeli hostages released by Hamas on Saturday.
Watch the moment nine-year-old Emily Hand was reunited with her father
Her father, Thomas Hand, told CNN that when he saw his daughter again, she appeared to have lost a lot of body weight and was very pale.
“The most shocking, disturbing part of meeting her was she was just whispering, you couldn’t hear her. I had to put my ear on her lips,” he said. “She’d been conditioned not to make any noise.”
Mr Hand said that his daughter only referred to Gaza as "the box".
“We’ll only know what she really went through as she opens up,” he added. “I want to know so much information … but you have to let them, when they are ready, come out with it.”
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