CAIRO (Reuters) – Militants from Hamas and allied groups Islamic Jihad and Popular Resistance Committees arrived at a site in Khan Younis in Gaza ahead of the handover of Israeli hostages on Thursday Hamas sources and witnesses said, as part of a ceasefire deal.
Three Israeli hostages are expected to be freed on Thursday in return for 110 Palestinian prisoners.
The spokesman of the Islamic Jihad armed wing said on the Telegram platform that the group “completed procedures to hand over two Israeli hostages.”
Dozens of armed militants arrived on the street where Hamas leader Yahya Al-Sinwar was killed during the Gaza war with Israel, which has left tens of thousands of Palestinians dead and turned the tiny coastal enclave into a wasteland of rubble.
Three Israeli civilians and four soldiers – all women – have been released so far in the ceasefire, which began on Jan. 19. In return, Israel has released 290 Palestinian convicts and detainees.
More than 250 hostages were abducted in the Hamas attack in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Around half were released the following month during the war’s only previous truce, and others have been recovered dead or alive during the fighting. Israel still lists 90 captives in Gaza, with around 30 declared dead in absentia.
(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Cairo, Emily Rose in Jerusalem and Tala Ramadan in Dubai; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Sharon Singleton and Bernadette Baum)
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