Israeli military confirms release of six Israeli hostages from captivity in Gaza Strip

The Israeli military says six Israeli hostages have been released from captivity in the Gaza Strip.

The army said the Red Cross transferred the hostages to Egypt late Thursday. They arrived hours after two additional hostages were turned over to Israel separately.

From Egypt, the newly-freed freed hostages were to be transferred to Israel to be reunited with their families after nearly eight weeks in captivity.

It marked the seventh straight night of hostage releases under a cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas. Israel was to free 30 Palestinian prisoners later in the evening under the deal.

The cease-fire is set to expire early Friday, though international mediators are working to extend it.

Roughly 140 hostages are believed to remain in Hamas captivity.

INCREASINGLY TENSE HOSTAGE TALKS

Netanyahu is under intense pressure from families of the hostages to bring them home. But his far-right governing partners are also pushing him to continue the war until Hamas is destroyed, and could abandon his coalition if he is seen as making too many concessions.

Israel says it will maintain the truce until Hamas stops releasing captives, at which point it will resume military operations aimed at eliminating the group, even as the Biden administration has urged it to operate with far greater precision if it does so.

The initial truce, which began Friday and has now been extended twice, called for the release of women and children. Israeli officials say Gaza militants still hold around 30 women and children, who would all be released within a few days at the current rate.

The two women released so far on Thursday — who are 21 and 40 years old — have returned to Israel. Hamas said it handed them over to the Red Cross in Gaza City, suggesting they may have been held in northern Gaza, where Israeli troops have controlled much of the area for weeks and have been searching for hostages.

It’s not clear how many of the remaining women hostages might be soldiers. For soldiers and the civilian men still in captivity, Hamas is expected to demand the release of high-profile Palestinians convicted of deadly attacks, something Israel has strongly resisted in the past.

Israel says around 125 men are still held hostage, including several dozen soldiers.

An Israeli official involved in hostage negotiations said talks on a further extension for the release of civilian men and soldiers were still preliminary, and that a deal would not be considered until all the women and children are out. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because talks were ongoing.

The 210 Palestinians released, including at least seven Israeli Palestinians, have been women and teenagers. The teens were largely accused of throwing stones and firebombs during confrontations with Israeli forces. A number of the women were detained for pro-Palestinian social media posts that Israeli authorities said constituted incitement of violence. Several were convicted by military courts of attempting to attack soldiers, some of them after being found carrying scissors or knives near security positions.

With Thursday’s releases, a total of 75 Israelis, including dual nationals, have been freed during the truce, most of whom appear physically well but shaken. Another 24 hostages — 23 Thais and one Filipino — have also been released, including several men.

Before the cease-fire, Hamas released four hostages, and the Israeli army rescued one. Two others were found dead in Gaza. On Thursday, the military confirmed the death of Ofir Tzarfati, who was believed to be among the hostages, without providing any further details. The 27-year-old attended a music festival where at least 360 people were killed and several others were kidnapped on Oct. 7.

Hamas and other Palestinian militants killed over 1,200 people — mostly civilians — in their wide-ranging attack across southern Israel that day and took around 240 people captive. Authorities have only ever provided approximate figures.

Israel’s bombardment and ground invasion in Gaza have killed more than 13,300 Palestinians, roughly two-thirds of them women and minors, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.

The toll is likely much higher, as officials have only sporadically updated the count since Nov. 11. The ministry says thousands more people are feared dead under the rubble.

Israel says 77 of its soldiers have been killed in the ground offensive. It claims to have killed thousands of militants, without providing evidence.

IN GAZA, AN ANXIOUS RESPITE

Palestinians in Gaza have been calling for a permanent end to the war, saying the temporary truces don’t resolve the humanitarian catastrophe across the territory. Over 1.8 million people, around 80% of the territory’s population, have fled their homes, with more than 1 million sheltering in U.N. schools

In the central city of Deir al-Balah, life’s daily struggle now consists of hunting down basic commodities such as flour and cooking gas that remain scarce despite increased aid entering during the truce.

“People want the war to stop … to see what happened in our homes and to our families,” said Samir Yaghi, who fled from Gaza City. He said he’s been searching for flour but can’t find any.