Hamas on Saturday released a second group of 13 hostages in exchange for Palestinians. The exchange had been delayed for hours when Hamas accused Israel of breaching its side of the agreement, struck as part of a four-day ceasefire that is already past its mid-point.
But after the intervention of Qatari and Egyptian mediators and reassurances from Israel, Hamas agreed to proceed, releasing 13 Israelis and four Thai hostages in a late-night operation.
Israel in turn freed 39 Palestinians, officials said.
|Red Cross minibusses could be seen ferrying the hostages late at night through Gaza's Rafah border crossing with Egypt ahead of their transfer to Israel, AFP photo and video images showed.
Saturday's exchange followed an initial swap on Friday when Hamas released 13 Israelis, all of them women and children. Ten Thais and one Filipino were also freed by Hamas.
Israel in turn released 39 Palestinian women and children under an agreement that mandates exchanges at a ratio of three to one.
The pause in fighting in Gaza opened the way for more aid to Palestinians struggling to survive with shortages of water and other essentials.
A total of 61 trucks delivered food, water, and humanitarian aid via a "humanitarian passageway" to northern Gaza on Saturday, the United Nations office for humanitarian affairs said. Another 187 trucks of vital supplies had been sent separately to aid organizations operating in the Gaza Strip, it said.
The UN humanitarian agency OCHA said that in "several reported incidents" on Friday, "Israeli forces opened fire and threw teargas canisters at people heading northwards; at least one person was reportedly killed, and dozens injured."
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