Live updates | Israel confirms release of 11 hostages by Hamas on fourth day of truce
By The Associated Press
Israel said 11 hostages have been released from Hamas captivity in the Gaza Strip late Monday, the final day of a four-day truce between the warring sides. Qatar says Israel is to release 33 Palestinians from its prisons, mostly teenagers.
Hours earlier, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said Israel and Hamas agreed to extend their truce for another two days.
Monday’s releases bring the number of Israelis freed under the truce to 50, along with 19 hostages of other nationalities. So far, 117 Palestinians have been released from Israeli prisons. Roughly 240 hostages were captured by Hamas in its Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel that ignited the war. One was freed by Israeli forces and two were found dead inside Gaza.
Israel has said it would extend the cease-fire by one day for every 10 additional hostages released. After the announcement by Qatar — a key mediator in the conflict, along with the United States and Egypt — Hamas confirmed it had agreed to a two-day extension “under the same terms.”
With the truce deal has come increased shipments of fuel and supplies into Gaza — although aid groups say it’s still barely enough to dent the needs of the 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza who have endured weeks of Israeli siege and bombardment.
More than 13,300 Palestinians have been killed since the war began, roughly two thirds of them women and minors, according to the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry in Gaza, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants. Some 1,200 people have been killed in Israel, mostly during the initial incursion by Hamas. At least 77 soldiers have been killed in Israel’s ground offensive.
Currently:
— As freed hostages return to Israel, details of captivity emerge.
— Elon Musk visits kibbutz attacked by Hamas.
— Qatar is the go-to mediator in the Mideast war. Its unprecedented Tel Aviv trip saved a shaky truce.
— Representatives of European and Arab countries meet in Barcelona to discuss the Israel-Hamas war.
— U.S. Navy seizes attackers who held an Israel-linked tanker.
— With antisemitism rising as the Israel-Hamas war rages, Europe’s Jews worry.
— Find more of AP’s coverage at
Here’s what’s happening in the war:
France says three of the hostages released from Gaza on Monday were French citizens, all three children.
“France welcomes the liberation of three of its children today: Eitan, Erez and Sahar,’’ the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement. ‘’They are now in security in Israel. We share the relief of their families and all those who mobilized for their freedom.’’
France thanked Egypt and the ICRC and for mediation efforts and Qatar for its ‘’decisive role’’ in the release, and said the French government is ‘’working tirelessly’’ to free five other French citizens held hostage. France’s president, foreign minister and defense minister have traveled to the region to push for the release of the hostages.
French media has identified the three children hostages as Franco-Israeli citizens Eitan Yahalomi, 12, Erez Calderon, 12, and Sahar Calderon, 16.
BRUSSELS — U.S Secretary of State Antony Blinken will return this week to the Middle East for the third time since Israel’s war with Hamas began, a senior State Department official said Monday.
Blinken will travel to Israel and the West Bank after attending Ukraine-focused meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday in Brussels and Skopje, Macedonia, where foreign ministers from NATO and the Organization for Peace and Security in Europe are gathering, the official said. The official spoke to reporters traveling with Blinken on condition of anonymity ahead a form State Department announcement.
