Hopes Israel and Hamas truce can hold as third exchange takes place

The third exchange of hostages and prisoners between Hamas and Israel has taken place as the US expressed hope that a fragile four-day truce in Gaza would be extended beyond Monday, while Israel indicated its campaign was far from over.

- Jason Burke

Israel said 17 hostages were released by Hamas, including a Russian national and three Thai nationals. The Israelis were all women or children. Thirty-nine Palestinian prisoners, also women and children, were freed from Israeli jails, authorities said.

The day brought several powerfully emotional moments, with the release from Gaza of a girl orphaned in Hamas’s attack in Israel last month and aid finally reaching the north of Gaza, which has been devastated by Israeli bombardment.

Joe Biden welcomed the release of four-year-old Abigail Edan, a US-Israeli dual national, and said he would like to “see the pause go on as long as prisoners are getting released”.

The US president added that his administration would “continue to remain personally engaged to see that this deal is fully implemented and work to extend the deal as well”.

Tempering hopes of a lasting halt to the offensive, Benjamin Netanyahu said on a visit to Israeli forces in Gaza: “We are continuing until the end, until victory. Nothing will stop us.”

The Israeli prime minister also said on Sunday that he had told Biden in a phone call that Israel would resume its campaign with full force once the truce comes to an end, but that he would welcome extending it if it facilitated the release of 10 additional hostages every day as agreed under the original Qatari-brokered deal.

Qatar has said Hamas needs to find dozens of hostages in order to extend the truce. The state’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, said that it was believed at least 40 women and children were being detained in Gaza but were not being held by Hamas.