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The third set of hostages were released by the Hamas militants on Sunday. The hostages set free included a four-year-old American girl with more Palestinian prisoners set to be freed in exchange, as a source close to the group said it was willing to prolong a truce, Reuters reported.
The four-day ceasefire started on Friday in which both sides agree on exchange. This has been the first relief for captives' families since the war started between Isreal and Pallestines
It was reported on Sunday by the Israeli army that 13 hostages were back on Israeli territory, and another four were on their way to Egypt.
United States President Joe Biden announced that the 13 released included a four-year old American girl.
"She's been through a terrible trauma," Biden said of the girl, Abigail, whose parents were murdered by Hamas militants in the unprecedented attacks.
The other four were released outside the terms of the truce -- including one Russian-Israeli who Hamas said was freed "in response to the efforts of Russian President Vladimir Putin".
Those freed were among around 240 captured on October 7 when Hamas fighters broke through Gaza's militarised border with Israel to launch the deadliest attack in Israel's history, killing about 1,200 Israelis and foreigners, according to Israeli authorities.
In response, Israel launched an air, artillery and naval bombardment alongside a ground offensive to destroy Hamas, killing nearly 15,000 people, mostly civilians and including thousands of children, according to the Hamas government in Gaza.
Sunday's releases bring the total number of Israelis freed under the deal to 39 since Friday.
In exchange, a further 39 Palestinian prisoners were freed on Sunday, the Israeli prison service said.
This followed the release of 78 other Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails over the past two days.
A source close to Hamas said the Islamist movement, which has an armed wing, was willing to extend the current truce for up to four days beyond its initial expiry date.
"Hamas informed the mediators that the resistance movements were willing to extend the current truce by two to four days," the source told AFP.
"The resistance believes it is possible to ensure the release of 20 to 40 Israeli prisoners" in that time, they added.
Under the truce, 50 of the hostages held by the militants are to be freed over four days in exchange for 150 Palestinian prisoners, with a built-in extension mechanism to prolong the process as long as at least 10 Israeli captives are released each day.
A Qatari operations team visited Israel to "coordinate with the parties on the ground and with counterparts in Doha to ensure the deal continues to move smoothly, and to discuss further details of the ongoing deal", according to a source with knowledge of the talks.
Biden said on Sunday he hoped the truce brokered by Egypt, Qatar and the United States, would extend "beyond tomorrow".
Israeli leaders have tempered hopes of a lasting halt to the offensive.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday: "We continue until the end -- until victory."
Dressed in green military fatigues and surrounded by soldiers, he vowed to free all the hostages and "eliminate Hamas", in footage posted online by his office.
He spoke while making the first visit to Gaza by an Israeli prime minister since 2005.
"Nothing will stop us, and we are convinced that we have the power, the strength, the will and the determination to achieve all the war's goals, and we will."
In the southern Gaza town of Khan Yunis, residents received a text message from Israeli forces that said: "We know there are hostages being held in Khan Yunis. The army will neutralise anyone who has kidnapped hostages."
Elswhere in Gaza, residents ventured back to pick through the ruins of their homes among heaps of rubble following weeks of bombardments.
"I came to see if there was anything left, if there was anything I could salvage. We fled with nothing," said Oussama al Bass, inspecting the ruins of his home in Al-Zahra, south of Gaza City.
"It's nothingness, everything is destroyed, everything is lost," he said. "We're tired. That's enough. We can't take it anymore."
On the outskirts of Gaza city, families took to the road on foot to head south, pushing luggage and relatives in wheelchairs, and carrying children in their arms.
Hamas's military wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, said on Sunday that its northern brigade commander Ahmed Al-Ghandour and four other senior leaders had been killed, without specifying when.
In the previous round of captive releases, relatives voiced joy at the return of hostages including a nine-year-old Israeli-Irish girl, and cheering crowds greeted Palestinian prisoners as they left a jail in the West Bank.
"We are overjoyed to embrace Emily again, but at the same time, we remember... all the hundreds of hostages who have yet to return," her family said.
Among the group of Palestinians released earlier was 38-year-old Israa Jaabis, sentenced to 11 years in jail for detonating a gas cylinder at a checkpoint in 2015.
"I... have pain on an emotional level and I am missing my relatives. But this is the tax a prisoner pays," she said after returning to her home.
Saturday's releases went ahead despite a last-minute delay that highlighted the fragile nature of the process.
Hamas had accused Israel of breaking the terms of the agreement. Israel denied the allegation
週日,哈馬斯武裝分子釋放了第三批人質。 根據路透社報道,被釋放的人質包括一名四歲的美國女孩,作為交換,更多的巴勒斯坦囚犯將被釋放,一位接近該組織的消息人士表示,該組織願意延長休戰時間。
為期四天的停火於週五開始,雙方同意交換。 這是自以色列和巴勒斯坦戰爭爆發以來,俘虜家屬首次獲得救濟
根據以色列軍方週日報道,13 名人質已返回以色列領土,另有 4 名人質正在前往埃及的途中。
美國總統拜登宣布,獲釋的13人中包括一名四歲的美國女孩。
「她經歷了可怕的創傷,」拜登談到女孩阿比蓋爾時說,她的父母在這場史無前例的襲擊中被哈馬斯武裝分子殺害。
其他四人在休戰條款外獲釋,其中包括一名俄羅斯裔以色列人,哈馬斯稱其獲釋是「為了回應俄羅斯總統普丁的努力」。
據以色列當局稱,10 月7 日,哈馬斯武裝分子突破加薩與以色列的軍事邊界,發動以色列歷史上最致命的襲擊,造成約1,200 名以色列人和外國人死亡,其中包括被俘的約240人。
據加薩哈馬斯政府稱,作為回應,以色列發動空中、砲兵和海上轟炸,同時發動地面進攻,摧毀哈馬斯,造成近 15,000 人死亡,其中大部分是平民,其中包括數千名兒童。
週日的釋放使自周五以來根據該協議獲釋的以色列人總數達到 39 人。
以色列監獄管理局表示,作為交換,週日又釋放了 39 名巴勒斯坦囚犯。
前兩天,以色列監獄釋放了另外 78 名巴勒斯坦囚犯。
一位與哈馬斯關係密切的消息人士稱,這個擁有武裝派別的伊斯蘭運動願意將目前的停戰協議在最初的到期日之後最多延長四天。
消息人士告訴法新社:“哈馬斯通知調解人,抵抗運動願意將目前的休戰期延長兩到四天。”
他們補充說,「抵抗運動認為,屆時有可能確保釋放 20 至 40 名以色列囚犯」。
根據停火協議,武裝分子扣押的 50 名人質將在四天內獲釋,以換取 150 名巴勒斯坦囚犯,並有一個內置的延期機制,只要每天至少釋放 10 名以色列俘虜即可延長這一進程。
據一位了解談判情況的消息人士透露,卡達的一個營運團隊訪問了以色列,「與當地各方和多哈的同行進行協調,以確保協議繼續順利進行,並討論正在進行的協議的進一步細節」。
拜登週日表示,他希望埃及、卡達和美國斡旋的休戰能延續到「明天之後」。
以色列領導人緩和了持久停止攻勢的希望。
本傑明·內塔尼亞胡總理週日表示:“我們將繼續到底,直到勝利。”
在他的辦公室發佈在網路上的影片中,他身著綠色軍裝,周圍環繞著士兵,發誓要釋放所有人質並「消滅哈馬斯」。
他是在以色列總理自 2005 年以來首次訪問加薩時發表上述言論的。
“沒有什麼能阻止我們,我們相信我們有能力、力量、意志和決心來實現所有戰爭目標,而且我們會的。”
在加薩南部城鎮汗尤尼斯,居民收到以色列軍隊發來的短信,其中寫道:“我們知道汗尤尼斯有人質。軍隊將消滅任何綁架人質的人。”
在加薩的其他地方,經過數週的轟炸後,居民冒險返回瓦礫堆中的家園廢墟中尋找東西。
「我來看看是否還剩下任何東西,是否有任何我可以搶救的東西。我們什麼都沒有逃走,」烏薩馬·阿爾·巴斯在檢查他位於加沙城南部扎赫拉的家的廢墟時說道。
「一切都變得虛無,一切都被摧毀了,一切都失去了,」他說。 “我們累了。夠了。我們再也受不了了。”
在加薩城郊,一家人走上公路向南行進,推著行李和坐輪椅的親人,懷裡抱著孩子。
哈馬斯的軍事派別卡薩姆旅週日表示,其北部旅指揮官艾哈邁德·甘杜爾和其他四名高級領導人已被殺,但沒有具體說明具體時間。
在上一輪俘虜釋放中,包括一名九歲以色列裔愛爾蘭女孩在內的人質歸來,親屬們表示高興,當巴勒斯坦囚犯離開約旦河西岸的監獄時,歡呼的人群向他們致意。
「我們很高興再次擁抱艾米麗,但與此同時,我們記得......所有數百名人質尚未返回,」她的家人說。
早些時候獲釋的巴勒斯坦人中有 38 歲的伊斯拉·賈比斯 (Israa Jaabis),他因 2015 年在檢查站引爆煤氣瓶而被判處 11 年監禁。
「我……在情感上感到痛苦,我想念我的親人。但這就是囚犯要繳的稅,」她回到家後說道。
儘管最後一刻的延遲凸顯了這一過程的脆弱性,但周六的發布仍在繼續。
哈馬斯指責以色列違反協議條款。 以色列否認這項指控
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