Hamas on Tuesday released a fifth batch of 12 hostages including 10 Israeli women and 2 Thai citizens amid efforts by the negotiators to extend the truce. All the 12 hostages released were between the age groups 17 to 84 and included a mother-daughter pair, reported Reuters.
All the hostages were given an initial medical check after which they were moved to Israeli hospitals where they were to meet their families.
Shortly later, 30 Palestinians were released by Israel from Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank and a Jerusalem detention centre.
Among the released Palestinians, half were women and the remaining were teenage males, said the Palestinian Prisoner's Club, a semi-official organisation, as per the Reuters report.
So far, 81 hostages have been released by Hamas and 180 Palestinians have been freed from Israeli prisons since the beginning of the truce from Friday. But the efforts are now being focused on negotiating another extension.
As per the report, Israel has said that the truce could be further extended if Hamas continues to free at least 10 Israeli hostages every day. But with fewer women and children remaining in captivity, the negotiations may require to free at least some Israeli men for the first time.
CIA director William Burns and Israel’s intelligence agency, Mossad chief David Barnea were in Qatar, a key mediator with Hamas, to discuss extension of ceasefire and releasing more hostages, reported Associated Press quoting a diplomat as saying on condition of anonymity.
Israel has vowed that it will resume fighting and end the 16-year rule of Hamas in Gaza after ensuring that there are no more hostages left to be freed by the Palestinian militant group.
The Biden administration has told Israel to avoid “significant further displacement” of and mass casualties among Palestinian civilians if it resumes its offensive, and that it must operate with more precision in southern Gaza than it has in the north, the AP report added quoting a US official.