Three Israeli and five Thai hostages have been freed under a phased ceasefire deal that has halted fighting in Gaza.
But after a chaotic release that saw crowds swarm sections of the handover, Israel temporarily delayed the freeing of 110 Palestinians expected in exchange.
The first hostage, 20-year-old female Israeli soldier Agam Berger, was released in northern Gaza.
Hours later, footage from the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis showed a stunned and scared-looking Arbel Yehoud being led through a crowd, flanked by armed, masked Palestinian militants.
It’s suspected she was being held by Islamic Jihad, another militant group in Gaza.
A third Israeli, civilian Gadi Mozes, 80, was also released on Thursday.
Image: Arbel Yehoud and Gadi Mozes. Pic: Reuters
Israeli military identified the five Thai nationals as Thenna Pongsak, Sathian Suwannakhan, Sriaoun Watchara, Seathao Bannawat and Rumnao Surasak.
In return for the release of the Israeli hostages, Israel is expected to set free 110 Palestinians detained in prisons, including children, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Society.
Among them are a 61-year-old held since 1992 and 30 teenagers, the youngest a 15-year-old boy.
Their release was pausedafter the Israeli PM condemned the “shocking” scenes of the handovers to the Red Cross.
Benjamin Netanyahu said Palestinian detainees would be held until the safe exit of Israeli hostages was guaranteed in future.
He said later that he had received such a commitment, and Israeli media reported the releases of Palestinians would go ahead.
The war has devastated much of Gaza’s infrastructure, including homes, roads, sanitation and communications networks.
The latest planned exchange is part of a fragile truce – mediated by the US, Qatar and Egypt – that began on 19 January and has so far held, aimed at winding down the deadliest war ever fought between Israel and Hamas.
Among the roughly 250 people taken from Israel during Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack which ignited the conflict, some have died in captivity in Gaza, while others have been released or rescued.
More than 47,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s offensive, according to Hamas-run authorities in Gaza, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
On Monday, hundreds of thousands of Gazans traversed rubble and dirt to return to what was left of their homes in the north of the Gaza Strip.
But joy was tempered by grief as many discovered shattered or looted homes, no running water in the vicinity and dire shortages of basic supplies.
On Thursday, a new Israeli law came into effect banning the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) from Israeli territory.
It raised fears of a shutdown of its schools, medical facilities and other services in east Jerusalem – and possibly more in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, where UNRWA is the biggest provider of aid.
British MP Sarah Champion, who chairs the International Development Committee of MPs, called the ban “devastating”.
“Food, water, education, even rubbish collection will all be affected,” she said.
“In the strongest possible terms, I urge the UK government to do everything it can to get all parties round the table and ensure that UNRWA can fulfil its UN-mandated work. The success of the current ceasefire hangs in the balance if not.”
The release of more than 600 Palestinian prisoners planned for Saturday has been postponed “until the release of the next hostages is secured without humiliating ceremonies”, Israel has said.
In a statement early on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s office accused the Palestinian militant group Hamas of “repeated violations” as it lashed out at “disgraceful ceremonies” during the handover of Israeli captives in Gaza.
The Israeli PM’s office said: “In light of the repeated and ongoing violations by Hamas – including the disgraceful ceremonies that dishonour the dignity of our abductees and the cynical use of captives for propaganda purposes – it has been decided to postpone the release of the terrorists that was planned for yesterday until the release of the next group of abductees is secured, and without the humiliating ceremonies.”
The statement came as vehicles apparently carrying prisoners left the open gates of Ofer prison in the occupied West Bank, only to turn around and go back in.
Image: Israeli forces at Ofer prison in the West Bank
The release of 620 Palestinian prisoners had been delayed for several hours and was meant to happen after six Israeli hostages were released on Saturday.
Five of the six captives were escorted by masked, armed militants in front of crowds – displays that the United Nations and others have criticised as cruel after previous handovers.
The final hostage was released to the Red Cross in private.
The Gaza ceasefire deal continues to hold, despite tensions rising earlier in the week when Hamas initially handed over the body of an unidentified Palestinian woman instead of Israeli mother-of-two Shiri Bibas.
The hostage-prisoner exchange earmarked for Saturday was supposed to be the last for the first phase of the ceasefire.
Israel had been expected to free hundreds of Palestinian prisoners on Saturday, including a man who has been detained for more than 40 years, and many more given life sentences.
However, as night fell across the region, they remained behind bars, with Hamas claiming their release had been delayed because some of them had been “assaulted”.
An Israeli spokesperson has denied the assaults and said the Red Cross were present at the prison.
The first two hostages released on Saturday were Tal Shoham and Avera Mengistu.
Mr Shoham, 40, was visiting his wife’s family in Kibbutz Be’eri when Hamas militants stormed into the community during the October 7 attacks in 2023.
His wife, two young children and three other relatives were also abducted, but they were freed in an exchange in November 2023.
Image: Abra Mengistu hugs his family in Israel after his release. Pic: IDF
Mr Mengistu, a 39-year-old Ethiopian-Israeli, had been held in Gaza since he entered the territory on his own in 2014.
Watching the moment he was freed on TV, his family broke out in song as he walked free for the first time in more than a decade.
Later on Saturday, Eliya Cohen, Omer Shem Tov and Omer Wenkert were handed over to the Red Cross in Nuseirat, central Gaza.
Image: Omer Shem Tov, a hostage held in Gaza since October 2023, pictured as he is released. Pic: Reuters
Mr Shem Tov, 22, was taken during the October 7 attacks on the Nova music festival.
The computer programmer had shared his live location with his family, who eventually noticed he was headed towards Gaza and contact with him was lost.
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Hostage reunited with parents
Mr Cohen, 27, was also taken from the Nova festival, alongside his fiancee.
Released hostages have said that he was kept in chains and deprived of food and sunlight during his time in captivity, according to reports.
Mr Wenkert, 23, was taken from Nova. He suffers from colitis and requires special medical care, it has been reported.
Finally, Hisham al Sayed, 28, was handed over in a private ceremony.
The Bedouin-Israeli, from the village of Hura in the Negev desert, has been a captive since he crossed into Gaza in 2015.
Image: Nael Barghouti pictured in 2011. Pic: Reuters
Who were the Palestinian prisoners due to be released?
More than 600 Palestinian prisoners had been set to be released on Saturday.
According to the prisons office, which is run by Hamas, they included 50 who had been sentenced to life imprisonment, 60 described as having “high” sentences, 47 prisoners from the “Wafa al Ahrar” 2011 prisoner exchange deal who had since been re-arrested, and 445 who were arrested after 7 October attacks.
The “Wafa al-Ahrar” deal was the 2011 prisoner exchange agreement that saw the release of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in exchange for 1027 Palestinian prisoners.
Among the most high-profile Palestinians who had been set to be released was Nael Barghouti – the longest-serving prisoner, who has been inside for 43 years.
Also on the list were several journalists, many of whom covered events at al Shifa hospital, and Yousef al Mansi, a Palestinian minister in Gaza.
It had been expected that Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Gaza, would be among those being released on Saturday.
However it later emerged that he was not on the list of those set to be freed.
Pope Francis is in a critical condition after a “prolonged respiratory crisis” that required a high-flow of oxygen and is “suffering more than yesterday”, the Vatican has said.
In an update on Saturday evening, the Vatican said “the Holy Father’s condition continues to be critical”, adding that this morning he “presented with a prolonged asthmatic respiratory crisis” which required the application of high-flow oxygen.
He also had blood transfusions after tests revealed thrombocytopenia, which is associated with anemia.
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2:43
Pope Francis ‘not out of danger’
“The Holy Father continues to be vigilant and spent the day in an armchair even though he was suffering more than yesterday. At the moment the prognosis is reserved,” the Vatican’s statement said.
In an update earlier on Saturday morning – the shortest since Francis was admitted to hospital on 14 February – the Vatican said he will not lead Sunday prayers for the second week running, adding: “The Pope rested well.”
Francis is likely to prepare a written homily for someone else to read at Sunday’s Angelus.
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Millions of people around the world have been concerned about the Pope’s increasingly frail health – and his condition has given rise to speculation over a possible resignation, which the Vatican has not commented on.
Doctors on Friday said he was “not out of danger” and was expected to remain at Rome’s Gemelli hospital for at least another week.
Sergio Alfieri, the chief of the pontiff’s medical team, said: “Is he out of danger? No. But if the question is ‘is he in danger of death’, the answer is ‘no’.”
Image: Sergio Alfieri (R) said Pope Francis was a ‘fragile patient’ but was in ‘good spirits’. Pic: AP
He said Francis was affected by seasonal flu before being taken to hospital and that, “due to his challenging duties”, he had suffered fatigue.
He is also fighting a multipronged infection of bacteria and viruses in the respiratory tract.
The doctors warned that while he did not have sepsis – where germs enter the bloodstream – there was always a risk the infection could spread in his body, and they said that was the biggest concern.
Sepsis is a complication of an infection that can lead to organ failure and death.
Pope Francis has a history of respiratory illness, having lost part of one of his lungs to pleurisy as a young man. He had an acute case of pneumonia in 2023.
One person has been killed and two police officers seriously injured in a knife attack in eastern France.
A man attacked people in Mulhouse, near the German border, at around 4pm on Saturday.
Prosecutors said a 37-year-old Algerian had been arrested and the person who died was a civilian who tried to intervene.
“Horror has just gripped our city,” mayor Michele Lutz said on Facebook.
The man shouted “Allahu Akbar” (“God is greatest”) as he attacked the police officers, prosecutors added.
President Macron told BFMTV it was “beyond doubt” it was an “Islamist terrorist act”. He said the interior minister was heading to Mulhouse and would speak later.
The attacker is said to have been at a police station – where he was due to sign a document for his detention – but refused and ran into the market where he launched the attack.
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One police officer was stabbed in the neck and another in the chest, according to French media. Three other police sustained very minor injuries.