TWELVE more hostages were freed Tuesday from Gaza captivity in exchange for Palestinian prisoners under an extended truce, as mediators worked for a lasting halt to the seven-week Israel-Hamas war.
Ten Israelis and two Thais were released, the Israeli prime minister’s office said, with the army saying they were handed over to the Red Cross and were “inside Israeli territory”.
Israel’s prison services later said 30 Palestinian detainees were released under the truce deal.
An AFP journalist saw masked and armed fighters, some from Hamas and others from Islamic Jihad, hand over hostages to Red Cross officials in Rafah, near the border with Egypt.
International figures hailed the pause in hostilities and release of captives as a cause for hope in the conflict sparked by deadly Hamas attacks that prompted an Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip.
Israel and Hamas accused each other of violating the extended pause in incidents on Tuesday, though Qatari officials mediating in the conflict said this did not knock the truce off track.
As a two-day extension to the truce appeared to be holding Tuesday, US and Israeli intelligence chiefs were in Doha, capital of Qatar, to discuss the “next phase” of the deal, a source briefed on their visit said.
Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari said Tuesday’s freed Israelis were nine women and a girl. They included a Filipina dual national and two Argentinean dual nationals.
Israel and Hamas are under international pressure not to return to all-out fighting when the latest truce ends on Thursday.
The two Thai citizens were freed in addition to the 10 Israelis under the terms of the deal.
Israel’s retaliatory ground and air operation in Gaza has killed almost 15,000 people, mostly civilians, according to the territory’s Hamas government.
Palestinian movements on Tuesday denounced what they dubbed “truce violations by the occupier”, and an AFP journalist saw an Israeli tank fire three times in Gaza City’s Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood as Palestinians tried to return to their homes.
The Israeli military described the shelling as “warning shots”, saying a tank fired as suspected militants approached army positions. At least one person was hurt, the AFP reporter saw.
The army also claimed that three explosive devices were detonated near its forces in northern Gaza, “violating the framework of the operational pause”.
“In one of the locations, terrorists also opened fire at the troops, who responded with fire. A number of soldiers were lightly injured during the incidents,” the army said, adding that its troops were positioned in compliance with the truce deal.
Qatar’s Ansari reported “some minimal breaches” which, he told a news conference, “did not harm the essence of the agreement”.