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A group of 17 hostages were released from the Gaza Strip on Saturday after an hourslong delay and have arrived in Israel, the Israel Defense Forces said.
Thirteen Israelis and four Thai nationals were freed Saturday as part of a breakthrough deal between Israel and Hamas to pause fighting. Under the agreement, 39 Palestinians were expected to be released.
The Red Cross transferred the hostages to Egypt, and they later underwent an initial medical assessment inside Israeli territory, according to the IDF.
The release followed a delay earlier in the day over allegations from Hamas that Israel violated terms of the deal, including over claims that it had not releasing prisoners in the agreed-upon order.
The 13 Israelis citizens released Saturday range in age from 3 to 67, according to a list from by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.
Among the hostages freed Saturday was Emily Hand, who celebrated her 9th birthday Friday night, according to the group Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum said. She was taken from a friend’s home on Oct. 7.
Siblings Noam Or, 17, and Alma Or, 13, were also released. The brother and sister, along with their father, Dror, were taken from their home in Kibbutz Be’eri.
“Their mother Yonat was murdered and their older brother Yahli survived the inferno as he was at his post in northern Israel where he is doing a year of national service,” the group said.
According to the list from Netanyahu’s office, other freed Israeli hostages include Shiri Weiss, 53; Noga Weiss, 18; Sharon Hertzman Avigdori, 52; Avigdori’s daughter Noam Avigdori, 12; Shoshan Haran, 67; Haran’s daughter Adi Shoham, 38; Haran’s grandchildren Neve Shoham, 8, and Yahal Shoham, 3; Hila Rotem Shoshani, 12; and Mia Regev Jarbi, 21.
The release comes one day after a batch of 24 hostages were freed. Israel, in exchange, freed 39 Palestinians it had been holding for various alleged offenses.
A U.S. official told NBC News there’s hope three Americans will be released along with a larger group of 50 hostages during the pause in fighting.
The families of hostages have relentlessly demanded the release of their loved ones, holding a demonstration last month in front of the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv. Israel has said that around 240 hostages were taken when Hamas attacked the country on Oct. 7.
The temporary cease-fire deal, which began Friday and is set to last four days, was reached following an “extremely excruciating five-week process,” according to one official with U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration. An administration official said Biden was directly involved in the negotiations of the deal and received hourly updates on its progress. Biden thanked the leaders of Qatar, Egypt and Israel, who helped broker the deal, during a televised address from Nantucket, Massachusetts.
Under the deal, hundreds of trucks will be allowed to deliver aid to the region. On Saturday, 187 trucks with humanitarian aid including, food, water and medical supplies, passed through the Rafah crossing, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society.
It is expected that at least 50 hostages will be freed from Gaza and 150 Palestinians from Israel by the end of the four-day truce.
