Israel has received from Hamas the list of 10 hostages to be released from Gaza on Tuesday, according to the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office. The list is part of a two-day cease-fire extension agreed to on Monday.
The list is being reviewed and families of the captives are being notified, the PMO said.
A total of 50 Israeli women and children, plus one Israeli man, have been freed since the initial four-day cease-fire started on Friday morning, along with 17 Thais and one Filipino.
Hamas has agreed to release 10 hostages per day as part of the extension, which could last up to six additional days before Israel’s military operation in Gaza resumes.
Israel agreed to release three jailed Palestinian terrorists for each Israeli hostage as part of the deal, which also includes the entry of humanitarian aid and fuel into the Gaza Strip.
The government on Monday evening approved a list of 50 female Palestinian terrorists who could potentially be released as part of the truce extension.
Approximately 175 Israelis and foreigners are still being held in Gaza, including infant Kfir Bibas, who was 9 months old when he was taken hostage by Hamas along with his parents and 4-year-old brother from Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7.
On that date, thousands of heavily armed Hamas terrorists broke across the Gaza border, rampaging across southern Israel. At the end of the hourslong assault, 1,200 people were murdered, over 5,000 wounded, and some 240 hostages were taken back to the Gaza Strip.
Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Israel on Thursday for the fourth time since the start of the war, the U.S. State Department said on Monday.
He is scheduled to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other members of the war cabinet to discuss a further extension of the cease-fire and ways to release more hostages. The current 48-hour extension expires on Thursday.
Blinken is also scheduled to visit Ramallah and then attend the COP28 U.N. climate conference in Dubai. He will arrive in the region after attending meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday in Brussels and Skopje, North Macedonia, where NATO foreign ministers and the Organization for Peace and Security in Europe will discuss the situation in Ukraine.
Republished with permission from Jewish News Syndicate.