A third wave of hostages set to be released Sunday could include Americans, according to multiple reports.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told NBC's "Meet the Press" there was "reason to believe" a U.S. hostage would be released from captivity in Gaza on Sunday.
Sullivan noted Abigail Edan, 4, was on a list of those potentially to be released from Hamas terrorists during the ongoing cease-fire.
"We hope Abigail Edan will be released but we can't know for sure until it happens," Sullivan told NBC.
Hamas fighters were set Sunday to release a third group of hostages in exchange for Gaza prisoners, a day after freeing captives including a young woman snatched from a desert rave.
In a sign of the fragility of the exchanges, the latest swap Saturday was delayed for hours after Hamas accused Israel of breaching its side of the deal that led to a four-day cease-fire in the seven-week-old war.
Despite the dispute, Hamas finally released 13 Israelis and four Thai hostages at night. Israel said it in turn freed 39 Palestinian prisoners.
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it had since received a list of hostages due to be released by Hamas on Sunday.
The list was being checked by security officials, it said, and families of the hostages had been informed.
Among the hostages freed late Saturday was 21-year-old Maya Regev, who had been kidnapped by Hamas fighters in their deadly assault on the Supernova music festival, a brutal episode in the broader Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
She was the first of the music festival hostages to be released since armed Hamas fighters swooped on the event, killing hundreds, taking captives, and sending others fleeing for their lives.
Maya Regev and her 18-year-old brother Itay, who was also abducted from the festival, were shown tied up in the back of a pick-up truck in a video posted on social media after the attack.
"I am so excited and happy that Maya is on her way to us now. Nonetheless, my heart is split because my son Itay is still in Hamas captivity in Gaza," her mother Mirit said in a statement released by the hostage families' forum.
Information from Reuters was used to compile this report.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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