JERUSALEM (Reuters): Hamas fighters said on Sunday they had freed a hostage who has Russian citizenship from Gaza while Egypt received lists of 13 Israelis and 39 Palestinians scheduled for release during the day as part of a truce between Hamas and Israel.
Hamas said it freed the person in appreciation of Moscow’s stance on its war with Israel, which broke out after Hamas fighters rampaged through southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and taking about 240 hostages back into Gaza.
In response to that attack, Israel has vowed to destroy the Hamas militants who run Gaza, bombarding the enclave and mounting a ground offensive in the north. Some 14,800 Palestinians have been killed, Gaza health authorities say, and hundreds of thousands displaced.
The killing of a Palestinian farmer in the central Gaza Strip had earlier added to concerns over the fragility of the four-day truce between Hamas and Israel.
The farmer was killed when targeted by Israeli forces east of Gaza’s long-established Maghazi refugee camp, the Palestinian Red Crescent said.
There was no comment from Israel on the report but there were fears it could jeopardise the third phase of plans to swap 50 hostages held by the Palestinian militant group for 150 prisoners in Israeli jails over the four-day period.
However, Diaa Rashwan, the head of Egypt’s State Information Service (SIS), said the truce was “proceeding without roadblocks”. Rashwan said 120 aid tucks crosse
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