Today’s news / Israelis, Thais, and Russians released Wednesday
A number of Hamas hostages have been released in recent days in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons. Photo: Al Qahera News/Reuters Tv/Reuters

Israelis, Thais, and Russians released Wednesday

Latest: The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas will continue while negotiations for the release of more hostages are ongoing, Israel’s military said on Thursday morning, according to Reuters. Hamas said shortly after Israel’s announcement that the agreement would be extended by one day. In addition, according to AFP, mediator Qatar confirmed that the agreement would be extended until Friday. The agreement was scheduled to expire at 06:00 on Thursday morning Danish time. /ritzau/

Ten Israeli and four Thai hostages were released on Wednesday night, according to both the Israeli military and Hamas. In return, Israel is releasing a further 30 Palestinians in Israeli prisons. The ongoing ceasefire was approaching its deadline, without Hamas and Israel seemingly ready for a new deal. The temporary ceasefire would have expired overnight, after it was extended for another two days on Tuesday morning. The ceasefire has allowed a larger number of hostages to be released in exchange for the release of even more Palestinians in Israeli prisons.
     A Hamas spokesman, Osama Hamdan said, according to the Times of Israel that the parties had not yet agreed on the terms of a continued ceasefire by Wednesday evening. “Efforts to extend the ceasefire have not yet borne fruit. And as for the offers that have been made to us to extend the ceasefire, we do not find them worth studying further,” he said from his residence in Lebanon. Separately, Hamas on Wednesday released two Russian Israelis, according to the Israeli army. The Israeli army spokesman said on Wednesday evening, before news broke that new hostages were on their way to Israel, that there were 159 hostages left in Gaza. /ritzau/Reuters/