Hamas fighters release 13 more hostages

In exchange for Palestinian prisoners, Hamas militants freed a second group of 13 Israeli hostages on Saturday, releasing one of the victims they had brutally attacked at a music festival for the first time.

Heartbreakingly, the hostage-for-prisoner exchange was put on hold for hours after Hamas accused Israel of breaking the terms of the four-day ceasefire, which is already past its halfway point.

However, Hamas consented to move forward following the intervention of mediators from Qatar and Egypt and assurances from Israel, releasing 13 Israelis and four Thai hostages in a late-night operation.

According to officials, Israel released 39 Palestinian inmates in exchange.

Before being transferred to Israel, the hostages were seen being transported by Red Cross minibuses through the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt in the middle of the night, according to AFP photos and videos.

According to a forum of the hostages' families, one of the released Israelis was 21-year-old Maya Regev, who was abducted by Hamas during their deadly October 7 attack on the Supernova desert rave.

Later, in a video shared on social media, Maya Regev and her brother Itay, 18, who was also abducted by Hamas during the festival, were seen tied up in the back of a pickup truck.

“I am so excited and happy that Maya is on her way to us now. Nonetheless, my heart is split because my son Itay is still in Hamas captivity in Gaza,” her mother Mirit said in a statement released by the hostage families’ forum.

Emily Hand, a nine-year-old hostage who was freed, was welcomed back into her family with great joy, according to her family.

“We can’t find the words to describe our emotions after 50 challenging and complicated days,” they said in a statement via the forum.

Israel's prison authorities announced that they had freed 39 Palestinian inmates, among them 38-year-old Israa Jaabis, who had been given an 11-year prison sentence for setting off a petrol cylinder at a checkpoint in 2015.

The militant group claimed that Israel was meddling in the choice of prisoners for release and preventing aid from reaching civilians in northern Gaza, which is why the handover of Hamas hostages occurred hours later than anticipated.

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