Hamas frees third group of hostages

Another group of Israeli hostages were handed over by the Hamas  group on Sunday in the third such exchange since the beginning of a four-day truce.

“Based on information that was received from the Red Cross, 14 Israeli hostages and three foreign national hostages have been transferred to the Red Cross,” the IDF posted on X, formerly Twitter.

However, the Reuters news agency cited Hamas as saying 13 hostages were Israeli, three were Thai, and one was a Russian national. The reason for the discrepancy was not immediately clear.

Hamas held up the second round of exchanges on Saturday after accusing Israel of violating the terms of the truce by not allowing aid into Gaza. Israel denied the accusation.

However, mediators in Qatar later announced that the issue had been resolved, and Hamas released 17 hostages late Saturday night, including 13 Israelis and four Thai citizens. In return, Israel freed 39 Palestinian prisoners. On Friday, Hamas released the first group of 24 Israeli and foreign hostages.