Fourteen Israel hostages and three foreign nationals have been transferred by Hamas to the International Committee of the Red Cross, Israeli military officials have said.
Earlier, Israel and Hamas exchanged lists of hostages and prisoners for the third time, raising hopes that the fragile, four-day ceasefire that started on Friday is holding.
“The truce is proceeding without roadblocks,” Diaa Rashwan, the head of Egypt’s state information service, said in a statement, adding that 120 aid trucks crossed from Egypt to Gaza on Sunday including two fuel trucks and two with gas for cooking.
Concerns were raised on Saturday when a second exchange was delayed for hours after Hamas accused Israel of violating the agreement, which has brought the first significant pause in seven weeks of war marked by the deadliest Israeli-Palestinian violence in decades and vast destruction and displacement across the Gaza Strip.
Hamas later released 13 Israelis and four Thais, while Israel freed 39 Palestinian prisoners.
Qatar, Egypt and the US – all key to brokering the deal – are pressing for the truce to be extended beyond Monday but it is not clear whether that will happen.
Israel had said the ceasefire could be extended if Hamas continued to release at least 10 hostages a day, but has also pledged to renew hostilities to “crush” Hamas. A Palestinian source had said up to 100 hostages could go free.
It is expected that the hostages released on Sunday night will included US citizen Abigail Edan, a four-year-old who lost her parents in the Hamas attacks of 7 October. If confirmed, she will be the first US citizen to be released.
More than 240 people were abducted and 1,200 killed when Hamas fighters attacked last month.
Under the agreement reached last week, Hamas is to free at least 50 of the mostly Israeli hostages.
In turn, Israel will release at least 150 Palestinian prisoners and allow up to 300 trucks of humanitarian aid into the coastal territory after weeks of a crippling blockade of fuel, food, medicine and other essentials that has caused an acute humanitarian crisis.
There is also supposed to be a total halt to Israeli military air activity over southern Gaza during the four-day pause, and any flights over northern Gaza should be restricted to six hours a day.
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, reiterated on Sunday a frequently made promise to bring back all the hostages.
“We have three goals in this war: to eliminate Hamas, to bring back all our hostages, and to ensure that Gaza does not pose a threat to the state of Israel again,” he said during a visit to Israeli military forces in Gaza. “We are convinced that we have the strength, power, will and determination to achieve all the goals of the war, and that’s what we will do.”
Observers and sources close to the negotiations describe them as “extremely complex”, with many “moving parts” that could derail the deal.
More than 13,300 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli offensive triggered by the Hamas attack, roughly two-thirds of them women and children, according to the health ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza.
On Sunday, Osama Hamdan, a Hamas spokesperson, accused Israel of reneging on parts of the deal, saying only 65 of 340 aid trucks that had entered Gaza since Friday had reached northern Gaza, or “less than half of what Israel agreed on”.
The al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, also said Israel had failed to respect terms for the release of Palestinian prisoners that factored in their time in detention.
The Palestinians so far released by Israel included at least two women who had been given long sentences after being convicted by Israeli courts of violent attacks. Many Palestinians view prisoners held by Israel, including those implicated in attacks, as heroes resisting occupation, and have celebrated their release.
Some Israelis have accused Netanyahu of not doing enough to bring back the hostages. Pressure from the hostages’ families has sharpened the dilemma facing the country’s leaders as they seek to reconcile the effort to eliminate Hamas’s military and political capabilities with that of returning all the captives. Many officials argue that Hamas only makes concessions when faced with overwhelming force, so their offensive should continue.
Israel has said the truce can be extended by an extra day for every additional 10 hostages freed, but has vowed to quickly resume its offensive once it ends.
The White House national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said on Sunday that the US was working “with all sides on the possibility that this deal gets extended to additional hostages beyond the initial 50”.
The war in Gaza has been accompanied by a increase in violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Palestinian health authorities said early on Sunday that five Palestinians were killed in an Israeli military raid in the northern West Bank city of Jenin that began the day before.
The Israeli army has conducted frequent military raids and arrested hundreds of Palestinians since the start of the war, mostly people it suspects of being Hamas members.
In Ramallah, Palestinian families anxiously waited for news, with many relatives of the many thousands of Palestinians detained by Israel hoping that the current list of 300 candidates for release under the deal will be extended.
The father of Asir Shehadeh, a 17-year-old from Qalandiya refugee camp, said she should be free. His daughter was arrested two weeks ago after she was shot in the leg after approaching an Israeli checkpoint waving a Hamas flag, Usama Shahadah said.
“We are not a political family. She doesn’t know Hamas from hummus. She’s just a headstrong teenager. We are hoping her name will be put on the list. Today, tomorrow, the next day, we just want to see her home,” Shahadah, a janitor, said.
The pause has given some respite to Gaza’s 2.3 million people, still reeling from relentless Israeli bombardment that has driven three-quarters of the population from their homes and levelled residential areas. Sirens warning of rocket fire from Gaza militants into Israel also went silent within 15 minutes of the ceasefire coming into effect on Friday.
In southern Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of people from the north have sought refuge, residents lined up outside gas stations for a second day, hoping to stock up on fuel. Palestinians who have tried to return to the north to see if their homes are still intact have been turned back by Israeli troops.
“Many are desperate to return to their homes, but they open fire on anyone approaching from the south,” said Rami Hazarein, who fled from Gaza City last month.
The Israeli military has ordered Palestinians not to return to the north or approach within a kilometre of the border fence. The Palestinian Red Crescent rescue service said Israeli forces opened fire on two farmers in central Gaza on Sunday, killing one and wounding the other. It did not provide further details. An Israeli military spokesperson said they were not aware of the incident.
The United Nations said the truce had made it possible to scale up the delivery of food, water, and medicine to the largest volume since the start of the war. It was also to reach areas in the north for the first time in a month.
Israeli military officials have told the Guardian they have killed thousands of militants, including dozens of mid-level commanders.
On Sunday, Hamas announced the death of Ahmed al-Ghandour, who was in charge of northern Gaza and a member of its top military council. Ghandour, believed to have been about 56 years old, is the highest-ranking militant known to have been killed in the fighting.
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