Hamas releases 12 more hostages as the countries’ spy chiefs head to Qatar for talks

Israel said Tuesday it has received another 12 hostages from Gaza amid negotiations over a broader hostage-detainee deal and warnings from the United States that if hostilities were to resume, Israel would need to fight more surgically and avoid further mass displacement of Palestinians .

The Israeli military said in a statement that 10 Israelis – including three members of the same family – and two Thai nationals were released. Thirty Palestinian women and minors were released from Israeli prisons on Tuesday as part of the deal an official list. It was the fifth exchange of hostages and prisoners since Friday.

Since Friday, when a ceasefire agreement over hostages, Palestinian prisoners and aid to Gaza took effect, Hamas has released more than 60 hostages captured during the Oct. 7 raid on Israel that sparked the war. Israel has also freed 180 Palestinians from its prisons, most of whom are women and minors.

Egypt, Israel and the United States sent their top intelligence officials to Qatar to negotiate further exchanges. William J. Burns, the CIA director, joined David Barnea, the head of Mossad, Israel’s spy agency, and Abbas Kamel, Egypt’s spy chief, for meetings with Qatari officials, including the prime minister.

Two people with knowledge of the mediation efforts said the hope was that the current model — a daily ceasefire with the release of Israeli prisoners from Gaza in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners and detainees held in Israel, along with the entry of aid into Gaza – would generate momentum that would prevent the resumption of hostilities and create the conditions for longer-term discussions.

The mediators expect the process to become more difficult once all civilian hostages are released and negotiations focus on the release of Israeli soldiers. For them, Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, will likely demand more or more prominent prisoners, the two people said.

Neither warring side is currently willing to discuss a comprehensive ceasefire, but mediators hope that a series of smaller agreements, mutually beneficial, will help create the conditions for broader negotiations.

Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, Israel’s military chief of staff, said in a statement Tuesday that the army was “prepared to continue fighting.”

“We are using the days of the pause as part of the framework to learn, strengthen our preparedness and approve future operational plans,” he added, concluding: “Right now, everything is about fighting. We will not stop until we restore the security of the State of Israel.”

Hamas and Israel accused each other on Tuesday of violating the ceasefire, the first time since the ceasefire began. The Israeli army said that explosives had been detonated at two sites in northern Gaza near his forces, and that militants had shot at them in one area. Hamas said its fighters were involved in a “field conflict” provoked by Israel, without providing additional details.

But neither side indicated it would withdraw from the agreement.

Among the Israeli hostages released Tuesday were three family members, according to a list released by the Israeli prime minister’s office: Gabriela Leimberg, 59, Mia Leimberg, 17, and Clara Marman, 63. The other hostages were Israeli women , ranging in age from 36 to 84, the list showed.

Relatives of recently released children described spending harrowing weeks with their captors in Gaza.

Eitan Yahalomi, 12, said he was beaten by the crowd as he was taken to Gaza on October 7, according to a television interview with the boy’s aunt, Deborah Cohen. “When we arrived in Gaza, all the civilians – everyone – beat him,” Ms. Cohen told French news channel BFMTV.

During his seven weeks in captivity, Eitan was forced to watch footage of the Hamas-led raids, in which Israeli officials said 1,200 people were slaughtered, Ms. Cohen added. He spent part of his captivity alone, she said, and at other times he was held with people he knew.

“Every time a child cried, they threatened them with a gun,” Ms. Cohen said.

Other Israelis whose relatives were released last Tuesday described the hardship of their captivity and the emotional vulnerability of their release.

Four relatives of Shahar Mor, 52, were kidnapped on October 7; three of them, including Ohad Munder Zichri, 9, have since been released. But the family patriarch, Avraham Mundar, 78, has not.

In captivity, Mr. Mor said, his relatives lived mainly on pita bread, which became scarcer as the weeks passed.

Emily Hand, who lived to be nine years old in captivity, now whispered barely audible sentences to her father, Thomas Hand, after her release on Saturday, he told CNN. “She was conditioned not to make any noise,” he said.

Negotiations on a broader deal to release hostages and prisoners came as the Biden administration issued its strongest warning yet to Israeli officials about the next phase of their military operation. For weeks, the White House has been careful to say it does not dictate how Israel conducts its military operations, but President Biden and senior members of his staff have become more vocal as the humanitarian crisis has deepened.

The according to the United Nations The fighting had already displaced most of Gaza’s 2.2 million people. Gaza officials say more than 13,000 have been killed.

The White House has told Israel that replicating the scale of its bombing campaign on North Gaza while making an expected attack on South Gaza would create a crisis beyond the capacity of any humanitarian support network, the White House said. officials Monday evening.

Even as Israel waited for the release of the hostages, the Israeli military confirmed the deaths of three of its soldiers in the October 7 attacks and said Hamas was holding some of their remains. The Army identified them as Sgt. Shaked Dahan, 19, from Afula, northern Israel; Sergeant Kiril Brodski, 19, from Ramat Gan, near Tel Aviv; and Staff Sgt. Tomer Yaakov Ahimas, 20, from Lehavim, southern Israel.

The army’s chief rabbi determined that the soldiers had died during the attacks based on evidence and intelligence reports. according to the Israeli news site ynet.com. Military funerals for Sergeants Ahimas and Brodski will be held on Wednesday, the site said.

Sigalit Gal, Sergeant Dahan’s mother, said in a Facebook post that she would not begin the Jewish mourning ritual of Shiva, which lasted a week before her son’s body was returned. “I have fought all my life to care for you and raise you with love, excellent education, values ​​and a good environment,” she wrote. “You were taken from me forever. They took you away and wouldn’t bring you back – not even your body.”

It was not immediately clear whether the military’s announcement indicated that the return of the soldiers’ bodies would be linked to the release of more Israeli hostages from Gaza.

Reporting was contributed by Patrick Kingsley, Alan Yuhas, Julian E Barnes, Erica L. Green And Matthew Mpoke Bigg.