Jerusalem: An Israeli official said Wednesday that Hamas will release three Israelis, including two women and an 80-year-old man, and five Thai nationals in the next hostage release, slated for Thursday.
The official named the Israel women as Arbel Yehoud, 29, Agam Berger, 19, and the man as Gadi Mozes, 80. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record, said the hostages’ families had approved publication of their names.
The official did not name the Thai nationals set to be freed.
The release is part of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that has paused the war in Gaza in exchange for freedom for dozens of hostages held in the Palestinian territory and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
Word of the next round of releases comes as hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza are streaming toward the north of the war-ravaged territory to return to what is left of their homes, after being told to evacuate the area earlier on in Israel’s war against Hamas.
Earlier Wednesday, the leader of important US ally Egypt rejected President Donald Trump’s suggestion that Egypt take in displaced Palestinians from Gaza, defying a US president who has shown little patience for dissent from international partners.
Trump over the weekend told reporters that Egypt and Jordan should take in Palestinians from war-torn Gaza, an idea that has long been rejected by those countries and the Palestinians themselves because they say it would undermine the notion of Palestinian statehood and foment instability in their states.
Trump said he would urge the leaders of both countries, which are key allies to the U.S. in the Middle East and major recipients of American aid in the region, to accept the idea, saying the resettlement could be temporary or long-term.
It is not clear if Trump could force Egypt or Jordan to agree, but he has in his first days in office and on the campaign threatened hefty tariffs against American allies to get his way.
In his first public comments since Trump floated the suggestion Saturday, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi called the idea “an injustice” which Egypt would not be party to.
In a news conference in Cairo with the visiting Kenyan president, el-Sissi said the transfer of Palestinians “can’t ever be tolerated or allowed.” “The solution to this issue is the two-state solution. It is the establishment of a Palestinian state,” he said. “The solution is not to remove the Palestinian people from their place.” He said his government would work with the Trump administration to achieve peace “that is based on the two-state solution” between Israel and the Palestinians.
Trump on Saturday said he would urge Egypt and Jordan to accept people from Gaza so that “we just clean out that whole thing,” calling the territory “a demolition site.” The 15-monthlong war, set off by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attacks on Israel, has killed more than 47,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children according to local health authorities, who do not distinguish between civilians and combatants in their count. The fighting has obliterated vast areas of Gaza, displacing some 90% of its 2.3 million population, often multiple times.
The theme of displacement has been recurrent in Palestinian history and the idea of staying steadfast on one’s land is an integral element of the Palestinian identity. Palestinians fear that if they leave their land, they may never be allowed to return.
Those fears have been compounded by far-right members of Israel’s government who support rebuilding Jewish settlements in Gaza, from which Israel withdrew troops and settlers from in 2005. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that idea is unrealistic.
Egypt and Jordan have each made peace with Israel but support the creation of a Palestinian state in the occupied West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem. They fear that the permanent displacement of Gaza’s population could make that impossible.
Egypt and Jordan receive billions of dollars in American aid each year. Military assistance to Egypt and Israel was exempted from a US funding freeze to global aid programmes.
