The Daily Observer London Desk: Reporter- Jack Brumby
Israel announced that 17 hostages were swapped in exchange for Palestinian prisoners Saturday night, following a tense spate of negotiations to keep the fragile four-day cease-fire alive.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced on X, that 13 Israeli citizens and four Thai nationals were released on the second day of hostage exchanges — a deal baked into the Israel-Hamas cease-fire agreement.
The ages of the Israeli hostages ranged from 3 to 67 years old.
“The Government of Israel embraces the 17 hostages who are returning to Israel today: 13 of our citizens and four Thai nationals, who are en route to Israeli territory,” Mr. Netanyahu’s office said. “Their families have been updated by the responsible officials that they are en route to the country.”
President Biden did not know when the American hostages would be released but expected that they would be part of the hostage swap deal at some point during the cease-fire.
Saturday night’s hostage and prisoner swap comes after a day of tense negotiations between Israel and Hamas following accusations from the terrorist organization that the Jewish state was breaking its end of the deal.
Hamas accused Israel of not providing nearly as much aid as promised to the Gaza Strip and of tampering with the terms of the Palestinian prisoner release deal.
Qatar mediated the talks, and with aid from the U.S. and Egypt, was able to remove the obstacles that led to delays in swapping hostages for prisoners.
Mr. Biden called the Qatari leader and Qatari prime minister Saturday morning directly during negotiations to offer help in smoothing out the contentious situation.
