Israel-Hamas war: Hamas releases third batch of 17 hostages, including 14 Israelis and 3 foreign nationals

The Israeli Defense Forces said that Hamas freed a third batch of 14 Israeli hostages and three foreign civilian hostages and handed them over to the International Committee of the Red Cross. The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas appeared to be back on track on Sunday after the release of the second batch of Palestinian prisoners and hostages held by Hamas terrorists from Israeli jails.

Nine children, four women and a Russian-Israeli hostage were freed by Gaza ruler Hamas on Sunday. This information has been given in the account given to AFP by his relatives, Israeli media and the Hostage Family Forum. After the release, the total number of freed hostages has increased from approximately 240 to 63. Let us tell you that after the sudden attacks by Hamas on Israel on October 7, hundreds of people were taken hostage to Gaza.

Thirteen Israeli hostages were released on Friday and the same number of hostages were released on Saturday. In return, Israel released 39 Palestinian prisoners on Friday and released another 39 the next day.

Hamas said those released on Sunday were not part of the Russian-Israeli ceasefire agreement. It released them "in response to efforts by Russian President Vladimir Putin". The Palestinian Hamas group also released three Thai citizens on Sunday. Fourteen Thais and one Filipino had already been released by Hamas outside this agreement.