The first Israeli women and children hostages due to be released under the first ceasefire deal of the war with Hamas were being freed on Friday, Israeli TV channels reported, and Thailand said 12 Thai workers were also released.
Israeli media reported that the Israeli hostages had been handed to the Red Cross and to an Egyptian security team. Reuters could not immediately confirm this.
Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said in a social media post that the 12 Thai workers had been released from captivity in Gaza. A source briefed on the negotiations said the release of the Thais, who were all men, was unrelated to the truce negotiations and followed a separate track of talks with Hamas mediated by Egypt and Qatar.
Under the terms of the four-day Israel-Hamas truce, 13 women and children out of around 240 hostages captured by Hamas fighters on a killing spree in southern Israel…
