Breaking: Hamas releases another set of Israeli, other hostages

Palestinian group Hamas on Sunday released 17 hostages, including 14 Israelis, the Israel Defence Force (IDF) said.

This is the third batch of hostages released by Hamas under the ongoing truce deal.

The hostages, who had been held in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023 have been transferred to the humanitarian organisation Red Cross.

On Saturday, after a brief delay, Hamas released 13 Israeli hostages and four Thai hostages. They arrived in Israel on Saturday night.

READ ALSO: Hamas ready to free 70 hostages in return for 5-day cease-fire

On the first day of the hostage release, 24 hostages, including 13 Israelis, 10 people from Thailand, and a Filipino citizen, were released by Hamas.

With Sunday’s release on the third day of the Qatar-mediated truce deal between Israel and Hamas, the total number of hostages released now stands at 58.

As part of the truce deal, Israel released 78 Palestinian security prisoners, with 39 released on both Sunday and Friday.

The four-day truce, the first halt since the war began 50 days ago, started on Friday.

Meanwhile, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday met security forces inside the Gaza Strip and indicated that the campaign was far from over.

He told the soldiers, “Nothing will stop us, and we are convinced that we have the strength, the power, the will and the determination to achieve all the goals of the war, and that is what we will do”.