The announcement was posted to the Al-Qassem Brigades’ Telegram Channel two hours after the planned release of around 13 Israelis held hostage in Gaza at 4 p.m. local time. That was to have been followed by the release of 42 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons. The pause held; there were no reports of fighting on either side.
The releases were expected to follow a pattern similar to that on Friday, when hostages were taken from Gaza to Egypt to be flown to Israel and Palestinians were released from Israeli prisons and bused into the West Bank. The International Committee of the Red Cross is facilitating releases on both sides.
Earlier Saturday, the Israeli Prime Minister’s office said it was studying a list provided by Hamas of the hostages to be freed on Saturday. The Israel Prison Service said it was preparing 42 Palestinians for release.
On Friday, Hamas freed 13 Israeli hostages and Israel released at least 33 imprisoned Palestinian women and children, in rough accordance with the ratio of three Palestinian prisoners for every Israeli hostage to which the sides agreed in negotiations mediated by Qatar and Egypt.
Separately Friday, Hamas released 10 Thai and one Filipino national, foreign workers who were kidnapped along with Israelis when militants streamed out of Gaza on Oct. 7 to attack Israeli towns. Iran claimed it had negotiated their release. No Americans were freed.
Videos and photographs released to Israeli media by the Schneider Children’s Medical Center east of Tel Aviv, where some hostages were taken, showed joyful reunions with families on Saturday.
One video shows 9-year-old Ohad Munder, freed with his mother and grandmother, spotting his father and running into his arms. The boy’s stepfather remains in Gaza.
A photograph shows 5-year old Emilia Aloni, freed with her mother, hugging her grandmother.
Videos posted on social media showed similarly joyful scenes in the West Bank, where Palestinian women and children freed by Israel were reunited with their families.
In all, Hamas was expected to release 50 hostages in exchange for 150 Palestinian prisoners during the four-day pause. Most of the captives to be released on both sides are women or children.
The pause, which started at 7 a.m. Friday, brought a momentary if tense calm to a conflict that has devastated both sides. Hamas and other fighters killed at least 1,200 people in 22 Israeli communities in their surprise attack on Oct. 7 and took another 240 hostage. Israel responded with a military campaign that has caused the deaths of more than 13,300 people in Gaza and displaced an estimated 1.7 million — 80 percent of the population.
The break also provided an opportunity to increase the volume of much-needed fuel and other humanitarian aid delivered to Gaza’s 2.2 million civilians, who have been under a near-total siege since Oct. 7. The Palestinian Red Crescent said it received 196 truckloads of aid on Friday.
World leaders have expressed hope that the pause may be extended. “The chances are real,” President Biden said Friday in Nantucket, Mass, where he spent Thanksgiving. “So far it’s gone well.”
Egypt is engaged in intensive talks with Palestinians and Israelis to release more than the 50 hostages and 150 prisoners currently planned, government spokesman Diaa Rashwan said. It’s unclear whether Egypt is also pressing for an extension of the pause.
The Israel Defense Forces was using the pause to prepare for “the next phases of the war,” Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Friday. Commanders have stressed that the conflict is not over; the goal of their campaign is to eradicate Hamas from Gaza.
For the families of the estimated 190 hostages not covered by the deal, the releases have been bittersweet. Noam Peri’s 79-year-old father isn’t coming home, but she received good news.
“I can tell you this morning that we have a sign of life from my father,” Peri said. “We know he’s alive from other people from the community who were released yesterday.”
But his health is frail and she worries he won’t be able to survive much longer in captivity. The news that he is alive “brings a lot of hope,” she said, but more hostages must be freed urgently. “We don’t know how much time they’re going to be able to hold on there.”
Conditions for people in Gaza remain miserable. Hundreds of thousands of people living in the northern part of the enclave have crowded into the south to shelter in tents, abandoned buildings and, in some cases, the open air.
“We still suffer,” said Hazem Emad Susi, 49, who fled his home in Gaza City for the south.
“There are no bombardments, but we have no electricity, struggle to get water, food, medicine and communicate with our beloved family and friends. … Nobody knows what will come after this little window of quietness.”
The first 13 Israeli hostages released were reported on Saturday to be medically stable after 49 days in captivity by the two hospitals that admitted them. They included four children, their three mothers, and a grandmother who were transferred to Schneider Children’s Medical Center in Petah Tikva.
Five elderly women, who were released without other members of their family, were taken to Wolfson Medical Center south of Tel Aviv, where they received similar treatment, the hospital said.
