Hamas releases six more hostages in Gaza under first phase of ceasefire
The extremist Palestinian organisation Hamas has on Saturday afternoon released the last of a group of six hostages in Gaza City. Hisham al-Sayed was brought from the Gaza Strip to Israel by Israeli forces after nearly a decade of captivity. Earlier in the day, five other hostages were already freed.
Four of the six released hostages were kidnapped by Hamas after its invasion of Israel on 7 October 2023. The six are expected to be the last living hostages to be freed in the first phase of the ceasefire agreement.
The release of the hostages is part of the ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel that has been in force since 19 January. This time, around 600 Palestinian prisoners would be released in exchange. It is now the seventh round of exchanges of Israeli hostages against Palestinian prisoners.
According to Hamas, four more bodies of deceased hostages are to be handed over before the end of the first phase of the agreement in early March. The agreement provided that in a first phase of six weeks, a total of 33 hostages, including eight dead, were to be freed in exchange for 1,904 Palestinian prisoners.
In a second phase, the Palestinian organisation says it is prepared to release “immediately” the remaining Israeli hostages. Negotiations on that new phase have been delayed due to the strained relations between the two camps.
Newly-released Israeli hostage arriving in Israel in a military helicopter © BELGA PHOTO AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP
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