Israel and Hamas are set to carry out their third exchange of hostages and prisoners on Thursday as part of a ceasefire agreement that has halted fighting in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas is due to release three Israelis and five Thai citizens. Israel is releasing 110 Palestinian prisoners.
Previous exchanges have freed seven hostages the militants were holding in Gaza and 300 prisoners held by Israel.
Hamas is due to release three additional hostages Saturday, with Israel freeing dozens more Palestinian prisoners.
The first phase of the ceasefire lasts for 42 days, about one-quarter of which has passed. It calls for the release of 33 total hostages from Gaza, as well as negotiations on the details of the second phase involving the release of the rest of the hostages, an end to the conflict and the withdrawal of Israeli forces.
Those negotiations are due to begin next week.
U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday to reinforce the ceasefire.
Witkoff, who played a key role in shaping the six-week truce, also inspected the Netzarim Corridor, a 6-kilometer-wide strip of land that bisects Gaza, where American security contractors have been hired to help oversee the return of displaced Palestinians.
Witkoff was the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit Gaza in years. American officials have stayed away from the narrow territory along the Mediterranean Sea because of security concerns and Washington’s no-contact policy with Hamas, a U.S.-designated terror group.
Netanyahu is headed to Washington this weekend. U.S. President Donald Trump has invited him for talks at the White House on Tuesday, his first meeting with a foreign leader since starting his second term in office.
Meanwhile during the ceasefire in Gaza, Israel has ramped up its military operations in the occupied West Bank. Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a visit to the city of Jenin on Wednesday that Israel has “declared war on Palestinian terrorism in Judea and Samaria,” referring to the West Bank.
“The Jenin refugee camp will not return to what it was,” he said. “After the operation is completed, the [Israel Defense Forces] will remain in the camp to ensure that terrorism does not return.”
Palestinians in Gaza have been allowed back into some areas long held off-limits by Israeli troops, including northern Gaza, where the United Nations said Wednesday more than 423,000 people have returned this week.
On orders from Israel, about 1 million people fled the area in the early days of the war, and those returning are going back to an area that has been decimated by Israeli military operations against Hamas.
The war in Gaza started with the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and led to the capture of 250 hostages.
Israel’s counteroffensive in Gaza has killed at least 47,400 people, most of them women and children, according to health officials. The Israeli military said the death toll includes 17,000 militants.
Some information for this story came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
