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Hamas and Israel completed the second stage of a planned hostage-prisoner swap early Sunday after a delay caused by a dispute over the terms of a truce agreement, according to the Israeli military and Qatari government officials.
The Israeli Defense Forces said Red Cross representatives transferred the freed hostages to Egypt and then to Israel late Saturday, according to the Associated Press. Early Sunday, Israel began releasing 39 Palestinian prisoners.
Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson Dr. Majid bin Mohammed Al Ansari confirmed that the hostage transfer had taken place following uncertainty over the process.
“13 Israelis and 4 foreigners were received by ICRC and on their way to Rafah,” Al Ansari wrote in a message posted to X, formerly known as Twitter.
Al Ansari had posted earlier in the day that a dispute causing a delay in the hostage transfer had been resolved by Qatari-Egyptian mediators.
“After a delay, obstacles to release of prisoners were overcome through Qatari-Egyptian contacts with both sides,” Al Ansari wrote on Saturday afternoon.
According to Al Ansari, the prisoners set to be released by Israel in the second phase of the transfer would “include 33 children and 6 women, while those released from Gaza will include 8 children and 5 women, in addition to 7 foreigners.” Al Ansari later updated to say only 4 foreigners would be released.
The delay, first reported by Reuters, came as Hamas’ armed wing said it would not release the second round of hostages until Israel held up its side of the truce deal: allowing aid trucks to enter the besieged northern Gaza region.
Israel maintained that it had not violated the agreement. Thousands of protesters gathered in Tel Aviv to demand the release of the second group of hostages following the news of the delay.
President Joe Biden, walking around downtown Nantucket, did not answer shouted questions from reporters on if any American hostages would be released Saturday.
Asked later in more general terms about the hostage release, Biden replied: “hopefully we’ll see something soon,” according to pool reports.
The White House later released a readout of Biden’s call with Qatar’s Amir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani and Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al Thani, where the leaders discussed “hurdles to implementation of the deal and mechanisms for resolving those hurdles as soon as possible.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “held an assessment of the situation” Saturday evening “to verify that the second phase is proceeding as planned,” according to a message on his X feed.
Defense Sec. Lloyd Austin spoke with his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant. In the call, Austin shared his view that “humanitarian aid must increase, and that civilians must have safe areas to receive aid across Gaza,” according to a readout.
