Gaza war truce: Third hostage-prisoner exchange, Hamas says 5 leaders dead

A new group of Israeli and foreign hostages were released from Gaza on Sunday, on the third day of a truce after seven weeks of war, with Palestinian prisoners to be freed later.

Hamas is expected to free a total of 50 hostages in exchange for 150 Palestinian prisoners in Israel over the course of a four-day pause brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the United States.

Gaza militants took about 240 captives from southern Israel in an unprecedented 7 October attack that Israeli officials say killed around 1,200 people, most of them civilians.

In response, Israel has vowed to eliminate Hamas and unleashed an aerial bombing campaign and ground invasion of Gaza that the Hamas government says has killed nearly 15,000 people, also mostly civilians.

Here are four key developments from the past 24 hours:

Third hostage-prisoner exchange

The Israeli army said that 13 released hostages were back Sunday on Israeli territory, and another four were on their way to Egypt.

An earlier statement said the released hostages included three foreign nationals who had been handed over to the Red Cross in the Gaza Strip, on the third day of an agreed pause in the fighting between Israel and Hamas.

Lead mediator Qatar said 39 Palestinians held by Israel are to be released from prison later in the evening, in exchange for the release of 13 Israelis, another one holding Russian citizenship and three Thais.

Late Saturday, Hamas released a second group later than expected after the militant group accused Israel of violating the terms of the agreement, which Israeli officials denied.

Hamas says Russian hostage released

Hamas said it freed a hostage who holds Russian citizenship in support of Moscow’s foreign policy toward Palestinians.

That release was in “response to the efforts of Russian President Vladimir Putin and in appreciation of the Russian position in support of the Palestinian cause”, the militant group said in a statement.

Hamas says 5 leaders dead

The military wing of Hamas said Sunday that the commander of its northern brigade and four other senior leaders had been killed during Israel’s offensive against the Islamist movement.

In a statement, the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades said Ahmed al-Ghandour was a member of its military council, and named three of the others, among them Ayman Siyyam, head of its rocket division, while its West Bank branch confirmed another leader’s death.

Tanker seized off Yemen

A tanker linked to an Israel-affiliated company was seized off the coast of Yemen on Sunday by unidentified armed individuals, a US defence official confirmed, following a series of incidents on the same shipping route.

“There are indications that an unknown number of unidentified armed individuals seized the M/V Central Park in the Gulf of Aden 26 November. US and coalition forces are in the vicinity and we are closely monitoring the situation,” the official told AFP.