Hamas says it will release another round of hostages on Saturday, as a ceasefire with Israel held into a third day and U.N. humanitarian agencies moved aid into Gaza to help Palestinian civilians.
A Hamas official told Agence France-Presse on Tuesday that the next group of hostages would be four Israeli women, who would be set free in exchange for a number of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
With the ceasefire holding Tuesday, but more than five weeks remaining before a second phase would begin, questions remained about how quickly and successfully Israel and Hamas will negotiate the terms of the next phase.
U.S. President Donald Trump, who took office Monday after officials from his team and former president Joe Biden’s administration pushed to achieve a ceasefire before the change in power, expressed some doubts about the truce.
“I’m not confident,” Trump told reporters Monday. “That’s not our war. It’s their war.”
Trump said his administration “might” help with reconstruction efforts in Gaza and compared the territory to a “massive demolition site.”
Fifteen months of war has devastated the Gaza Strip, destroying many of the homes that Palestinians who fled in search of safety hoped to return to with the halt in fighting.
The ceasefire has so far included the return of three hostages who had been held in Gaza as well as 90 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said 915 aid trucks entered Gaza on Monday.
The current conflict began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas, a U.S.-designated terror group, attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 250 hostage. Israel’s counteroffensive in Gaza has killed more than 47,000, with most of them women and children, according to the health ministry in Gaza.
Some information in this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
