On the 49th day of the Israel-Hamas war, a video showed women and children boarding a bus with a sign of the Red Cross, identified as a “neutral intermediary.”
The video of the bus released on Friday was part of the Israel-Hamas hostage exchange that Qatar and Egypt helped to broker. Friday was the first day of the four-day cease-fire.
The International Committee of the Red Cross published updates on X, formerly known as Twitter, reporting the hostage exchange was at the Rafah Border Crossing with Egypt.
Qatar negotiated the cease-fire and reported Israel had released 39 out of the agreed 150 prisoners and Hamas had released 24 out of the agreed 50 captives.
“All these hostages have been through a terrible ordeal,” President Joe Biden said. “This is the beginning of a long journey of healing for them.”
Biden said he expects dozens of hostages will be returned to their families. He said two American women and one four-year-old child had yet to be released.
“We also will not stop until we get these hostages brought home,” Biden said.
The 24 captives Hamas released on Friday included 13 from Israel, 10 from Thailand, and one from the Philippines. The Times of Israel reported there were 4 children, 3 mothers, and 6 elderly women including Doron Katz-Asher and her daughters Aviv, 2, and Raz, 5.
Caretaker Gelienor “Jimmy” Leano Pacheco, 33, was among the Filipinos released. Yaffa Adar, 85, who has eight grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren; and Channah Peri, 79, were among the elderly Israeli women who survived captivity.
Aljazeera reported Marah Bakeer, who was 17 when she was convicted after stabbing an Israeli border police officer in 2015, was among th e freed.
The list also includes Aban Hammad, 16, who was arrested about a year ago in Qalqilya; Jamal Brahma, 17, who was arrested last month in Jericho; and Nour al-Taher, 18, who was arrested in September at the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, The Associated Press reported.
Israel estimated Hamas fighters took over 240 hostages on Oct. 7.
We are relieved to confirm the safe release of 24 hostages.
— ICRC in Israel & OT (@ICRC_ilot) November 24, 2023
We have facilitated this release by transporting them from Gaza to the Rafah border, marking the real-life impact of our role as a neutral intermediary between the parties.
They’re home.
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) November 24, 2023
IDF Special Forces and ISA Forces are currently with the released hostages. They will continue to be accompanied by IDF soldiers as they make their way to Israeli hospitals, where they will be reunited with their families.
The IDF, together with the entire Israeli…
More about the truce
REPORT FROM GAZA: Israel confirmed Friday that it released 39 Palestinian prisoners in line with a truce deal that saw 13 Israeli hostages freed by militants in Gaza hours earlier. Read more >
LIVE UPDATES: A four-day cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war began Friday in Gaza as part of an agreement that Qatar helped broker. Twenty-four hostages were freed, including 13 Israeli citizens, 10 Thai citizens, and one Filipino citizen, Qatar said. Read more here >
- Israel allowed 34,300 gallons of fuel a day into Gaza during the truce.
- The International Committee of the Red Cross plans to deliver medical supplies to Gaza.
- Samantha Power, head of the U.S. Agency for International Development, asked for “lasting mechanisms to be put in place” to deliver more aid to Gaza.
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the war will continue after the truce.