UPDATES WITH STATEMENT FROM HAMAS-AFFILIATED AL-AQSA SATELLITE CHANNEL, STATEMENT FROM THAI PRIME MINISTER, REVISES DECK, MINOR EDITS
By Abdel Raouf Arnaout
JERUSALEM (AA) - Israel confirmed on Friday that Hamas handed over 13 Israeli hostages in Gaza to the Red Cross and were taken to the Egyptian side of the border.
“The Israeli hostages are in the hands of the Red Cross,” the Public Israeli Broadcasting Corporation said.
The Israeli hostages will be transferred by helicopters from Egypt to Israel.
The Israeli Prime Minister's Office said in a statement, “During the operation, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant will be at the Israeli Defense Forces Operations Branch control center in Tel Aviv.”
“The Prime Minister and the Defense Minister will closely monitor management of the operation to bring the Israelis who have been released from Hamas captivity back to the country,” the statement added.
The Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa Satellite Channel also confirmed the handover of the Israeli hostages to the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Meanwhile, Thailand Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin confirmed that 12 Thai citizens are also released by Hamas.
"Embassy officials are on their way to pick them up in an hour," Thavisin said on X.
Under the Israel-Hamas deal, the prisoners will be released in batches over a period of 4 days.
Israel estimates that at least 239 Israelis are being held by Hamas following the cross-border attack by the Palestinian group on Oct. 7.
The Palestinian death toll from Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip has soared to 14,854, the government media office in the blockaded enclave said Thursday.
The victims include 6,150 children and over 4,000 women, while more than 36,000 people have been injured, it said.
The official Israeli death toll stands at 1,200.
*Islamuddin Sajid in Islamabad contributed to this story