Militants in the Gaza Strip released eight hostages on Thursday, handing them over to the Red Cross amid chaotic crowds as part of a swap that is set to see 110 Palestinians released from Israeli prisons later in the day.
Agam Berger, a 20-year-old soldier, was handed over first at a site in the heavily destroyed urban refugee camp of Jabaliya in northern Gaza, followed hours later by two more Israelis and five Thai farm workers who were handed over amid a chaotic crowd in the city of Khan Younis.
It's the third such exchange since a ceasefire took hold in the Gaza Strip earlier this month.
The tenuous ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is aimed at ending the war in Gaza and securing the release of dozens of hostages held by the militant group, as well as hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned or detained by Israel.
Under the ceasefire, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have jubilantly returned to northern Gaza over the past three days. However, their homecoming has been bittersweet as nearly everyone has friends or relatives who died, and many northern neighborhoods have been transformed into an apocalyptic landscape of devastation by more than 15 months of war.
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Here's the latest:
Netanyahu puts Palestinian prisoners’ release on hold
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has put the release of Palestinian prisoners on hold until the “safe release” of hostages is assured after a chaotic handover in Gaza.
Netanyahu demanded that mediators intervene after some hostages released Thursday were led through a rowdy crowd of thousands by masked militants.
Israel was supposed to release 110 Palestinian prisoners later Thursday, including around 30 serving life sentences for deadly attacks against Israelis.
Agam Berger reunites with family at military base
TEL AVIV, Israel — “We’re here and we’re never leaving you,” Agam Berger’s mother, Merav, told her daughter in the moments of their initial reunion on Israeli soil after Agam’s release on Thursday from Hamas captivity.
Berger, 20, was among five young female soldiers abducted when militants overran the Nahal Oz military base in the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, killing over 60 soldiers there. The other four were released Saturday.
The family was reunited at a specially prepared reception area in a military base near the Gaza border. A pale looking Berger wiped away tears as she sat on her mother’s lap and held her father’s hand, as seen in footage released by the Israeli army.
From the military base, Berger was flown to a hospital in central Israel, where she will meet her fellow released soldiers.
Netanyahu condemns chaos during the release of hostages
TEL AVIV, Israel — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the chaotic scenes at the site of a second hostage release in Gaza on Thursday.
Seven hostages were handed over to the Red Cross in Khan Younis and were then transferred to Israeli forces, the Israeli military said. Their release was delayed after armed militants struggled to contain the large Palestinian crowds that gathered around the Red Cross cars. The hostages were eventually led through the crowd surrounded by a ring of gunmen.
“I view with utmost severity the shocking scenes during the release of our hostages,” Netanyahu said in a statement released by his office shortly after the handover was completed. He said he “demands that the mediators make certain that such terrible scenes do not recur and guarantee the safety of our hostages.”
Israeli Red Cross says it has received 7 more hostages
JERUSALEM — The Israeli army said the Red Cross has reported receiving seven more hostages, including two Israelis and five Thais, hours after an Israeli soldier was handed over at another location.
Israel protests chaotic scenes surrounded hostage release
JERUSALEM — Israeli officials have filed an angry complaint to international mediators over chaotic scenes surrounding the release of hostages.
An Israeli official confirmed the protest, speaking on condition of anonymity because the release was still taking place.
Militants lead second hostage through crowd ahead of release
Militants led Israeli hostage Arbel Yehoud through a chaotic crowd in Gaza ahead of her release, hours after Hamas handed a captive Israeli soldier over to the Red Cross in the Gaza Strip. Yehoud was at the center of the dispute about the sequence of releases that briefly rocked the ceasefire over the weekend. Israel says she was supposed to have been freed Saturday and delayed the opening of crossings to northern Gaza when she was not.
Israelis watch anxiously as friend nears departure from Gaza
CARMEI GAT, Israel — A group of friends of Arbel Yehoud, a hostage set to be released Thursday, watched in tears and worried silence as the Israeli hostage appeared to be freed, surrounded by a large crowd of Palestinians.
The friends sat in anxious silence at a private home in southern Israel as they watched a TV showing the large crowd of Palestinians gathered at the release point in Gaza. Some cried, others had their hands over their eyes or mouths.
When a news anchor said the situation appeared dangerous, one yelled at her to “shut up.”
People began crying when Yehoud was seen walking through the crowd, escorted by gunmen, followed by reports that she had been turned over to the Red Cross.
Most of the 20 or so people were survivors of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack, including three former hostages released in a November 2023 ceasefire.
The Associated Press was granted access to the event.
Thai ambassador says she's ‘holding her breath’
BEER YAAKOV, Israel — Thailand’s ambassador to Israel said she was “holding her breath” along with the entire country of Israel for the release of five Thai agricultural workers who were kidnapped on Oct. 7.
“We have nothing to do with this conflict, they just happened to be there, and they are working tirelessly on the farms and kibbutzes,” said Ambassador Pannabha Chandraramya as she watched footage from Gaza at the Israeli hospital where the Thai workers will be brought upon their return to Israel.
She added that despite the war, Thai agricultural workers are continuing to come to Israel. Prior to the attack, less than 30,000 Thai workers were in Israel, mostly in the agricultural sector, and that number has grown to 38,000 today.
Chandraramya said the Thai government had notified the families of all six surviving Thai hostages, because they are not sure which five will be released. The bodies of another two Thai hostages who were killed on Oct. 7, 2023 are also being held in Gaza.
The Shamir Medical Center, outside of Tel Aviv, has a number of Thai-speaking social workers and psychologists to assist the hostages being released.
Emir of Qatar meets with Syria's new interim leader
DAMASCUS — The emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, visited Syria on Thursday and met with newly installed interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa. He was the first head of state to visit Syria since the fall of former President Bashar Assad in a lighting rebel offensive last month.
Qatari Minister of State Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Al Khulaifi told journalists that the wealthy Gulf country “will continue to provide the required support at all economic and service levels, as well as in terms of infrastructure and electricity” to Syria.
Qatar had cut off relations with Damascus and backed rebel groups seeking to overthrow Assad in Syria’s nearly 14-year civil war.
On Wednesday, the Syrian factions that toppled Assad named al-Sharaa, an Islamist former rebel leader who headed the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham militant group, as the country‘s interim president. Qatar was among the first countries to welcome al-Sharaa’s appointment.
Israel says it intercepted Hezbollah surveillance drone
JERUSALEM — The Israeli military says it has intercepted a surveillance drone launched toward Israeli airspace by the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon.
Israel and Hezbollah reached a ceasefire in late November that ended some 14 months of fighting. Under the deal, both sides were to withdraw forces from southern Lebanon within 60 days.
The deadline passed this week with Israeli troops still in Lebanon. But the U.S. said the sides had agreed to extend the ceasefire through Feb. 18 while Israel continues its withdrawal.
Israel and Hezbollah have repeatedly accused each other of violating the deal.
Red Cross arrives at site of second hostage handover
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — Red Cross vehicles arrived at a location in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis where hostages are set to be released.
The second handover site is in front of the destroyed home of slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. Hundreds of militants from Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad group arrived earlier with a convoy in a show of force, and thousands of people gathered to watch, some from the tilted rooftops of bombed-out buildings.
Israeli soldier Agam Berger released in Gaza Strip
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Hamas handed captive Israeli soldier Agam Berger over to the Red Cross at a ceremony in the heavily destroyed urban refugee camp of Jabaliya in northern Gaza.
Berger, 20, was abducted alongside four other female soldiers, who were freed on Saturday.
At a gathering in Tel Aviv, people cheered, clapped and whistled as they saw images of Berger being released on a TV screen, next to a large clock that’s counted the days the hostages have been in captivity.
Some held signs saying “Agam we’re waiting for you at home.”
A short time later, Israel confirmed that Berger was with its military.
Red Cross arrives at site of hostage release
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Red Cross vehicles arrived at the northern refugee camp of Jabaliya, where hundreds of masked militants and onlookers had gathered ahead of a planned release of hostages held in Gaza.
Hamas set up two locations for the release, one in Jabaliya and the other in the southern city of Khan Younis in front of the destroyed home of slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.
Video shows hostages set to be released
JERUSALEM — The Islamic Jihad militant group has released a brief video of two hostages set to be released Thursday as part of the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
The video, without sound, shows Arbel Yehoud, 29, and Gadi Moses, 80, smiling and embracing one another. They were among scores of people abducted in Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack that triggered the war.
Islamic Jihad is a smaller and more extreme militant group allied with Hamas. It took part in the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack.
Mother of Thai hostage hears he's about to be freed
BANGKOK — Khammee Lamnao, the mother of Thai hostage Surasak Lamnau, said the Thai embassy in Israel had called her Wednesday to let her know her son was one of the five who were to be released.
“I cannot wait to see my son,” the 53-year-old said. “I’ve been waiting for him.”
Surasak had been working in the agricultural sector in Israel for 15 months when he was taken hostage during the October 2023 attack.
Thirty-one Thai nationals are believed to have been taken hostage when Hamas attacked Israel in October, 2023. Of those, 23 have been released, and two of the remaining hostages have been confirmed dead.
Five surviving hostages are due to be released, and it is not clear at the moment what the status of the sixth person is.
There were about 30,000 Thai workers — mostly laborers in the agricultural sector — in Israel prior to the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, when militants stormed through a border fence and killed hundreds of Israelis and foreign nationals, including 41 Thai workers.
At least 7,000 Thai workers are known to have returned home on government evacuation flights, but many others decided to stay for the opportunity to earn wages far higher than at home.
Who's set to be released today?
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — The Israelis set to be released are Agam Berger, 20, a female soldier; Arbel Yehoud, a 29-year-old civilian woman; and Gadi Moses, an 80-year-old man. The names of the Thai hostages who were set to be freed were not released.
Yehoud was at the center of the dispute about the sequence of releases that briefly rocked the ceasefire over the weekend. Israel says she was supposed to have been freed Saturday and delayed the opening of crossings to northern Gaza when she was not. Berger was abducted alongside four other female soldiers, who were freed on Saturday.
Of the 110 people set to be released from prisons in Israel, 30 are serving life sentences after being convicted of deadly attacks against Israelis. Zakaria Zubeidi, a prominent former militant leader and theater director who took part in a dramatic jailbreak in 2021 before being rearrested days later, is also among those set to be released.
Ceasefire holds for now but next phase will be harder
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Today's exchange is part of a deal that paused fighting in Gaza on Jan. 19. Israeli forces have pulled back from most of Gaza, allowing hundreds of thousands of people to return to what remains of their homes and humanitarian groups to surge assistance.
It calls for Hamas to release a total of 33 hostages, including women, children, older adults and sick or wounded men, in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. Israel says Hamas has confirmed that eight of the hostages to be released in this phase are dead.
The initial Phase One ceasefire paused fighting for six weeks, calling for the sides to use that time to negotiate a second phase in which Hamas would release the remaining hostages and the ceasefire would continue indefinitely. The war could resume in early March if an agreement is not reached.
Negotiating a phase two deal could be difficult. Hamas says it won’t release the remaining hostages without an end to the war and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, after reasserting its rule over Gaza within hours of the truce.
Meanwhile, Israel says it is still committed to destroying Hamas, and a key far-right partner in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition is already calling for the war to resume after the ceasefire’s first phase.
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Corrects that 41, not 38, Thai workers were killed during the Oct. 7, 2023 attack and its aftermath.
