This Friday the ceasefire agreed between Israel and Hamas began and, also as part of the agreement, the release of the first hostages by Hamas, who had been kidnapped since last October 7, was carried out.
Specifically, the Islamist group released this afternoon, around 4:00 p.m. local time, 13 Israeli hostages and 12 Thai workers who are already at the Rafah border crossing, which connects the south of the Gaza Strip with Egypt. From there they will be taken in four helicopters to hospitals in Israel to be reunited with their families.
This is the first of the four handovers of captives by Hamas of the nearly 240 held by the Islamist group and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (about 30), since the terrorist attack on October 7. The truce could be extended to ten if Hamas hands over more kidnapped people.
At the same time, Israel has released 39 Palestinian prisoners – women and adolescents without blood crimes – who were imprisoned in Ofer prison, in the West Bank.
