DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip—Hamas is set to free three more Israeli hostages as well as five Thai captives on Thursday, and Israel is to release another 110 Palestinian prisoners, in the third such exchange since a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip took hold earlier this month.
The truce is aimed at winding down the deadliest and most destructive war ever fought between Israel and Hamas, whose Oct. 7, 2023, attack into Israel sparked the fighting. It has held despite a dispute earlier this week over the sequence in which the hostages were released.
The Israelis set to be released are Arbel Yehoud, 29, Agam Berger, 20—who was abducted along with four other female soldiers who were freed Saturday—and Gadi Moses, an 80-year-old man. The identities of the Thai nationals who will be released were not immediately known.
A number of foreign workers were taken captive along with dozens of Israeli civilians and soldiers during Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack that set off the war. Twenty-three Thais were among more than 100 hostages released during a weeklong ceasefire in November 2023. Israel says eight remain.
Of the people set to be released from prisons in Israel, 30 are serving life sentences after being convicted of deadly attacks against Israelis. Zakaria Zubeidi, a prominent former terrorist leader and theater director who took part in a dramatic jailbreak in 2021 before being rearrested days later, is also among those set to be released.
Israel said Yehoud was supposed to have been freed Saturday and delayed the opening of crossings to northern Gaza when she was not.
The United States, Egypt, and Qatar, which brokered the ceasefire after a year of tough negotiations, resolved the dispute with an agreement that Yehoud and two other hostages would be released Thursday. Another three hostages, all men, are set to be freed Saturday along with dozens more Palestinian prisoners.
On Monday, Israel began allowing Palestinians to return to northern Gaza, the most heavily destroyed part of the territory, and hundreds of thousands streamed back. Many found only mounds of rubble where their homes had been.
