The first group of hostages released under the truce deal between Hamas and Israel have been handed to the Red Cross and to an Egyptian security team.
This comes after the first limited pause in fighting formally began earlier on Friday.
Under the terms of the four-day truce, 13 women and children, out of around 240 hostages captured by Hamas on October 7, were expected to comprise the first batch to be released.
Meanwhile, Thailand’s Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said that Hamas had released 12 Thai nationals held captive in Gaza. Their release reportedly followed a separate track of talks mediated by Egypt and Qatar, and was unrelated to the truce negotiations.
Later today, Israel was due to release the first 39 Palestinians from its jails, among them 24 women and 15 teenagers.
Search expands after Philippine ferry fire kills five and leaves dozens missing
US military says it struck vessel in Caribbean, killing 3
At least 14 killed in explosion at weapons depot in Syria
US hits five Iranian oil tankers after attack on Navy ships
UK gives air traffic provider a week to probe outage that halted flights
