Israeli military says 11 hostages leaving Gaza

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Monday said 11 more hostages held by the Islamic militant group Hamas are leaving Gaza and are headed to Israel.

The IDF said in a Telegram post that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) had confirmed the hostages were en route to Israeli territory.

Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed Al Ansari said 33 Palestinian civilians, including 30 minors and three women, will be released in exchange for the hostages that had been held by Hamas.

The hostages released Monday include three French citizens, two German citizens and six Argentinian citizens, Al Ansari wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Monday’s hostage-prisoner exchange is the fourth round of releases since a temporary ceasefire was implemented on Friday. About 58 hostages had been released by Hamas before Monday’s announcement, and more than 100 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

The truce was extended by two days on Monday to facilitate the release of more hostages and prisoners.

The White House on Monday said there will be 20 additional hostages freed in those 48 hours, all women and children, and that it was pushing for an even longer truce to release more hostages.

Hamas captured some 240 hostages when it launched a surprise attack on Israel Oct. 7.

Humanitarian groups are also working to get more aid into embattled Gaza during the ceasefire, with around 200 trucks a day carrying critical supplies of medicine, fuel, food, water and other basic necessities into the strip.