Some of the hostages taken during the assaults on Israel on October 7 were turned over to the Red Cross on Friday so they could travel back to Israel via Egypt, according to two Hamas sources who spoke with AFP. One of the sources stated, “Half an hour ago, the prisoners were handed to the Red Cross who will take them to the Egyptians” at the Rafah crossing.
“They were handed over to the Egyptian side,” the source added.
The handover was confirmed by a source within Hamas’ military wing, who further stated: “This is the first group under the agreement.”
After a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas was declared in the early hours of Friday morning, a first group of thirteen women and children held as hostages were anticipated to return to Israel.
According to the terms of the agreement reached with Gaza’s Hamas leadership, Israel is scheduled to free three times as many Palestinian inmates from Israeli jails, including women and teenage boys.
Hamas broke through Gaza’s militarised border with Israel on 7 October to kill, according to Israeli officials, about 1,200 people and seize around 240 Israeli and foreign hostages.
Israel has vowed to “crush” Hamas in response and unleashed a withering military campaign that Gaza’s Hamas government says has killed nearly 15,000 people in the coastal territory.
