Hamas says 2nd group of Israeli, foreign hostages handed over to Red Cross

Jerusalem, Israel | Xinhua |  The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) said in a statement late Saturday that it had handed over the second group of Israeli and foreign hostages to the Red Cross.

A total of 17 hostages, including 13 Israelis and four Thais, have crossed into Egypt and are on their way to Israel, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) wrote in a post on its X account.

The 17 people are the second group of hostages to be sent back to Israel in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. The exchange was scheduled to take place around 4 p.m. local time (1400 GMT) Saturday, but was delayed for several hours after Hamas accused Israel of failing to meet the terms in a four-day humanitarian cease-fire agreement, which was agreed upon by the two sides on Wednesday after more than six weeks of bloody conflict. ■