The agreement was the result of weeks of tense negotiations that involved mediation by Qatar. The pause started Nov. 24 at 7 a.m. local time, with the first group of hostages released later in the day, and more released each subsequent day.
Here’s what we know about the release of hostages from Gaza.
- Hamas has released 69 hostages since the start of the pause, including Thai and Philippine nationals. Israel has released more than 150 imprisoned Palestinian women and teenagers.
- Three Americans — two women and a girl — were expected to be released under the agreement, a senior Biden administration official told The Washington Post. The first, Abigail Edan, 4, was released Sunday, but no Americans were among the 11 hostages released Monday — even after White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters that they would be returned “hopefully today.”
- Not all hostages are believed to be held by Hamas; smaller militant groups such as Palestinian Islamic Jihad are potentially in control of some.
- In Israel, six hospitals are receiving the hostages with a special pediatrics unit and mental health counselors.
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made clear that any extension of the pause will be short-lived and that the war will continue afterward.
How many American hostages are there?
The first American hostage freed as part of the deal is Abigail Edan, 4, whose parents were killed in the Oct. 7 attack. She was the youngest of the 10 Americans believed to be among those held in Gaza. “She’s been through a terrible trauma,” President Biden said. He has vowed to bring back all American hostages.
Who are the hostages being released?
The estimated 240 people held in Gaza before the exchange began were from a plurality of countries, many also with Israeli citizenship. Some 30 Thai workers were among those taken, the Thai Foreign Ministry said.
The hostages released so far are mostly women and children — the youngest is 2 years old, and the oldest is 85. Four of them were German citizens, Germany’s foreign minister said.
Seventeen Thai nationals were released by Hamas in three batches over the weekend, according to Thai authorities. One Philippine national was released Friday, according to Philippine officials.
Hamas has claimed that some hostages were killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza, but verifying that information has not been possible.
Were other hostages released earlier?
Four hostages have been released by Hamas since the beginning of the war, in two batches of two last month.
On Oct. 20, Americans Judith Raanan, 59, and her daughter Natalie, 17, were released. Hamas said this was due to “humanitarian reasons,” without elaborating further. They had been staying with relatives at the Nahal Oz, a kibbutz near the border with Gaza, when they were taken captive during Hamas’s unprecedented attack Oct. 7 that killed at least 1,200 in Israel. More than 13,300 people have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war and 35,180 wounded, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
On Oct. 23, Yocheved Lifshitz and Nurit Cooper, Israeli women in their 70s and 80s, were released, for “crushing humanitarian reasons,” Hamas said. Their husbands remain in captivity.
Steve Hendrix contributed to this report.
