Fragile Gaza cease-fire holds, for now, as Hamas frees 8 more hostages

TEL AVIV —  Israel rejoiced Thursday as Hamas militants freed eight more hostages who had been held for more than 15 months in the Gaza Strip, but the day’s tumultuous events underscored the fragility of a cease-fire accord that paused the devastating war in Gaza.

After chaotic scenes unfolded in southern Gaza — where surging crowds surrounded Palestinian gunmen preparing to hand over most of the hostages — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delayed by hours the agreed-upon release of more than 100 Palestinian prisoners. The standoff was eventually resolved, with buses carrying freed Palestinians finally leaving a West Bank prison as night fell.

Palestinian prisoners were greeted by a crowds of supporters after being released by Israel in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Saturday.

(Mahmoud Illean / Associated Press)

President Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff, who met in Tel Aviv with previously freed Israeli hostages and the families of some of those still held captive said he was “hopeful” that the truce, 12 days into its first phase, would continue to hold.

Witkoff said an American was expected to be among the next round of hostages to be freed later this week.

Thursday’s hostage release, the third since the cease-fire took effect on Jan. 19, included a female Israeli soldier, a young woman civilian, an elderly man and five Thai nationals — agricultural workers who were caught up in the surprise Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, which launched the war.

About 1,200 people were killed on that day in southern Israel, and about 250 taken hostage. Israel’s massive military offensive in Gaza has left much of the enclave in ruins and killed more than 47,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials, who do not distinguish between civilians and combatants but say that a majority of the dead are women and children.

As has become customary since this month’s cease-fire took hold, Israelis gathered in a downtown Tel Aviv plaza known as Hostages Square — the locus of months of demonstrations — to watch developments on a giant outdoor video screen. People cheered and wept as the first of them was freed in northern Gaza, a 20-year-old soldier named Agam Berger, who was one of five young female military “spotters” seized at their base near the Gaza frontier on the day of the attack.

A crowd surrounds Red Cross cars as they arrive to hand over Thai and Israeli hostages in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza Strip, on Thursday.

(Jehad Alshrafi / Associated Press)

As it did with women soldiers freed last week, Hamas staged a choreographed ceremony parading Berger onstage, clad in an olive-drab outfit meant to mimic a military uniform. She appeared composed, however, and was soon after conveyed to the Red Cross and then to waiting Israeli authorities.

Inside Israel, the mood turned tense and fearful when smartphone and televised images from southern Gaza began circulating showing enormous crowds in the rubble-strewn landscape of Khan Yunis, outside the destroyed home of slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, jostling the masked gunmen who accompanied the remaining hostages. One of them, 29-year-old Arbel Yehoud, looked pale and frightened as she was hustled, sometimes stumbling, through the mass of people.

Before the delayed reciprocal release of the Palestinian prisoners, Netanyahu denounced the “shocking” circumstances of the handover and demanded safety measures for future releases.

“Israel demands that the mediators see to this,” the prime minister said in a statement, referring to the parties who negotiated the cease-fire.

The five freed Thai nationals, whose release fell outside the terms of the cease-fire, were handed over to Thai diplomatic officials in Israel in preparation for being repatriated. About 40 Thai workers, among the thousands who have labored for years under dangerous conditions in farming communities near Gaza, were killed in the Oct. 7 attack.

The Thais released Thursday, all reported to be in good health, were identified by Israel as Watchara Sriaoun, 33; Pongsak Thaenna, 36; Sathian Suwannakham, 35; Surasak Rumnao, 32; and Bannawat Saethao, 27.

Despite national jubilation over the latest hostage return — which brings to nine the number of Israelis handed over so far since the start of the current truce — there was a growing sense of foreboding over the fate of those remaining in Gaza. This cease-fire is the first since November of 2023, when around half of the hostages were freed.

The accord’s first phase calls for the handover of 33 Israeli captives in all, some of them dual nationals. Hamas has said eight of them are dead, without publicly disclosing theit names.

The Israeli military has been in touch with the families about their loved ones’ status, Israeli news reports said, adding that Israel has particularly pressed for formal word about an Israeli mother, Shiri Bibas, and her two young children.

The cease-fire’s terms called for women and children to be freed first, but Thursday’s release included a man, 80-year-old Gadi Moses. That suggested to many Israelis that there was little hope for Bibas and her two children, red-haired boys whose images are nearly as familiar to compatriots as family photos. The youngest, Kfir, was only 9 months old when he was taken; his brother Ariel was 4.

“Today, I’m deliriously happy, but I think soon we will hear news that is going to be very, very sad,” said Aviva Stav, 74, of Tel Aviv, following the news as she walked with her husband near the city’s seafront

Negotiations over the next phase of the cease-fire are expected to be difficult, encompassing the establishment of a permanent cease-fire, the exchange of remaining living hostages and Palestinian prisoners, and a complete withdrawal by Israeli forces.

Of the Palestinians freed Thursday, 30 had been serving life sentences in connection with fatal attacks. Though some of the prisoners were being returned to families in the West Bank, those who were convicted of the most serious offenses were being deported.

The arrival of buses carrying the freed Palestinian prisoners brought scenes of jubilation in the West Bank — but also triggered fresh unrest. At the entrance to Ramallah, the Palestinians’ administrative capital, Palestinian officials reported more than a dozen Palestinians were injured by Israeli police who fired tear gas, and live and rubber bullets.

A total of nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners are to be freed in the truce’s initial phase.