Three Israelis and five Thai citizens held in Gaza have been freed, as Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy met hostages’ relatives, reportedly telling them he was optimistic the ceasefire would hold to allow the return of all the living and the dead.
The handover on Thursday of seven hostages in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, was delayed by a chaotic crowd surging towards the group, despite an escort of heavily armed militants, jostling and blocking their passage to waiting Red Cross vehicles.
Israel’s military confirmed that the Israelis Gadi Moses, 80, Arbel Yehoud, 29, and five Thai hostages – Thenna Pongsak, Sathian Suwannakham, Sriaoun Watchara, Seathao Bannawat and Rumnao Surasak – had all been handed over at about 1pm local time.
Agam Berger, 20, the last female soldier held in Gaza, had been released earlier, from northern Gaza.
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, attacked the “shocking scenes” in Khan Younis and suspended the planned release of Palestinian prisoners “until the mediators guarantee the safe exit of the hostages” in future.
Buses carrying Palestinian prisoners due to be freed were sent back to Israeli jails in the early afternoon, before a new release time of 5pm was announced.
It was not the first crisis in a ceasefire deal that is not yet two weeks old. Yehoud had originally been listed for release on Saturday. When four female soldiers were handed over instead, Israel accused Hamas of violating the deal and suspended plans to allow Palestinian civilians to return to northern Gaza.
After last-minute negotiations, Hamas confirmed Yehoud would be freed on Thursday with two other hostages and Israel opened checkpoints to northern Gaza on Monday.
Shortly after the Thursday handover of the seven hostages in southern Gaza, Trump’s envoy for the region, Steven Witkoff, made a brief visit to Hostage Square in Tel Aviv.
Many people, when they realised Witkoff was there, raced to pay personal tribute to him for brokering the ceasefire agreement. “Thank you for freeing the hostages, thank you to Mr Trump,” one shouted.
He met families of hostages briefly in a public library beside the square. He assured them he was optimistic the deal would hold, Israeli media reported, and said he was committed to bringing home the living held in Gaza and the dead.
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The first stage of the ceasefire is due to last 42 days and covers the release of 33 Israeli hostages, mostly women and older men. Of the 23 still to be released as part of the first phase, Hamas says eight are dead. Under the agreement, Israel will free about 1,900 Palestinian prisoners and increase aid into Gaza.
Witkoff was visiting Israel before negotiations on the second phase of the deal are to start on Monday and went from Hostage Square to hold talks with Netanyahu. The Israeli leader faces heavy pressure from far-right members of his coalition to restart the war rather than extend the ceasefire.
Trump’s envoy also visited Gaza with the Israeli military and met the four female soldiers freed on Saturday at the Israeli hospital where they were being treated.
Among those in the crowd grateful to Trump was Dani Miran, whose son Omri Miran, 47, is a hostage in Gaza. “Only one person made this happen. I want to thank Trump,” he said. His hopes of seeing his son again rested entirely on the new US leader, he added.
He said that for one day he had put his own worries aside to celebrate, because after 15 months of intense campaigning, everyone held in Gaza feels like family. “I think all the time about [Omri’s return], but today I concentrate on the joy.”
Miran was part of the crowd waiting in Hostages Square to watch the releases in real time, beside a clock broadcasting a countdown of the days, hours and minutes of the hostages’ captivity.
Schoolchildren and parents pushing babies in prams mixed with adults who had taken the day off to be there for a “historic moment”, most veterans of the long campaign for a ceasefire deal.
They cheered and wept when the first footage streamed from Gaza showed Berger walking unaided. Like the four other women soldiers freed last weekend, she was dressed in military-style fatigues and put on stage for a ceremony that served as a show of the militants’ power after 15 months of war.
“She made it,” said Yahel Oren, 31, who served a decade ago at the Nahal Oz base where Berger had been captured by Hamas, and watched the video in tears. “It’s hard to think of her alone there, but at least we can count the minutes she has left.”
Oren was part of a group campaigning for the freedom of the female “spotter” troops held in Gaza and was wearing a T-shirt saying “once a spotter always a spotter”.
Attention then shifted to the south where seven hostages were due to be freed. Shlomo Zidkiahv, 83, waved a Thai flag in solidarity with a group of Thais taken hostage while working on one of the kibbutzim that was attacked.
He carried photos of all 10 still in Gaza, as neither Hamas nor Israel had initially identified the five who would be freed before their release. They were later named as Pongsak, Suwannakham, Watchara, Bannawat and Surasak.
The release of Moses, the first man freed in this exchange, was taken by many in the crowd as a tacit acknowledgment that the last living women held in Gaza had been released.
