Twelve hostages, including 10 Israelis and two Thai nationals, were released from Gaza and delivered into Israeli territory, the Israeli military said on Tuesday, on the fifth day of the cease-fire between Hamas and Israel.
The hostages released on Tuesday included three members of one family, according to a list released by the Israeli prime minister’s office: Gabriela Leimberg, 59, Mia Leimberg, 17, and Clara Marman, 63. The other hostages were Israeli women ranging in age from 36 to 84-years-old, the list showed.
Before the latest transfer, Hamas had released 50 Israeli hostages and Israel had freed 150 Palestinian prisoners. Nineteen other hostages in Gaza — 17 Thais, one Filipino and one Russian-Israeli dual citizen — had been released since Friday through separate negotiations. A vast majority of hostages released since the cease-fire began are women and children.
Israel has generally referred to dual nationals as Israelis in discussing the hostages. A number of agricultural workers were seized along with Israeli citizens and dual nationals during Hamas-led terrorist attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, and some of whom have been freed through talks held separately from those between Israel and Hamas.
The cease-fire has held since Friday, despite Israel and Hamas accusing one another of violating the cease-fire terms, and with each day a group of hostages has been released from captivity in Gaza, paired with the release of larger groups of Palestinians from Israeli imprisonment or detention.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Israeli military said that three explosive devices were detonated near its troops in two locations in Northern Gaza and militants opened fire at Israeli troops at one of those locations. Hamas said they had engaged in a “field clash” provoked by Israel.
And over the weekend, Israeli officials expressed concern to Qatari mediators that some children were being released without their mothers who were also being held captive, going against the agreement according to an official briefed on the talks. The official said that Hamas claimed that in those cases, mothers and children were being held by different groups.
Still, neither Hamas nor Israel has said it would pull out of the agreement.
