Hamas’s armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, handed over the sixth group of captives to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Wednesday night, in exchange for 30 Palestinian women and children who had been held in Israeli jails, Palestinian media reported.
Israeli media meantime reported that the sixth group of the captives handed over to the ICRC is made up of five children and seven women, without specifying their nationalities. But earlier on Wednesday, Hamas announced that it would release several Russian captives.
The latest phase of the prisoner exchange takes place on the last day of the Gaza truce that took effect on November 24. The temporary ceasefire was originally agreed for four days and was later extended for two additional days.
Hamas, which captured some 240 hostages during its October 7 Operation Al-Aqsa Storm, has announced its readiness to extend the truce deal again.
The truce paused 48 days of war on Gaza that took the lives of more than 10,500 people, mostly women and children. It also allowed aid into Gaza to ease a humanitarian crisis caused by a total Israeli blockade and intense airstrikes on the coastal territory.
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