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Hamas freed two Israeli hostages on Saturday, as the fourth exchange of a fragile ceasefire in Gaza got under way.
The six-week truce is the first stage of a complex three-stage deal thrashed out by US-led mediators that has raised hopes of an end to the 15-month war in Gaza, which has become the deadliest round of fighting in the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Israel’s government said the two men — Yarden Bibas and Ofer Kalderon — had been handed over to its forces in Gaza, who would take them out of the enclave.
A third Israeli hostage is also due to be released. In exchange, Israel is due to free 183 Palestinian prisoners later on Saturday.
In a further milestone in the two-week old ceasefire, a group of wounded Palestinians is expected to leave Gaza later on Saturday through the Rafah crossing point to Egypt, which has been closed since Israeli forces seized control of it during their offensive in the enclave last May.
The war was triggered by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel, during which militants killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli officials and seized 250 hostages.
Israel responded with a devastating assault that has killed more than 47,000 people, according to Palestinian officials, reduced most of Gaza to rubble and fuelled a humanitarian catastrophe in the enclave.
About 100 hostages were freed during the war’s only previous truce in late 2023, while a handful have been rescued by Israeli forces. Israel has also retrieved the bodies of several hostages.
In total, Hamas is due to release 33 hostages in exchange for about 1,900 Palestinian prisoners under the first stage of the deal. Israeli officials said earlier this week that Hamas had informed it that eight of the 33 — which include women, children, the sick and the elderly — were dead.
During the second phase — over which Israel and Hamas are due to start negotiating in the coming days — Hamas is meant to release all remaining living hostages in exchange for hundreds more Palestinian detainees, the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza and a permanent end to the war.
The third and final phase will involve the return of the remaining bodies of hostages who have died and the reconstruction of Gaza.
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