Gaza/Jerusalem: Hamas has said in a statement 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 late Saturday.
The 17 people are the second group of hostages to be sent back to Israel in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, Xinhua news agency reported.
The exchange was scheduled to take place around 4 p.m. local time 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.
–IANS